RX7Club.com - Mazda RX7 Forum - Polishing Exhaust back to spec

I've had this Apexi N1 exhaust sitting in my garage for about 6 months, i took it off the car because of the noise and the way it looked. the metal was all oxidized and was showing its age from the piping to the can, so my weekend project became of this with only a small tub of metal polish and a lot of elbow grease i was able to bring back the shine the best i could. i would say start to finish i have about 2 1/2 hours of hard scrubbing into the exhaust, and with the way it turned out im going to be putting it back on the car. while i believe it could of come out better with the use of power tools the results are very good for just a wash and a hand polish.

this is what i started with the whole exhaust was of this discoloration.

http://i723.photobucket.com/albums/w...g?t=1306801337
http://i723.photobucket.com/albums/w...g?t=1306801337
http://i723.photobucket.com/albums/w...g?t=1306801337

starting the process, this is with the polish applied the tip was pretty bad and showed little improvement even with multiple applications of polish.

http://i723.photobucket.com/albums/w...g?t=1306801337

using mothers Polish

http://i723.photobucket.com/albums/w...g?t=1306801337

mid process

http://i723.photobucket.com/albums/w...g?t=1306801337
http://i723.photobucket.com/albums/w...g?t=1306801337

all the black residue is from the dirt that was deep in the metal.

http://i723.photobucket.com/albums/w...g?t=1306801337
http://i723.photobucket.com/albums/w...g?t=1306801337

some end results on the can and piping closest to the can.

http://i723.photobucket.com/albums/w...g?t=1306801527
http://i723.photobucket.com/albums/w...g?t=1306801527

while it came out good, there is a few parts i wish i could of got better. with the mass amount of heat this exhaust has seen i noticed the worst areas were where the system bolts to the midpipe and on the tip. those areas are were i was unable to correct the damage done over time.