Polishing Intake Plenum

[RellikZephyr]

my car (R32 GTR) is down at the moment (damn air regulator, by the way for anyone thinking of using Subaru Upper Engine Cleaner to clean the engine DONT!!)

and it will be down for the weekend so i thought i would use the downtime to polish my intake plenum, coil cover and twin turbo pipe thing (intake plenum and coil cover both painted Black)

so i was just wondering has anyone done this before and have some recommendations or interesting little tid bits/ products that may help or be good

could use info for tutorial on how to do this...

any info would be muchly appreciated

Thanks

RellikZephyr

[StageZilla]

did this in the back shed

trust me if u aint got patience its a nightmare

[Dahtone Racing]

chrome it

much easier and you get a better finish

[djhatton]

i've seen chrome come flaking off engine bay bits too many times to count.

d

[Jolinator]

cant chrome aluminum i dont think

[Dahtone Racing]

we got almost every part of NO.COMPs engine chromed and its hasnt peeled

[PHATR32]

did this in the back shed 

trust me if u aint got patience its a nightmare 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

all that work and you couldnt fork out $100 for a nismo oil cap? :lol:

[djhatton]

cant chrome aluminum i dont think

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

i believe you can chrome pretty much anything. i've seen chromed mdf and plastic. same with anodising. aluminium shouldn't be a problem at all.

d

[Bobjones]

I prefer polishing as it is more resistant to scrathes etc, but remember maintenance of anything polished can be a pain also...

I did my SR20 cover one weekend...but with the help of a slab of beer and some bored mates!!!

I will be doing my RB25 soon, as soon as I get another car so I have the time that is!!!

[femno]

did this in the back shed 

trust me if u aint got patience its a nightmare 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

How DID you do that? what product/material did you use?

[StageZilla]

How DID you do that? what product/material did you use?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

i wanted chrome but the shop said chrome on ally on hot surfaces will eventually peel and they refused to do it, so we polished in the shed, and using lotsa sand paper, starting by removing the black paint which is tough shit flat disk on a grinder is easiest, without making a mess of it, and then hand sanding all the shitty fiddly bits, start on medium paper, to get pits out and then go down to like 800 grit wet and dry with water.

then use hard buffing wheel on bench grinder, then softer wheel and then finally a polishing wheel and use polishing compound on the bench grinder, and then finally finish off with autosol by hand to protect it

ive done my alternator, throttle brackets, cooler piping, sump, ignitor box, and a few other bits and peices also, anything ally is polishable

Note: i did all the parts including plenum when removed from the engine

good luck

Edited September 20, 2005 by StageZilla

[FLRTY2]

Stagezilla, how long did it take you to just do the valve cover? I figure that'd be the quickest as it's mostly flat surfaces so possible to be done with an orbital sander for the most of it... That said Im thinking of doing that first, will probably make the biggest difference to the engine bay too.. Cheers

[lwells]

Are there any clearcoat products that stick to unprimed metal surfaces?