How To Polish Parts?

[larryd]

Can someone give me a basic howto and what Id need to polish the valve cover, intake manifold, and possibly calipers?

[Blue Bomber]

PM Xracer729. He seems to be the resident intake manifold polisher. ;)

[WRENCHHEAD]

or Jesse IL

[aZnTrD2k]

look here. (http://www.rx7turboturbo.com/robrobinette/polish.htm)

[yuloose]

^^^^thanx im thinkin of polishing my stock wheels

[oneflyasianguy]

that looks easy

[larryd]

I wish there was some place we could pay for quality work but wouldnt charge a small fortune.

[Jesse IL]

Whatever you do, don't use sandpaper! The polish jobs where someone has started with extremely coarse paper look good in pictures on the internet, but in real life you can see all sorts of sanding marks in the metal. I have a whole bike frame to prove it. Plus it is really only easy with samdpaper on flat surfaces. Polishing costs alot because there is a fair amount of equipment involved, alot of expensive abrasive bits that wear out, and it is time consuming.

[redline18]

what about having it powdercoated....i know that bullet1 had his powdercoated in a polished finish and it matches his injen polished covers almost exactly

http://www.teamcelica.com/members/2/bullet1celi18.jpg
click here for more pics
http://www.teamcelica.com/members/display.asp?ID=Bullet1

[larryd]

Thats powder coated?

[00CericaRuss]

yeah.. but the intake manifold is still grainy looking

[larryd]

How did you do yours Russ?

[evil eye]

Couldn't a specialty shop do it? I thought it wasn't that expensive of a process. i.e. $100 or so if you remove the intake manifold and bring it to them.

[00CericaRuss]

i paypal'd ctkrider money and he shipped out his polished manifold to me since he got the blitz s/c :D

I did my valve cover though... lots of sanding and polishing involved. I pretty much googled for aluminum polishing and found instructions.

it's a time consuming process

[Blue Bomber]

Is it possible to polish by hand, or are power/air tools required for the finishing shine?

[larryd]

Man, I would really prefer to have someone else do it :)

[00CericaRuss]

Originally posted by Blue Bomber
Is it possible to polish by hand, or are power/air tools required for the finishing shine?

yeah.. i got a few polishing discs for my drill ... rest was by hand, but you can take the major thick parts down w/a grinder

Originally posted by larryd
Man, I would really prefer to have someone else do it :)

lazy ass

[larryd]

Originally posted by 00CericaRuss

lazy ass

and proud of it

[redline18]

the powdercoating might not be so "grainy looking" if you sanded it smooth first and then had it powdercoated

[Jesse IL]

Originally posted by Blue Bomber
Is it possible to polish by hand, or are power/air tools required for the finishing shine?

Possibly yes, easy no. Especially in areas wher it would be hard to move the sandpapre back and forth easily. So what people do is get really coarse paper to try and take the metal down quickly. Then they leave scratches in the metal that don't get removed by later steps. Honestly, the only good way to do it is with high speed power tools. I'm talking like 10,000 rpm grinders and special abrasive wheels.

[QWKsilvr808]

count me in as a member of the "paid someone else to do it club" for this one. :thumbup:

[evil eye]

There are shops that do this. :) I'll be taking my car to one soon.

[larryd]

Yea, I'm working on a deal to bring on a shop as a sponsor to do this for all of us now.

I think theres definitely a market for it if the prices are right.

[oneflyasianguy]

Originally posted by redline18

http://www.teamcelica.com/members/2/bullet1celi18.jpg


so clean, it brings a tear to my eye:drool:

[evil eye]

Originally posted by larryd
Yea, I'm working on a deal to bring on a shop as a sponsor to do this for all of us now.

I think theres definitely a market for it if the prices are right.

Wow, if you can do that I am so in. :)

For both the intake manifold and valve cover right?

[larryd]

Theyll be able to do anything. Im still working on it though, I know they can do powdercoating but Im not positive on the polishing yet.

[evil eye]

keep us updated Larry, thanks. :thumbup:

[larryd]

I will, I'm still waiting for an email back.