Intake question-- polishing

[drew.law]

good afternoon. My name is drew and this is my first post on this forum. I have searched for the answer to this question but I do not believe it has been asked. If it has, forgive me for not noticing. I am wanting to redo my intake, the extra one that I have, and after about 30 minutes of working on one end of it, I came up with this result. If you click on the link below you will see this photo and the comparison as to what the rest of the intake looks like. You may not notice from the pictures, but there are miniscule scratches on the intake from using a grinder and a wire wheel. What would be my next step to polish the scratches down yet still keep the shine? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=2mg1qfd&s=8#.VFJwWI4pAuo

 

[Devin]

First off, you may want to avoid using the term "polished" around here, as that summons "he who to whom all polished parts belong".

Second, have you tried various grades of steel wool?

Third, two years lurking. Not bad!

 

[Off Road SHO]

All your polished parts are belong to me!



Tom

 

[drew.law]

yes I have been lurking for 2 years. I have spent that time gathering the wealth of information that is within this forum to help me with my car that I have. I had purchased this car 2 years ago for $500. Its a white on white 1993 and needed a new motor so I spent that time finding another car with a worthy motor and rebuilt it to put it into mine. I just got the first inspection on it last week. As far as my Polish parts belonging to anyone, that's fine as long as I can keep them on my vehicle until the time is to get rid of it. Haha. I only worked on the intake today for close to an hour. I haven't tried anything other than the wire wheel because I wasn't exactly sure that was adding extra steps by trying anything else. Should I use different grades of sandpaper or steel wool? And right now it has a very very good shine to the piece that I have done yet almost looks as if it has fish scales. That's the best way that I can describe it. It does not have the fully buffed look. Thanks for your replies and your assistance and thanks to all who have provided the information on these forms that have helped me over the last 2 years.

 

[Devin]

Well, steel wool would be less abrasive than a steel wire wheel, and aluminum is softer than steel, so I would say that it'd be a good use of $10 to grab some 3-00 wool.

 

[rubydist]

start with about 240 grit sandpaper, emory cloth, etc. and get all the paint and high spots off with that. then go to 400, 1000, etc. until you are using the polishing cloth on your drill or dremel or whatever mechanical device you are using to avoid wearing out your arm.

the direct answer to your question about removing the scratch marks is that you keep sanding/polishing with more fine paper until you remove all the scratches left by the previous step.

I will warn you that while an hour makes a noticeable improvement in the smoothness of the intake, there are many hours involved in getting one 'polished'

And, whatever you do, once it is polished don't let Tom know or he will come and claim it...

 

[drew.law]

ok thanks for y'alls replies. I'm going to pick some things up today and keep working on it. I took a better picture this morning of the scale look that I was referring to. All the paint is gone off of it and this texture is what's left. http://i62.tinypic.com/2v9aovp.jpg

 

[rubydist]

that is the normal casting roughness. one must sand down all those bumps to make it 'smooth' - that is why you start with the more coarse sanding grit.

 

[eacyde]

This guy on Youtube walks you through polishing aluminum parts.

There are 4 or five videos
Part 1
[YOUTUBE]http://youtu.be/BoINDFdS6hE[/YOUTUBE]

Part 2
[YOUTUBE]http://youtu.be/v8EuPukKKv8[/YOUTUBE]

Enjoy