Well, I've had my aluminum valve covers (Moroso) on the car for a couple years now and have come to the conclusion that polished aluminum is not worth the amount of maintenance to keep them looking nice. I've polished them several different ways and get a little more pissed off everytime I have to do it. So...I stopped by a local company that does ceramic coatings and got a quote to have them both coated for $90 (solid color/no clear needed) or $130 (metallic finish with clear) including a warranty on the ceramic. They had a Moroso valve cover sitting on display and it looked damn good.

How does the price sound to everyone and would there be any drawbacks to doing this?

I'm supposed to take them down in the morning and look at some colors but looking at the displays today I kept getting drawn to a nice gunmetal shade. I don't know that it would match under my hood though. Car is 1994 bright tiel with chevy orange highlights under the hood. Take a look at the pics below and give me your best suggestion. I'm leaning away from orange and am willing to change the current highlights to match whatever I do.

Pics here

I'm also moving the alt to the bottom, ditching the ABS and removing the A/C componants this round so I should end up with a much more modular/cleaner look when done.

 

I think it looks good, but you're right - it's a pain to keep looking that way.

Try to put a dollar amount on the time you spent on it. Do it in a $/hour way - don't go overboard but be realistic with how much you think your time is worth.

You may have already gone over the price of getting them coated - mabye not.
Eventually you will.

 

If you like the polished look then just clear coat them, but I personally don't like it the way it is, it looks cheap, like it's not finished. I would go with the orange, it looks good.

 

Dropped them off today and decided on a black chrome finsh with clear. I discussed orange with them and we agreed that it would show any dirt/dust that got on em. Both done for $137. They also said I could bring in a few other pieces and do em for $10-20 each. I'm going to be taking my N20 plate, thermostat housing, and possibly the TB too. I went in with the idea that I wanted a color change from orange, something that looks good yet low maintenance, and durable .

and my time is definitely worth $200 if that's what it takes to get it all coated. Especially when polishing only seems to last a couple weeks and then it's oxidized again. Never ending job

 

of the extra orange parts. Paint them black, gun metal grey, or take them back to aluminum. Mainly the coolant neck. Also there seems to be a little confusion going on with the n20 hoses see if there is anything you can do to clean it up a bit.

This is just my 2 cents, I'm not flaming you

 

I agree on the N20 lines. I'm looking to replace with hardlines but the way it is....is how the kit is supposed to go. And yea...the orange is going out the window.