Decay

I've got my UIM, throttle body, and strut bar ends off and ready for polishing. I gave it a try for a few days but I can't see myself getting the look I want, so I took the parts to the local Hog Shop to have them do it for me and the polish dude recommended against having those parts polished on a street driven/non-show car. He said there is too great a risk of corrosion for moisture and said he could clear-coat it but that will dull the finish big time. He suggested that I have them powdercoated in silver, so I handed over the ends to the strut bar to get them done and see how I like them.

Anyone wth polished parts see any signs of corrosion? I like to keep my bay as clean as possible and frequently shoot it with the hose. When I went to the Bike Shop I really wanted the polished look but he sorta deterred me. I am pretty sure that there are a number of guys on here with polshed parts on street driven cars. If some of you clearcoated them, did you feel that the clear took a lot of the lustre away? Let me know what you think. Thanks.

-Dan in PA

airn

i really dont see that as a problem especially if you use some polishing cream every once in a while. if you get them clear coated they will look like ***. the finish will turn a dull yellow. powder coating is a good idea but polishing should have no problems. the intake is made out of aluminum which has a good amount of corrosion resistance. it would have to sit in salt water or somthing to really need to worry about it. i say go with the polishing and just keep up with keeping it clean and you will have no problems.

Decay

Yeah I will definitely be keeping the parts clean...would the underside of the strut bar ends be especially at risk because the water would get trapped? I dunno...I figured polishing would be fine but this guy seemed pretty adamant that the polished aluminum would corrode.

airn

if you are unshure i would go to a few more polishing shops and see what they all think. as far as the under side of the strut bar ends goes i say paint them it will protect them and you cant see it. and the intake is already exposed i dont think it has a factory coating(i may be wrong) so i dont see what the siffrence polishing would make.

fdracer

he's talking outta his ***. aluminum doesn't oxidize like iron or steel. you're fine

airn

thats what i'm saying

TwinTriangles

Exactly...my question is if your trying to keep your polished goods clean why the hell would you shoot a water hose under the hood!?
I just wipe mine down every once in a while...

paw140

Aluminum DOES oxidize. It just doesn't do it as bad as iron. I've heard that polished aluminum is a pain in the *** to maintain. But I'm sure someone on this forum will have personal experience and chime in.

TomsRX7

Well bud, since you did go to a hog shop, it sounds to me like you were talking to ONE, LAZY, FAT *** with a 12 inch long grey goatee, biker guy, huh? What I've always found is that when someone CAN'T do something, they recommend against it with all kinds of bullshit reasons they pull out their ***.

The problem with the parts you want done is that they have a lot of little corners, holes, and hard to reach places. So it's a bitch and takes a good amount of time. There are LOTS of guys who get this stuff polished and never have a problem. Anyhow, from what I've seen here in the forum, there is an other member who you can put them in a box and send them to. He supposedly does great work. That might be a good choice cuz he probably knows all the tricks and has the exact tools to get in to all the areas. Your other choice is simply to check out some other shops by your house. Let me know who you go with cuz I'm looking to get my stuff done too. (Don't forget your alternator- that thing looks AWESOME when it's polished)

-Tom

Mr. Stock

Aluminum does oxidize but not in the sense that it "rusts".

The polished parts will lose its luster over time. It will begin to look somewhat like what the parts look like before polishing but not anywhere nearly as bad. Basically, the polished parts will lose its shine or sheen as it oxidizes.

The polished parts will require occasional touch-up to restore the shine. This will take some elbow grease and aluminum polish. Much easier if you have a buffer.

I have heard that clearcoating the polished parts will keep it from oxidizing. This makes sense but I have no experience with it.

Basically, what the guy at the hog shop is telling is not true. I am, however, perplexed why he didn't try to get you to chrome all the parts. Maybe, he doesn't do chroming.

Toadman

It's a "Jap beer-can" thing and he was just being polite I think.

Mr. Stock

Now, the alternator is best chromed. Since chromed parts requires minimal if any maintenance. But with clearcoating after polishing, this may be better than chroming.

BTW, I see that you are in California. TwinTurboTeddy is the one who does polishing. He does great work. But sometimes very difficult to get in contact with. He is located in the LA area.

TomsRX7

Right on, thanks for the tip on TwinTurboTeddy. I knew I saw someone on here who did that. And yeah, I agree with you, chroming the alternator is probably better than having it polished.

As for clear coating, I think I agree with the other members' posts that it will probably yellow and dull. I once clear coated an intake manifold for a V-8 engine and I witnessed that for myself. So I think it may be better to leave it un-coated so that you can hand polish it with SimiChrome every so often.

Take care,
Tom

TheCrazyAZN

iTrader: (2)

How about CERAMIC Coat it all, hehehe. It adds a nice coat of heat protectant and not to mention that nice shine that you want. Though, it wont be Smooth shine, it is a shine none the less. There is a bit of a rough finish on the parts but i cant complain at all, and no one else that has seen the engine has complained. And my car i try to street the car as much as i can, no problems that i can see. Also, ceramic coating covers the WHOLE peice, nothing is left untouched but the insides. Polishing usually is only on the visible parts. If you are particular and tuned to as much detail as i am with my engine, than you wont like the fact that the unvisible side is not shiny, lol, im a freak. I got my work done through www.gothamracing.com they are great guys. Give thier web site a look see, tell em Huy sent ya
Huy

TomsRX7

Huy, so the pics you just posted here, are those ceramic coated or polished? If they are ceramic coated, can you give us a closer pic of the finish? It's hard to tell in these pics. Also, can you give us info on how much it cost, either the price for everything, or even better, the price for each part if you know it.

How about some pics of the car after you put everything back?

Take care,
Tom

rx7raca

wow those pics look great. i wanna get this done as well

Decay

Aight I guess I will do what I originally wanted and get the parts polished...

The interesting thing is that this guy did everything; the polishing, chroming, and powdercoating for the shop. And surprisingly no, he wasn't a big fat ***, but looked about 20 with blonde hair. He saw the parts and asked me what they came off of and I said "RX7" and he said, "Really? Turbo? I was looking at one of those but I heard they are reliability nightmares." I didn't respond to that last comment (lol), but it wasn't like he was telling me to get it powercoated so he could keep my business. If I chose polishing, he would have done that, too.

I'll call back tomorrow and tell him to polish the stuff, and have him try to clearcoat the undersides or something. Hopefully all you guys are right about aluminum not oxidizing . I plan on hand polishing it feverishly, but I also like to give the motor a spray with the Simple Green and hose to keep it pretty much spotless. Guess I shouldn't do that anymore

-Dan in PA

Mr. Stock

Don't have him clearcoat the underside. What purpose would that serve?

Trust me on the stuff not rusting. I have had my parts polished for several years. They just need polishing by hand with Simichrome or Mother's aluminum polish about once per year.

My alternator is chromed. The only maintenance that it needs is that it needs to be dusted.

BTW, I tried to get a Harley shop to do my polishing and chroming. They told me they don't do car parts. It's just as well.

Decay

Ok Mr. Stock, I'm putting all of my stock in you!!! It's your head if my parts start falling apart

Mr. Stock, is the top and bottom faces of your UIM polished? So you pull it off once a year to polish it? No biggie, just wondering if maybe you only did the top side. I was thinking clear the undersides of the UIM, TB, and strut bar ends if he does in fact polish the bottoms. Guess there is no need...thanks again!

maxcooper

I had my IC end tanks, IC pipes, and UIM polished. I took them to a place called ABC Chrome in Michigan and they were cool about it, but they listed the parts as a radiator (IC), carburator (UIM), and pipes. I thought that was kind of funny. I guess they just weren't used to "import" parts.

They came out freaking beautiful from the shop, but they are much more dull now. Coolant and water do oxidize the aluminum, but as mentioned in other posts, they don't rust. They just get water spots with a white-ish color and lose luster over time. You can polish them with Nev-r-dull and other aluminum polishes to make them pretty again, but they will probably never look as good as they do when you pick them up. I am too lazy for the polishing maintenance, so mine will stay polished-but-dull. They still look nice, but they aren't show-quality.

It might be worth considering some kind of ceramic coating for the UIM at least. That silver stuff looks pretty nice (though far short of a polished appearance) and should probably be easy to maintain. The thermal properties of the ceramic coating should help keep intake temps down. That should be good for some power and extra reliability. It would be great to do the LIM for the same reason. The "hot stuff" between the turbo compressor outlets and the IC (including the "in" end tank on the IC) are probably best left uncoated since they are hotter than the engine bay anyway under boost. The IC "out" end tank, the piping between the IC and the throttle body, the throttle body (though this might not be worth the hassle to ensure that it still works correctly -- no throttle sticking), and the UIM and LIM could all benefit from some thermal coatings, though.

-Max

paw140

Why would you pull the UIM to polish the BOTTOM of it? You can't even see it.

Mr. Stock

OK! But how about your head if the parts don't rust?

The only underside of the UIM that is polished is the front part which can be seen. The underside does not need to be polished since the only reason to do it is for aesthetics. No one can see the underside unless they use a mirror underneath. Oh, there is a very small additional benefit - it does reduce the weight of the parts

I generally hand polish once a year with Mother's.

ArchangelX

I might possibly get some of my components Ceramic coated by outside sourcing by Pineapple Racing when I get my engine rebuilt.

I'll take before & after pics...

Mazdabation

iTrader: (9)

Just to add to this thread.... if there is any one that knows about maintenance, its me.

I have had Two motorcycles polished from front to back.
frame, rims, swing arm, heal plates etc..etc

I do find that harley guys wont touch any thing that is not a harley cause....well thats them.

i polished my first bike myself....very time consuming. took the whole winter. But i saved money.
The second bike was done at a shop here that specializes in polishing. Cost me $2000

Now for the answers...ill make it short.
It will NOT rust if it is aluminum(steel in a second)

it will oxidize from heat...turn hazy. but it polishes back to normal.

it will never keep the same look as when you first get it done. This because it scratches real easy(those lovely fine swirls you get, like in your paint). it will be very shinney, just not mirror effect anymore.
Up keep is very high...every weekend.

You just cant clean your engine bay with anything. if there is any sign of acid or harsh chemical, it will stain the polish. and it wont come out unless you have it repolished.

there is more but......

My opinion on it....it is beautifull.
Very hard to up keep(even more if your a picky person)
if its a couple small things ..yes i would. not a lot to up keep.

if its all kinds of crap under the hood...no i would not.
why because you limit your self to cleaning materials that wont harm the polish. If you have alot you are bound to to spray something that will ruin it.

personaly from experience I would just chrome it then.

hope this helps

Shawn

Mr. Stock

Several disadvantages of chroming.
1)It adds weight.
2)It is costly. To chrome a part, it first has to be polished.
3)It may change the heat dissipation properties of the parts.
4)I am not sure but it may not be durable in high temp applications such as LIM, UIM, etc.