I've seen cast alu ones for VW engines like that, but they wouldn't fit your engine. 

I'm sure they'd fit..just not on the engine 

A busy day today, started by shaping the top of the cover, and adding a chamfer to the leading edge of the fins:



I've left the bottom straight as the oil cooler will be mounted down there.

Next it got media blasted to give it a cast effect:




Fresh from the foundry!

I then took a quick break and fitted a new bugtech shifter to my single cab. The difference is amazing, it makes my Gene Berg in my other van feel like stock! I also fitted a hurst handle.



Back to the cover, I removed the "casting marks" on the fins with some 60, then 120, 180, 240 followed by 400. I followed that with some compound and here's the finished result:




I'm well pleased! It seems such a far fetched idea when the lengths of alu bar arrived, but it turned out better than I expected. The next step is drill some holes to mount this on it:



You may have noticed 2 of the studs were left long on one side, that's because the cover will also be used to mount the expansion tank:



Once all the holes are drilled and I've figured out how to mount it to the engine, the whole cover will be degreased and then laquered. That's tomorrow's job.