Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

Got bored with nothing to do today so I decided to do some polishing work to "further" dress up that engine bay :) Can never have enough bling under there to show the cops ~

Anyways, decided to finish off the half hearted job I did on the BOV pipe so I removed it and got to work... took the following steps:

1) Removed all the unsightly cast marks that do nothing but make it look ugly

2) Removed any unecessary chunks of metal used for mounting (only the ones not used)

3) Prepped the whole pipe's surface for polishing

4) Polished :happy:

5) Got very dirty :no::);)

Anyways, whole process took about 3 hours and the result came up really good :) Almost looks like a custom piece of metal was fabricated. I only did the bits that you can see from opening the bonnet and walking around it; didn't bother with the underneath side.

Here are some pics; comparision with the stock un-polished pipe that I had lying around the shop:

post-19974-1154261680.jpgpost-19974-1154261720.jpgpost-19974-1154261706.jpgpost-19974-1154261729.jpg

But then I got even more bored and decided to polish the standard BOV and fit that in atmo setup; getting sick of the flutter sound :) This is what I came up with...

post-19974-1154261921.jpgpost-19974-1154261930.jpgpost-19974-1154261939.jpg

Fitted it and hoped for the best... didn't really like the sound so I took it off and drilled 4 whistle holes into the chamber pipe... re-fitted and went for another drive; perfect!!! Nice and subtle pssshhhtt; can hardly hear it and with a bit of throttle control; can actually have it on/off :P

Anyways; just thought I'd tell my story for the day...

If anyone wants more info; just PM me :)

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/128210-got-bored-did-some-polishing/
Share on other sites

  • Replies 48
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Thanks mate... actually was my second polishing job of the day; first one was for one of our customers... he did it so it looked like a continuation of his FMIC pipe into the throttle body instead of looking real ugly from the top half upwards.

Started off using an angle grinder to get rid of any of the stuff I didn't want on the pipe; then used various types of discs to get it all smooth and ready for polishing.

Polishing was done on a bench grinder with different types of wheels and compounds... finished it off with a kerosene bath to remove any polish left (not good for engine) and voila!

Nice... that would've taken ages!!!

haha yer its not a quick process, ive had soo many mates come and see it and say oh ill do my rocker covers only to see them give up half way through and leave em dull as hell. should see how damn black my face and arms are after spending hours in front of the buffer.

worst part is they are spotless until u install them and then touch them with oil/greasy hands then it marks em and they require a rebuff :)

definately worth it in the end though, ive done, rocker covers, coil cover, alternator, intercooler, timing cover, intercooler piping, plenum, throttle bodies, throttle cable setup and anything else thats made of ally in the engine bay :)

thats actually my old cars engine bay its now got a single turbo so i had to put all those twin turbo pipes away for good after all that effort. those intake pipes are hpc coated not polished thats why they aint shiny.

so u gonna do your rocker covers and stuff now or u think its too much stuffing around???

Edited by CruiseLiner

who that looks great... i should polish tha standard one i got before i put it in the enginebay so it goes with everything else...

a front facing plenum looks awesome too. makes the engine bay look way cleaner without intercooler piping snaking its way everywhere...

My rocker covers are already done... most of the metal in the engine bay is done actually; only have the intake plenum and throttle body to be done and that's about all...

I've even going to the extent of polishing up all the brass bits (all the brackets etc) to make it all match up and shiny!

You are right, it does take ages - I guess we're lucky because we have all the tools etc from doing it as part of the business.

Did you use all different compounds to get that sort of a finish? I find that the compounds reduce the time involved by heaps...

Question: are your turbo comp covers all polished too :)

and how did you go about removing those cast marks or chuncks?

Guess if youre going too that much trouble to make it all nice and shiny wouldnt it be better while its in bits too get them anodised (assuming theyre an aluminium/aluminium alloy?) and keep corrosion off.

Never have too paint or polish them again either!

My rocker covers are already done... most of the metal in the engine bay is done actually; only have the intake plenum and throttle body to be done and that's about all...

I've even going to the extent of polishing up all the brass bits (all the brackets etc) to make it all match up and shiny!

You are right, it does take ages - I guess we're lucky because we have all the tools etc from doing it as part of the business.

Did you use all different compounds to get that sort of a finish? I find that the compounds reduce the time involved by heaps...

Question: are your turbo comp covers all polished too :)

and how did you go about removing those cast marks or chuncks?

sounds like u done most of it then :) no my turbo comp cover isnt done (wasnt done on the low mount twins either), my hks turbo is a funny rough finish and it says hks t04z on the front and polishing around letters is a pain and half done jobs look worse than not doing it at all.

this is the new engine bay (sorry the photo was taken with shockin light so its hard to see)

IMG_1516.jpg

i remove the rough casting marks with a round flapper sanding wheels on the drill, and sometimes a grinder with a flat sanding disk if its really rough. then use 240 grit sand paper, then 400 grit, then 600, and then 1200, then onto a hard buffing wheel, then a medium buffing wheel and then the polishing wheel (always using same compound on every step, white stuff, unsure of the name).

cheers

The anodized look doesn't really do it for me; too "dull" IMO. Another factor is that it costs too much to do.

Keeping the parts polished/shiny is easy - once every month just wipe everything down with some kerosene and it's like new!

You should look into the different compounds available for polishing wheels; you'll find it'll cut the times down and give you a better finish.

Also; since you're polishing it on the grinder - there's not really much need for the sand paper; it'll all get smooth once it's polished.

But I like your work; it's very very nice!

I'll take some photos of my engine bay and I'll post it up too :)

You should look into the different compounds available for polishing wheels; you'll find it'll cut the times down and give you a better finish.

Also; since you're polishing it on the grinder - there's not really much need for the sand paper; it'll all get smooth once it's polished.

But I like your work; it's very very nice!

I'll take some photos of my engine bay and I'll post it up too :)

can u get the names of the different types u use for different stages? ill be doing my other rb26/30 engine in the near future so any tips to shortcut things is a bonus :)

CruiseLiner: I'll talk to my business partner who purchases all our polishing supplies. I'll PM you if he tells me; he's pretty anal about the stuff - I've just picked it up from watching him do it all the time.

Munna1: Totally agree :)

Here are some really crap photos of some work we did for a R32GTR just before the customer sold it... I think the goal was to increase the "value" of the car somewhat, and/or make it so it's that bit more attractive?

post-19974-1154300678.jpg

post-19974-1154300748.jpg

post-19974-1154300781.jpg

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now



  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • I came here to note that is a zener diode too base on the info there. Based on that, I'd also be suspicious that replacing it, and it's likely to do the same. A lot of use cases will see it used as either voltage protection, or to create a cheap but relatively stable fixed voltage supply. That would mean it has seen more voltage than it should, and has gone into voltage melt down. If there is something else in the circuit dumping out higher than it should voltages, that needs to be found too. It's quite likely they're trying to use the Zener to limit the voltage that is hitting through to the transistor beside it, so what ever goes to the zener is likely a signal, and they're using the transistor in that circuit to amplify it. Especially as it seems they've also got a capacitor across the zener. Looks like there is meant to be something "noisy" to that zener, and what ever it was, had a melt down. Looking at that picture, it also looks like there's some solder joints that really need redoing, and it might be worth having the whole board properly inspected.  Unfortunately, without being able to stick a multimeter on it, and start tracing it all out, I'm pretty much at a loss now to help. I don't even believe I have a climate control board from an R33 around here to pull apart and see if any of the circuit appears similar to give some ideas.
    • Nah - but you won't find anything on dismantling the seats in any such thing anyway.
    • Could be. Could also be that they sit around broken more. To be fair, you almost never see one driving around. I see more R chassis GTRs than the Renault ones.
    • Yeah. Nah. This is why I said My bold for my double emphasis. We're not talking about cars tuned to the edge of det here. We're talking about normal cars. Flame propagation speed and the amount of energy required to ignite the fuel are not significant factors when running at 1500-4000 rpm, and medium to light loads, like nearly every car on the road (except twin cab utes which are driven at 6k and 100% load all the time). There is no shortage of ignition energy available in any petrol engine. If there was, we'd all be in deep shit. The calorific value, on a volume basis, is significantly different, between 98 and 91, and that turns up immediately in consumption numbers. You can see the signal easily if you control for the other variables well enough, and/or collect enough stats. As to not seeing any benefit - we had a couple of EF and EL Falcons in the company fleet back in the late 90s and early 2000s. The EEC IV ECU in those things was particularly good at adding in timing as soon as knock headroom improved, which typically came from putting in some 95 or 98. The responsiveness and power improved noticeably, and the fuel consumption dropped considerably, just from going to 95. Less delta from there to 98 - almost not noticeable, compared to the big differences seen between 91 and 95. Way back in the day, when supermarkets first started selling fuel from their own stations, I did thousands of km in FNQ in a small Toyota. I can't remember if it was a Starlet or an early Yaris. Anyway - the supermarket servos were bringing in cheap fuel from Indonesia, and the other servos were still using locally refined gear. The fuel consumption was typically at least 5%, often as much as 8% worse on the Indo shit, presumably because they had a lot more oxygenated component in the brew, and were probably barely meeting the octane spec. Around the same time or maybe a bit later (like 25 years ago), I could tell the difference between Shell 98 and BP 98, and typically preferred to only use Shell then because the Skyline ran so much better on it. Years later I found the realtionship between them had swapped, as a consequence of yet more refinery closures. So I've only used BP 98 since. Although, I must say that I could not fault the odd tank of United 98 that I've run. It's probably the same stuff. It is also very important to remember that these findings are often dependent on region. With most of the refineries in Oz now dead, there's less variability in local stuff, and he majority of our fuels are not even refined here any more anyway. It probably depends more on which SE Asian refinery is currently cheapest to operate.
    • You don't have an R34 service manual for the body do you? Have found plenty for the engine and drivetrain but nothing else
×
×
  • Create New...