My First Attempt @ Polishing Aluminum on a 13B Oil Filter Pedistal & Machined Parts!
 

Well, even though the pics aren't the best quality and the finish on my oil filter pedistal isn't perfect, I'm still proud of myself!

I had almost installed this yesterday on the 12a that's in my '83 GS now, but I just couldn't bare to leave it in such a bland freshly-sandblasted state. I contemplated painting it (I'll clear it once the finish-*where it'll be seen anyway*-is near flawless), but the lure of the three or four year old Craftsman metal polishing kit I've had stored away finally drew me in; it was time I actually used it.

I still can't post pics in a post; having to add them as attachments is kind of a drag at times, but I've got a few attachments at the bottom of this post. It's really hard to see the flaws and detail in these pics, but when I absolutely NEED to post some top-quality pics in this forum I'm sure I'll finally pick up a better digital camera...

Once I get the hang of polishing aluminum, I've got quite a few parts lined up and waiting their turn to become shiny and attractive, like my DCOE velocity stacks, the one-piece DCOE intake manifold on the 12a, the UIM to mount the DCOE to the SE 13b, possibly the SE's LIM, the UIM that I'll use for the MSII EMS EFI set-up (either a modified SE RE-EGI UIM, throttle body, and plenum or a modified N/A S5 UIM, throttle body, and plenum), the top part of the FC 6-port actuators for the EFI configuration, the side tanks and other visable parts on my FC FMOC, the aluminum water pump on the 12a, the S5 water pump housing that I plan on using on the 13b, the front covers for both engines, the outside of the rotor housings for both engines, and possibly other parts like alternator cases and most other factory aluminum parts.

I also have an all aluminum radiator that would look great with the outer shell and end tanks polished, an oxidizing Gilmore drive pulley set that needs repolished and cleared, and quite a few other custom aluminum parts that I hope to fabricate within the next year since I now have access to two 3-axis CNC milling machines, a CNC lathe, a wire EDM (electro-spark discharge machine; think of its' cut quality and its' lack of slag like that of either a CNC laser cutting machine or a water jet), and a shop full of manual machine tools in my new classroom (the welding class with TIGs are right next door to my classroom, so I may even try to build a custom aluminum oil pan and other things that'll need welded-like an aluminum replacement thermostat housing cover for my S5 water pump housing to eliminate the plastic stock piece). I also need a new alternator adjustment bracket to mount a 90-amp S5 alternator and fit the Gilmore drive, a block-mounted mounting plate for an FC leading coil, misc. block-off plates for the EFI configuration, a short shifter with a spacer and new bushings, components for adjustable rear suspension links/arms (definately all four control arms/link bars and possibly adjustable watts link bars or a custom panhard bar set-up), a firewall-triangulated strut tower brace, rear hatch outer latch cover, quarter window vents (aluminum replacements for the curved factory plasic pieces), quarter window rear trim/retaining piece (that ugly plastic triangular piece that's supposed to hide the retaining hardware for the quarter glass, and anything else that I can think of or come up with, draw up, and machine before I finish up there.

Sorry to stray off-topic on the polishing project that I had started the thread about, I'm just excited about having access to the machine tools. If any of you guys can think of something that could be fabricated in a machine shop for our cars from aluminum, steel, brass, or even stainless, toss your ideas my way and I'll see what I can do (only 3-axis CNC machines are there though, so no DCOE angled emulsion tubes like the F16 are possible with a single machine out there-I'd have to turn the basic shape, drill the 90* holes, then remove the piece and set it up each time for each angled hole; a long process for such an inexpensive part). Any and all ideas would be welcomed and greatly appreciated!

Sincerely,

So uh, how did you go about polishing it?

looks pretty nice!

Well, I actually had two polishing kits; one from Harbor Freight that only included some wool buffing wheels and a shank and the other from Sears that had the polishing compounds, a shank, and three or four loose sewn buffing wheels. I took a bit of rough sandpaper to the rear of the pedistal where there was some casting flash to smooth it out along with a few rough spots in other places...

Besides that, I just used the Harbor Freight 2" wool wheel in my Dewalt 3/8" variable speed drill with the brown Craftsman polishing compound to buff the part first (I went over it a couple of times), then I changed out to the shank and polishing wheel to the 2" Craftsman and used the white compound around the part a couple more times. I wiped it off with a rag, and that was it so far...

You should consider a clear powder coat instead of spraying it with clear. I could never get a clear coat to go on aluminum that well. Powder coat will last longer too, and be easier to clean. Polished aluminum corrodes easily so you do need to coat it with something.

That's a good idea; the hi-temp clear I used didn't stick great to it, but I'll polish the clear and see how it looks after that...

I have a powder coating machine but I don't have any clear powder. I'm pretty sure I've seen it in the Eastwood catalog, so I'll have to pick some up and try it out before clearing any other parts. Thanks for the tip!

BTW-I've started on polishing my FC FMOC, the SE 13b front cover, and the RB DCOE UIM (damn, that thing has the roughest surface, not to mention the massive casting ridges and tool marks on the inside of it). FC leading coil base, S4 CAS, T04E compressor housing, and the tops of the FC 6-port actuators are next on the waiting list...

That is going to be awesome. Have you ever seen anyone polish the rotor housings? It would probably take forever but it would look sweet.

I've seen pics of engines with polished rotor housings before, but never any info on how long it took or how much they paid to have somebody do it. I really don't think that the rotor housings will be that bad, compared to the front cover anyway; polishing that thing SUCKS!

I've been busy working on the car when the weather's been cooperating and school's kept me pretty busy lately, too, so I haven't really made much progress on the polishing. I'll keep at it as time permits when it's raining or nasty out and I can't work on the car, but I'm also replacing the red carpeted interior components with black vinyl too. Things like my kick panels, door panel inserts, and a few other interior trim pieces have already been stripped of the red carpet and I've cut the vinyl for both kick panels and even glued it in place on the drivers side. I still need to find a good stapler I can use for this upholstery stuff to finish off the edges, but that's slowly coming together too.

I've got a couple of pics of the polished oil pedestal installed. I just need to find some crush washers for my -10AN adapters and finish polishing the tanks and top of my FC oil cooler and I can check off the oiling system from my "to do/to finish" list...

I did the same thing with the cast marks a few weeks back. no ruff edges. How much would a clear powder coat run? I thought powder coats don't stick to aluminum too well. don't they have to be coated in somthing else first?

Powdercoat should stick to aluminum no prob BUT: _clear_ powdercoats might not mask the fact that often aluminum changes COLOR (brightness) when heated in the powdercoat process!! Tried a clear on an aluminum SA waffle wheel , came back MUCH darker (as in: anyone want it??). So I'd shoot it with a silver color rather than a clear, then no issues.

Stu Aull
80GS
Alaska

The high-temp rattle can clear sucks and doesn't stick well, even to my "not-so-brightly" polished surface. BUT, I wouldn't have tried polishing the part if I were just going to powdercoat it silver afterwards, I would've just cleaned it well...

I still haven't had the chance to pick up and try any clear powder, but I don't think my parts are going to get much exposure to the elements within the next month or two at least. I HAD to join my local SCCA region so the old lady knew that I meant business when I said I was wrenching/working/polishing/upholstering/loving my car.

*I've had it longer than I've had her, so guess which one comes first?*

Oh-here's a pic of some shiny (not really polished yet) Gilmore drive pulleys and the FC FMOC that I've started on. The pulleys had an almost finished machined surface when I bought them, but had gathered a bit of oxidation since then. No polishing compound or buffing wheels were used on these (yet), just a bit of elbow grease and NEVR-DULL, then wiped with a clean shop rag...

PS/BTW-Don't use NEVR-DULL to try to correct cloudy high-temp clear on polished aluminum parts, it just doesn't work and will resemble a dull coat. You can see my mistake on the drivers side of the oil filter pedestal above, which I had mistakenly thought was the rear side (silly me :rolleyes:)...

**OH**-Does anybody have any suggestions as to how to go about accurately adding timing marks to the E-shaft Gilmore drive pulley? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, except for the ones telling me to reinstall the main pulley and eyeball it to make the mark, I have access to rotary tables/dividers at school (Machine Tool Technology!), and could possibly notch the cogs in a drill press with a tiny bit/end mill, but a faster idea would be great! Thanks again, guys!

Other pics are the first CAD/CAM part that I drew up using MasterCAM 9, an excellent program for CNC manufacturing and design. This part's just a practice piece, a little over 2-1/4" wide, 3-1/2" tall, and 3/4" thick T6061 aluminum (scaled down from original MC9 tutorial specs). I've got plenty more FB and DCOE specific parts drawn up, in the design phase, and in the planning stage or in the works. Maybe some of them will become available if there's enough of a demand. I'll start a NEW thread in the proper section and link to it here if any of you guys would prefer with those parts when they've been completed and fully tested. FYI, I transferred into this Machine Tool Technology program from "Pre-Engineering," so I at least have a *small* understanding if not a bit more knowledge that can be applied to produce reliable and consistent parts that fit correctly EVERY TIME...

Guys, get your gears turning and toss me some cool or great ideas to design, build, and test for our FBs!

Again, thanks for all of your feedback, criticism, and thoughts; we need as much collaboration from this community as possible to come up with the parts we all drool over, crave, and want to see produced for our cars...

Damn Computer!
 

Slow computer, duplicate post.

Mr. Mod(s), please remove this post if at all possible.

Thanks!

Here's how I ended up, strictly thru hand-polishing. 2000-grit sandpaper wet-sand followed up by hand-rubbing with wadding polish. Not perfect, but not too shabby, either:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...f/P9070012.jpg

DivinDriver, lookin' good! I'd bet if you took a couple of passes with some brown polishing compound (bar-style) and a few more after that with some white compound you'd have a little curvy mirror that holds your oil filter.

I've finished another part, my FC FMOC. Jeezus, in the classified section selling a spare dizzy, brass wheeled the part and inspired me to get some crap finished (and more started last night and into this evening-that's right, no rest for the wicked!). I used his same technique on my "spare" dizzy, but I don't think I'm totally finished with it yet; I'd like to polish it, too.

I also started on my FC Leading coil base/tower/aluminum part that I had sandblasted awhile back. I had already powdercoated the bottom cover plate with mounting flanges a matte black that matched the coil itself pretty closely, so I figured that the shiny finish was in order for the aluminum part between the other two. I'm still not finished with that one yet, but it won't take much longer; I need to find some smaller diameter buffing wheels, some triangular and rigid "buffs," or cut down one of the wool wheels I have to reach the recessed corners and ridges in it. All in all, it doesn't look that bad now after I've wiped it down-it's just not as shiny as I'd like...