POLISHING

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First we have the different abrasive and coloring compounds. Clockwise from the lower left we have; Greaseless abrasive (80 and 180 grit); sanding and abrasive rolls; Tripoli cutting compound (red bar); Coloring compound (white bar...sometimes called White rouge or Jewelers rouge) Greaseless abrasives are used for sanding large flat areas. It is used to remove rough casting pits and scratches. Abrasive rolls are used to get into the tight areas where the buff with greaseless cannot get into. The are very useful when polishing the plenum. Tripoli provides an even smoother surface and is used after the abrasives. The coloring compound is the final step. This is what give the aluminum or steel that 'chrome' look. It is a very fine polish.

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Here we have the different type of buffing wheels and bobs. The left column has buffing wheels of different sizes, while the right column has various sized bobs. The buffs and bobs are used to perform the actual buffing and polishing. Greaseless abrasives, cutting, and coloring compounds are applied directly to the buffing wheels. You should have a separate buffing wheel for each different type of compound. You'll notice that the buffing wheels have the grit number on the side.

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Here are the hardware tools of the trade. From the left are; electric Dremmel, high speed pneumatic die grinder; safety glasses and respirator. I use the respirator when sanding with the abrasive rolls to remove the rough casting pits. There is usually lots of aluminum particles fly at this point.

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Finally...the bench grinder

The act;

As you know, many of the cast aluminum pieces (plenum and valve covers) are very rough with many casting pits. In order to get the best results, you must sand as much of these pits and rough edges as possible. According to those who know, you will never be able to remove all of the imperfections. I start with a very coarse sanding and abrasive rolls (80 grit to start). Tiny 1/4" by 1" sanding rolls are used to get into the crevices where the larger rolls cannot. Once you have the item sanded down, you are now ready to work with the greaseless abrasives. Make sure you follow the instructions about loading up the buffing wheel with the greaseless. It is very important that you let the greaseless dry onto the wheel before using. Use the 80 grit greaseless to smooth the surface. Once you are done with the 80 grit, now use the felt bobs (with 80 grit greaseless) and finer abrasive rolls to get into the crevices and tight areas. Now you are ready for the 180 greaseless. Make sure that you change the buffing wheel and felt bobs. This is the final abrasive step. When you are done at this point the finish should be smooth and shiny. Now you will use the cutting compound (Tripoli) and finally the coloring compound (white rouge) to get the chrome look.

As you can see, the act of polishing and buffing is just sanding the surface with finer and finer sanding compounds until the desired finished is obtained.

Below are some of the items that I have polished.

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Here are the HKS SuperMegaFlo inlet tubes. Before polishing, these are a rough cast aluminum.

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This is the Alamo Motorsports Y-pipe. This is a replacement for the stock y-pipe and will not blow off at high boost. This piece is made of mild steel (see mild steel disclaimer below).

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This is the valve cover for a Mitsubishi DOHC engine.

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And this is the valve cover on a DOHC Stealth. The sparkplug trough on the valve covers are cleaned but not polished. It is recommended that you continue to use the spark plug cover piece (as seen in the DOHC Stealth picture).

If you are interested in polishing your own parts, I would recommend Eastwood Company for supplies. They have all of the supplies and kits you would need, and even have a great video & book available for purchase.

Because of the finely polished surfaces, these parts are more susceptable to scratches, it is recommended that your thoroughly clean the inside before shipping the part to me for polishing. This way the part will be ready for mounting when you receive it.

Only visible surfaces are polished. Unseen surfaces (under side of plenum, spark plug trough) are thoroughly cleaned with a wire wheel. Since I know these vehicles, I know which surfaces need to be polished. Items like y-pipes and HKS SMF inlets are polished on all sides.

Following is a picture of the 1st Place Award that I won at the 1999 Turbo Engineering Corp Rocky Mountain Import Challenge for the Best Domestic Import in the Show-Off portion.

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Here is a picture of me accepting the 1st Place Award at the 2000 Proformance Racing Import & Sport Compact Challange for the Best Domestice Import in the Show-Off portion.

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