Polishing Aluminum

[mhancock]

I am not sure if this is the right forum for this question but I thought that I would give it a shot.

I am looking at polishing all of the aluminum in my engine compartment. This includes the sheet metal intake, valve covers, motor plate, fuel cell, and radiator. What is the best way to go about doing this and what cleaners and other products would work the best? The valve covers are going to be really easy because they have always been highly polished but the intake has become pretty dull and the other items were never polished so they will require a lot of work. I really think that it will be worth the effort and appreciate any help or advice that you may be able to provide.

[blown54]

actually i use rubbing compound on aluminum also. do it with a wheel then finish by hand with a with a teary cloth towel then follow up with flour to clean the black off.neverdull also works but it takes alot of time.

[mhancock]

actually i use rubbing compound on aluminum also. do it with a wheel then finish by hand with a with a teary cloth towel then follow up with flour to clean the black off.neverdull also works but it takes alot of time.

What is Flour? Never heard of using this so I need a little explanation on this part. Sorry for asking stupid questions.

Thanks for the advice and I will give this method a try. It looks like I am getting a lot of mized results in the other forum...LoL.....Imagine that.:rolleyes:

[blown54]

flour you would use for baking.
no problem i have tried everything on the market and one day i said for shits and gigggles i would try rubbing compound and it worked,then as i thought about it more thats all aluminum polish is is rubbing compound just different grit is all.

[68Bird]

Get a Mother's power-ball mini, works great on aluminum. Also, steel wool in 0000 grit works great on alum. to get a good polish going before you start using a liquid polish.

Craig

[HotRodRyan]

Along with aluminum. What about the stainless trim all around ohhhhh say a 68 camaro. Ok, GM stainless in general, what's it take to bring it back to mirror finish without buying new. Can my 40 year old trim be salvaged.

[blown54]

alot of elbow grease

and some 000 stainless steel wool then go to the 0000 steel wool then chrome polish or compound.

[Bubstr]

If you follow up the rubbing compound with a cotton wheel and jewelers rouge you can get a mirror finish. A couple coats of carnuba wax will keep it that way.

[Mach1Marauder]

You guy are funny!
Some of my posts helping guys with aluminum parts
From a post asking about painted aluminum coil cover on a 4.6 Ford DOHC
I finished up a set today for a friend. ......about the 12th set that I've done.

Here's how I do it.
1. Spray on automotive grade paint remover.
2. 120 grit with a mouse and remove the casting lines on the sides and get a even finish all over.
3. 220 grit to an even finish with mouse
4 400 grit to an even finish. with 1/4 sheet sander
5. 800 grit to an even finish. with 1/4 sheet sander
6. 1000 grit to an even finish. with 1/4 sheet sander
7. Tripoli buffing compound on a 10 in sewn cotten buff on low speed
8. White rouge buffing compound on a 10 in sewn cotten buff on low speed
9. Work the bolt holes with Tripoli and White rouge with Dremel
10. Wipe down with detail cloth and place in oven @ 220* for 20 min and wipe down with cotton cloth and then polish with Mother's Billet.
They look like chrome!!!

A couple of sets...........Bottom set was with a different compound than I use now.
http://www.mach1registry.org/photopost/data/9060/114dsc00318.jpg
http://www.mach1registry.org/photopost/data/9060/114coilcovers.jpg

You can use 6-8in buffs on a drill if you don't have a buffer.
On already polished valve covers, just start on step 7. If they're pretty rough, there is a stainless buffing compound also.
Some stuff I've done.
Just finished up with this degassing tank fer Louise for when da twins go on!:cool:
http://www.dfwstangs.net/coppermine/albums/userpics/17404/DSC00413.jpg
http://www.dfwstangs.net/coppermine/albums/userpics/17404/DSC00415.jpg

Sheet metal uppers almost finished
Just need a final buff then polish.
http://www.mach1registry.org/photopost/data/9060/DSC00422.JPG

Sullivan intake

BEFORE:
http://www.dfwstangs.net/coppermine/albums/userpics/17404/DSC00365%7E0.jpg

Finished all sanding. Here's the first buff with the roughest compound with not being wiped off of residue.
http://www.dfwstangs.net/coppermine/albums/userpics/17404/DSC00383m.jpg

Finished buffing to the level the New owner wanted.........this was MY intake when I started, but someone offered me too much money for me to keep. My intake is done to a MUCH higher degree.
New owner will finish polishing
http://www.dfwstangs.net/coppermine/albums/userpics/17404/DSC00392m%7E0.jpg
http://www.dfwstangs.net/coppermine/albums/userpics/17404/DSC00394m%7E0.jpg

Turbos, Sullivan, sheetmetal upper and later on the alternator.
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o251/boostedred/manny025.jpg

[Mean Green]

That looks great M1M, please explain "mouse" ?? Is it one of the small electric sanders that can get into cracks and crevices?
Again your stuff looks great.

[Mach1Marauder]

That looks great M1M, please explain "mouse" ?? Is it one of the small electric sanders that can get into cracks and crevices?
Again your stuff looks great.

Yep......works great for the rough stuff.........only downfall is finding sandpaper for it finer than 220., but I use "greaseless compound" on buffing wheels to get it closer.

Thanks for the compliment!

Lot's of goodies here: http://www.eastwoodco.com/jump.jsp?itemType=CATEGORY&itemID=432

[mike gerlach]

Guys.... that's a lot of freekin' work.... wow.

I did and intake and set of valve covers once...I swore I would never do that again...

good luck

[mhancock]

Guys.... that's a lot of freekin' work.... wow.

I did and intake and set of valve covers once...I swore I would never do that again...

good luck

I agree that there is a lot of work involved in polishing all the aluminum on a race car but the end result will make it well worth the time and effort. The only things on my combo that are really going to be very time consuming are the motor plate, radiator, and fuel cell and the last two are already pretty smooth and show very little grain. The other items have at one time or another already been polished. They will just require a lot of elbow grease to clean them back up. I somewhat neglected maintaining this while we were building and dialing in the car. I want to get everything back looking good again now that everything is working well and the car is running good.

This will be the infamous "before" picture. You can see that there is a ton of stuff that still needs to be polished so I have a lot of work ahead of me. I think that on the fuel regs, it will be just about as easy to just replace them with the polished version like I used for the newest fogger that we just added to the motor.
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r117/marshallhancock/100_2122.jpg

M1M, Thanks so much for all the info and advice you sent me. I can't wait to get started on this project but it sounds like it is a good thing that I have a little down time during the off season to work on this.