Metal Polishing Question

[Mike]

How would you suggest polishing the intake manifold on the v6? I think its the intake manifold large aluminum piece on the top with a plate bolted to it that say honda.

[timot_one]

I found this after googling aluminum polish.  This looked like it might fit the bill.

Start off with a DA use 180 grit paper till you get all the anodizing off the frame. Then move to 220 grit, then to 400, 600, 800 and finally 1000 with the air powered DA. When you get this far your frame is pretty close to polishing. Next pull out the 1000 grit wet and dry paper, sand by hand and sand in one direction only, cross sanding will cause scratches. Then move on to 1500 then to 2000 all with wet or dry paper, now your frame is ready to polish.

Get out a handy car buffer with polishing wheel and use a rubbing compound ruff cut for automotive buffing, this will take a bit of time for the first time polisher. I use a car buffer for my frame jobs, rims are too small to use it on, keep pad damp so that compound doesn't ball up or gum the pad. Once you are done with this stage clean pad and use an automotive polish such as Perfect-It III! Re buff the frame one more time with this and your ready to use Mother's Aluminum Polish on a baby diaper or polishing rag, remember with the final polish to keep your rubbing motion in one direction. For rims I use a automotive paint stripper. Remove all paint and start sanding same as above , but instead of using a car buffer I use a high grade DIE GRINDER with polishing wheel and same as above.

I hope that this helped you out, its really not that hard but it takes a while to get the results you want. The first frame I polished and I did it the exact same way I told you took me 1 hour on each side to fully polish my frame to chrome like finish.

[Mike]

That is the general method I plan to use. I just fear that because of the sizes of the area's i'll be working in it will all have to be done by hand.

[timot_one]

Dremels are always nice to use too.  If you want, I can let you borrow one of mine.

[Mike]

I have a shitty cordless one. But the Battery sucks, and I may need to go out and buy a corded one. They seem to be a great tool

[timot_one]

You can get a corded one for like $30.  It's definitely a great tool.  I have 3 because I keep breaking them.

[Mike]

I might go shopping tonight can you reccomend a good place to by polishing wheels etc?

[timot_one]

For a Dremel?  They usually have polishing and buffing wheels that come with them.  You can also buy the multi-pack that comes with all kinds of attachments, as well as individual parts.  Most places like Home Depot or Lowes sell them.

[Mike]

I didnt know if there was an online store or something that offered a real big assortment of stuff.

[RTexasF]

I've never attempted something like this so I'm out.

[Mike]

I'm going to try to grab Skizot's ear he's god one of the cleanest engine bays i've seen, and I know he's done alot of polishing.