re-chrome valve covers

I see that you also have, as Beau mentioned, the air intakes blowing right towards the outboard valve covers.
Maybe that has something to see with their (relatively) early corrosion.
Though I must say that the manifold, turbo, aftercooler and all the rest of the engine looks immaculate - I wish mine were as clean as yours!
Or did you possibly respray them, on top of the valve covers?

Thanks for your kind offer.
Yes, I have MANs as per my previous pic, and all the valve covers, outboard ones included, look still far from needing a repaint, in spite of the fact that they are older than yours (2003, with 1500+ hours).
But never say never! It certainly doesn't hurt to include any suggestions you can send me in my MAN folder, for future reference.
You can reach me via email using my username plus "@yahoo.com" as address.
Thanks in advance!

They are not moved also in my boat, and the same MAN dealer who used to support the builder on new installations told me that he always advises against remote oil filters installations.
According to him, even if it's a MAN approved alternative, it makes oil circulation upon startup a little bit longer.
But In practice, I think that's splitting hairs a bit, and to be honest I would have liked the convenience of having the filters inboard on both sides!

I was about to mention that. Even Slerays had the filters remotely mounted to the inside.
There may be a ready to bolt on kit available for you.

As much as I like a nice looking and clean ER, I can help wondering why would anyone want chrome accents down there.

the C32s on the boat i run had the chrome upgrade... chrome cam covers, chrome pipe to the aftercoolers (that went when the aftercoolers were upgraded...) and... clip on chrome Secondaries and Oil filter covers!! I mean why would anyone want to hide their filters !!! Don’t you want to spot a leak?

just like Lazzara installed powder coated solid doors in front of the chiller rack and the watermaker/fresh water pump rack. One of the first thing I did is pull that crap off. When I walk in the ER I want to see equipment... when running I want to be able to move the camera and see stuff, even zoom in the WM gauges or the chiller control panel.

machinery needs to be clean but functional

Compared to other MAN boats I've been in my covers were in decent shape for plated ones. I don't think the venting had any impact based on the others I've seen. If you've got painted ones, cleaning and respiring is easy. It's the plating that's a problem or a little more tricky to deal with.

Here is a before and after with the least textured wrinkle finish.

There is decent room on that side.. Probably nice to pick up a little more room in between the engines. My tech had a reason why he wasn't a fan of the remotes if you didn't have to have them but I've forgotten the reason. I think in this application it's probably 6 of one and a half dozen of the other.

I've been on a couple of MAN boats that had a gold package meaning the valve covers had some kind of gold plating. Much more sensitive than chrome. The ones I saw pitted in a year or so.

I manage a 2007 Sunseeker predator with 1100 common rails with the white painted valve covers, they're pristine and have never been touch up painted or anything. I saw gold ones that were already pitting on a brand new boat some years back......LOLOLOL

Different on a classic car... you go to a show you open the hood... on a boat nobody but the crew and mechanic see the ER.

Then they (crew and mechanics) curse the guy that spec'd all the mirrors and chrome...
Luv Ya Captholli but that was a curse on the crews forever.
Paint rules.

If I could have done anything I would have done chrome the way they came. Second choice was gloss white but that was very hard to do and looked like a goopy mess if the covers weren't perfect. I really like medium black wrinkle but it's not my first choice.

Warning to anyone trying this, be very careful of gasket surface and the coating that is on the back of the covers. Too much blasting and the interior coating blisters and it would be straight to the oil system
.

Then all is good.
You do have to find the rite crew (pay) to keep that mirror grade up.

I was a deckhand on a megayacht many many moons ago on a 170'+ Feadship. They had me polishing stainless steel in the engine room while on generator for the entire day, many many moons ago.......never again! It was much more elaborate than the ones posted by Captholli as it was a 2 story tall engine room.

I have gold valve covers on 2876 circa 2003 .They are pitted .Initially I painted them with a shiny gold but a couple of seasons later .....heat soak the gold paint lost its shine and dulled down to amber .We removed them and used a stripper to take the paint off ......I just accept the rustic patina of them now .
Interestingly when doing the valves earlier this year the inside is gold and immaculate as new .Its just the exterior surface open to the engine room air ....presume enough obvious salt concentration that pits .

I noted the gasket is a combined metal and rubber thing that sits precisely in a grove on the underside.When fitted sealed from the ambient atmosphere.
My concern “ sending them away “ for plating / professional finishing etc would be that gasket grove gets done ......so when returned the OEM gaskets don’t quite seal as did before .
So I,am just living with my pitied / slightly scabby gold valve covers .