Alloy sideplate and tappet cover

[spanner]

I have just brought an alloy sidecover marked JWL and an alloy tappet cover marked WEY with the intention of fitting them to my grey motor.
The tappet cover is in great condition and would polish up without to much work. I don't think it has been used. The side cover is a different story. It is painted yellow which is no big deal, but the casting looks to be a bit rough under the paint.
Has anyone polished one of these up with good results and how would I go about it. Could the imperfections be filled with TIG welding maybe. Just after ideas.
Can you buy a good oil filler cap to go on the alloy tappet cover?
Graham

[zulu]

Graham, I have a NOS JWL sideplate
http://fefcholden.org.au/forum/index.php/topic,9966.0.html

Alex covered it in accessory of the week with an interesting response from 4hammers.
They are a fairly rough cast item with a mostly painted finish, to have one professionally polished in all the grooves would cost a fair bit.

Why not just polish the high bits & paint the valleys, you could do the same with the rocker cover.
Cheers, Gary

PS Nice score, where did you find it 

[retro]

i have an alloy side plate in my fb, it was in ordinary condition when i get the thing to.

What i did was soak it in soapy water while rubbing it with a 1200 grit wet and dry paper, this removed most of the poor sections. Once happy with the profile of the metal, i sprayed the centre section the colour i required.

A day or so later, i used buffing compond to polish the alloy sections, after hand buffing, a finer compond was used, then auto sol, and basically washed it again and she looked a million times better. The same was done with all the tappit covers fitted to my cars ( i dont have any with original covers).

I find that if you buy them in this condition and a few hours work on top, you save a good tank of fuel and you earn pride when you fit them.

If i bother to get the car this week, i get a pic for ya.
Brake master cyclinders can be polished with a wire brush.

Great score, but if not fitted correctly oil leaks may occur(use aviation paste around both sides of the gasket, same with tappet cover), also if the tappit covers are not fitted correctly you may find a tappit knock as the hit the inner cast wall. Just unbolt and move into position.

Alternatively you can get them bead blasted, thegentleman who did the carbies at ingleburn nsw, has offered to do another two sideplates for me, but the future of some of my cars is yet to be decided, so i dont think its worth me fitting them yet.

[spanner]

Thank you fellas. I think i will knock the paint off and see how it looks. Can't do any harm.

Accessory of the week seems to be off limits to me. Must be a bit of nasty stuff in there.

Where did I find them. A mate of mine's father passed away and left a lot of early holden gear including an FJ in good condition. He was into racing speedway when he was young and I'm pretty sure he had a TQ or what ever they called them, with a bombed up grey motor in it.
All the gear was sold of in the town where he lived, except for the alloy sideplate and the tappet cover.
The mate grabbed them for me.
A box of Bundy cans was a good price I think.