Rocker cover refresh

[Dave P]

Originally Posted by ian

Dave,

Your oil filter housing top looks very clean - have you painted it?

Is the oil filler cap correct for the S50?

Ian

the oil filter housing top is new but they still come roughly cast so I hand polished it with some emery cloth, the oil cap is E46 CSL

[chopper]

Quick, cheap and easy, makes all the difference...deffo worth doing

[Dave P]

makes a big difference to the engine bay

[Wania]

use vht paint

[Dave P]

Originally Posted by Wania

use vht paint

that looks great - how easy is it to remove the 2nd cover?

[topgeartom]

How are you guys getting the raised "BMW M Power" lettering looking so good after painting?

Is it a case of a machine sander to remove the new paint on the higher surfaces?

[Dave P]

I used sandpaper and a cork block last time to remove any paint and then finished with wet & dry paper and then metal polish

[petecossie]

The idea is to have whatever abrasive paper (sand paper - wet & dry) wrapped round a flat block of some kind or a file as already mentioned which is comfortable to hold. The rocker cover wants to be fixed to a bench or piece of block board on a workmate so it cannot move about and keep moving the block in the same direction along the top of the rocker cover, don't try to go too fast in case you slip and damage all your good work. Take your time and keep the block/abrasive paper/file level so that the lettering doesn't get a bevelled edge to it. Using a machine sander might be quicker in some peoples eyes but whether it would give the same result as a bit of elbow grease in the manner I've described is debatable. No doubt someone will prove me wrong. Having worked in engineering for the last 39 years this is the method employed to clean up casing faces to take off high spots etc the only diffence being the casing would be the item that moves and the abrasive medium is static.
Good luck.

[topgeartom]

Superb advice.

I'm off to fetch the workbench out of the garage.

[chopper]

Originally Posted by Dave P

I used sandpaper and a cork block last time to remove any paint and then finished with wet & dry paper and then metal polish

Same, with plenty of good old elbow grease.