john kosmatka Posted July 27, 2004 Share Posted July 27, 2004 Does anybody have any tips for polishing the intake manifold or pretty much any aluminum parts. Im wondering how some people polished their intake runners. Thanks, John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drax240z Posted July 27, 2004 Share Posted July 27, 2004 Between 15-20 hours of sanding & filing by hand. Then when I realized that I had that much work again ahead of me to polish, I decided to powdercoat mine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john kosmatka Posted July 28, 2004 Author Share Posted July 28, 2004 hehe, I was thinking that too, but Ive gone so far Im just going to polish the whole thing, so just lots of hours is the key to making the whole thing look good I guess. Pretty much the story with every part on my car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zguy95135 Posted July 28, 2004 Share Posted July 28, 2004 If you have a good power drill (not the battery kind) and you get a buffing wheel and compound it works good on aluminum. Even if you dont sand it, it'll give it a nice semi-shine and then you can hit it with semi-chrome (sp?) and it would look nice. It wouldnt look like chrome, but a soft shine. Thats what I did with my AFM anyways Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slownrusty Posted July 28, 2004 Share Posted July 28, 2004 The key is to remove the factory casting grain marks - the little acne, dots. Like Drax said...this takes time like there is no tomorrow - literally! But once the prep is done (the most imp. part of polishing) its all down hill. Yasin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2126 Posted July 28, 2004 Share Posted July 28, 2004 John, Unless you are into getting covered in black crud and are willing to put in the effort it takes to get your parts all shinny, then I would suggest taking them to a shop that polishes aluminum parts. They typically know what they're doing and they can have it done way faster than you will. When I got my parts back I was afraid to touch them they looked so good!!!Cost??? Well, in my case, I had my balance tube, both intakes runners, and cam cover done for $125.00 Don't get me wrong here, I prefer to do my own work on my Z but sometimes you have to draw the line between common sense and ego. Just one man's opinion, Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2126 Posted July 28, 2004 Share Posted July 28, 2004 Oh! I forgot to mention I did do the work of filing, sanding, filing, sanding, etc. However, I did discover that the process of buffing out the parts will remove more of the small inperfections than I had first thought. So, talk with the polishing shop first, so you don't spend an excessive amount of time filing , sanding, filing, sanding. Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john kosmatka Posted July 28, 2004 Author Share Posted July 28, 2004 The key is to remove the factory casting grain marks - the little acne' date=' dots. Like Drax said...this takes time like there is no tomorrow - literally! But once the prep is done (the most imp. part of polishing) its all down hill. Yasin[/quote'] Exactly, what I have now realised, I got some rasp type bits to put on my dremel and this is working well so I think I will do the whole thing myself as I went out and but some supplies to do it, but it does look nice. Man the factory casts for these things were way off there is so much extra alumuminum on the sides of the runners where the two halves meet it is unbelievable. Thanks for the tips guys, John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john kosmatka Posted August 7, 2004 Author Share Posted August 7, 2004 This damn manifold got the best of me, ended up just wrinkle finishing it. Goes along with my black wrinkle finish valve cover anyhow, also shows off my billet fuel rail and throttle body spacer. Man it so nice when u shave these things it makes it look so tidy. It was just taking up way too much time, where as painting it took like 10 mins. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drax240z Posted August 7, 2004 Share Posted August 7, 2004 This damn manifold got the best of me, ended up just wrinkle finishing it. Welcome to the club! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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