sideways-FC

How do I polish my intake manifold so it looks like this?

_KiD_

just look up a tutorial on polishing on google.You should be able to find something.

lynchX

iTrader: (1)

Always wanna try that out, I don't think theres much difference between polishing a wheel

S8N

iTrader: (1)

Here's a great link http://www.rx7.org/Robinette/polish.htm hope this helps.

hppwdn

Sometimes I'll use a wire wheel to clean it up. Pretty quick way to get all the grime off and make way for some smoother polishing.

sideways-FC

I looked at that link looks like I need to get abunch of sanding and polishing disks and stuff.

lynchX

iTrader: (1)

It's going to be a LOT of sanding the polishing part is usually where you starting to see your result

sideways-FC

yea I know. wheres the best place to get to sanding disks and stuff I need I already have the drill.

mb3000

Use 220 dry to get out all of the casting marks/imperfections.
400 wet to get out the scratches from the 220.
600 wet to get out the scratches from the 400. The piece should have a low luster at this point.

Go to Lowe's and get the polishing compound in the plastic tubes. I would recommend 1,2, &4. You need a different yellow (hard) wheel for each of the #1 & #2 compounds. Don't mix wheels. White (soft) wheel for the last compound.

Prepare to spend 40 hours or more on a perfect piece. Do it right and it will look similar to below.

DoctorExcellent

I'd love to clean up inside my engine bay, but that's almost TOO shiny.

ramo

iTrader: (30)

40 hours! Now I'm demotivated to even try lol.

I wanna do my intake pipes and manifold and alternator and tstat housing. shouldn't a drill with the sand paper mounted make it shorter?

sideways-FC

Im just looking for a nice smooth serface with a dule polish so it always looks clean and dirt and grim wount get baked on to it so it wont take me 40 hours to get that.

mb3000

In that case just 1/2 *** the sanding up to 600 grit and use some Mothers Mag and Aluminum polish.

gerald m

An alternative you might want to try is glass beads under lower air pressure it produces a satin type of finish looks nice and clean , we do a lot of motorcycle heads and so on that way .

The intake you could clear coat after I don't think there is enough heat to bother . just make sure you mask off all gasket surfaces and blow the hell out of it with air to make sure all the beads are out before installing . The thermo housing would be simple to do . The only real down side is the beads get in EVERYTHING and parts need to be cleaned thoroughly before installation . The alternator would need to be totally disassembled including replacing bearings .. IMO polishing looks great for a while but soon begins to tarnish again just from air exposure if nothing else .

It's a lot of work but the end result is super .

ramo

iTrader: (30)

thanks for that, sounds like more work then i thought

what if i just did a certain amount of sanding, not to get a shine, but enough to put on a nice paint job, so that i dont have to worry about the shinyness anymore

since it does go away quickly, and you can just repaint if the paint gets old

is that all safe to assume?

sideways-FC

I thought about clear coating it when I was done so it dosnt tarnish.