aircraft stripper is what you are gonna need to get the black shit off the valve cover at first,..spray the aircraft stripper on there and let it sit for like 15 mins to eat away at the black shit,..do this until all the shit is completely off the valve cover,.until you have it down to bare metal,...now i apologize that i dont know the specific grits of sandpapers because i did this a long time ago,..but you do start with a rougher grit,..and then gradually the grit gets finer,..and yes you do wetsand,...after you have sanded the bastard down till it starts to somewhat shine,..you will need a polishing agent to get it to somewhat "bling",..i used eagle one polishing,...just a warning though,..after finishing the valve cover,..you will hate sanding forevAr :chuckles: ,...i was pretty much day long process for my valve cover