I've been wanting to polish my plenum, intake, runners, TB, thermo housing, ect....What kind of sand paper did you use and where did you buy it? The local hardware stores around here only have wood sandpaper in real fine grit, the metal sand paper only go's to about 400-600 or something like that, not very fine. Does it matter wet or dry and how do you exactly polish wet, sorry never done it. And how do you get in those VERY TIGHT spots (corners ect..)? Do you do the all of the polishing by hand or do you use a drill or dremel? And how do you get the extension of the plenum polished if it is plastic? Sorry for all the questions, but i want to do this REAL bad and I've never had much expeirence with polishing. thanks a lot
Kyle

 

One more dumb question, i've sanded my Hurst shifter and polished that, (well at least tried). How long should you use the peice of sandpaper for? It seems like in 1 min the paper is clogged and seems like it isn't doing anything anymore. Just curious if it is still usable considering it looks plugged up.
Kyle

 

good questions, i'm curious myself

 

Nobody knows???? I know their are some guys who know this stuff. come on!!! PLEASE

 

I dont know much about polishing(i'm planning on doing it myself this spring), but heres a couple links that might help
https://www.thirdgen.org/newdesign/t...umpolish.shtml
http://www.gmtips.com/3rd-degree/dox...m/pol-plen.htm
http://www.gmtips.com/3rd-degree/dox...um/pol-ext.htm
For the plastic plenum extension,you can go to a GM dealer and order the Corvette aluminum TPI extension and screws (you need the screws,the ones you have now wont work)
GM P/N 10108425 Aluminum Plenum Extension
GM P/N 14082425 Screws (for plenum extension)

 

I used 3m paper from AutoZone. 50 grit, 120, 150, 220, 240, 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1500 then buffing compounds. Once you get up to 240 grit, it's a good idea to wetsand. It will stop the paper from clogging up on you. Start out with the 50 grit and work until all the casting marks and imperfections are out. Then work your way up the grits. Once all the scratches from the previous grit are gone and all is smooth, its time to go to the next higher paper. Make sense? Hope this helps. Later.

 

I've never tried to hand polish parts but, you can use professional polishing equipment like I do. I use 3 different kinds of 6" polishing wheels on bench grinders with polishing compounds. I use a da sander with 180, and 320 grit sand paper. A die grinder with 80,120, and 400 grit sanding rolls. That way is much faster compared to other peoples times spent polishing and its a whole lot less work in getting a reall good shine. And I'll admit it, this stuff isnt reall cheap but conservation is the key to keeping the costs down. I did this for Bimma86 a while back and hes was real pleased with the quality and shine. It almost took 10 hours to do all of this.

 

Get some 80 grit to start with on the plenum and work your way up. Take your time. MikeInAZ knows a lot about good steps to take. Check out this thread and this webpage for plenty of info. You don't need to go past 400 grit. Just 80/120/320 wet/400 wet then use compounds. Buying the wheels and compounds is definately worth it.

 

he is right when he says not to go over 400 grit. if you do, it tends to 'glaze' over your workpiece and the dullness will never go away. some guys have gotten really good results by sanding all the way up through 1500 grit and then using aluminum polish. i have found out that if you want a 'brilliant mirror' like finish, you have to start with real low grit such as 80 or 180, then step up to 220, then up to 320 wet, then 400 wet.

the 'wet' sanding is used to help 'wash away' all of the metal dust so you dont sand it down into your workpiece. after you are done sanding, step up to buffing compounds. start with emery compound on a hard sewn buffing wheel, then emery compound on a soft wheel. then move to tripoli compound on a hard sewn wheel, then move onto white rouge. the white rouge is white in color so when it fills the pores (if you have any) it turns white, and not black.

You really can't do too much of the 400 wet sanding, or the emery buffing compound. It takes more time to do it with all of the buffing, but it is well worth the work. I have aquired a lot of info from MikeInAZ. He is a very knowledgable man (and a very busy one as well). If you have any more questoins, please feel free to ask.

Here is a the aluminum extension i did a month or so ago. its kind of a bad picture in bad lighting, but you can see the results.

 

Buffing wheels are well worth every penny you spend on them. Its better than turning blue in the face sanding all day.

 

Looks like you did a good job on those parts. Did you use the 6" polishing wheel bench grinder and die grinder to get in the tight spots also??? I would think they would be too big to get in those tight sqeazes. Let me know how you got those tight areas polished, I have a bench grinder with polishing wheels and a die grinder so that is the way I am going to go. thanks for all the help guys
Kyle

 

you've got to be careful with the die grinder though. If you aren't careful with those little sanding drums, you'll create low spots and the piece will look wavy.

 

With lots of practice you can use a die grinder very well. Oh wear a dust mask while polsihing with 6" wheels, die grinders, and da sanders. Lots of dust comes off of the sanding drums. 91Zls1, I use 6" polishing wheels, I can get into the tight spots because I use a die grinder and the wheels collaspe with some adaquate pressure making it possible to get in those tight spots. Like the middle parts of the runners you can put polishing grease on the side yes the side of the polishing wheel and wedge the wheel inbetween the the tubes. Just be careful when doing that cause it can rip the runner right outta your hands.

 

Started with
(dry) 180....220...320...(wet)400....600.....1000...1200....1500...everybody really has there one way of doing it...you almost just have to try differnt techinques... I picked my materials up at autozone....

 

Check Eastwood for your supplies. They also have a video on how to polish metals.

 

Sanded from 300 to 2000 wet, buffed with white rouge.

 

Sorry, I'm gonna have to raise the flag on this one. Why does the stuff in the post by 85camaro look dipped? The way the back of the plenum looks, and the intake manifold? Plus the lip around the TB, and come on, 10 hours to do all that?

 

looks excellent

 

It's no BS. A polished alum can look very very close to chrome. Especially when done correctly as he's done.

He used to work for Street and Performance, I'm sure they taught him a thing or two. Not to mention the practice he gained from doing it.

 

polished wheels:




polished intake:


i found that using a high speed buffer is the best way to polish up the aluminum after its sanded, i wish i had some better pics of it but the difference between hand and machine buffing is AMAZING :hail:

 

As a demo of how superior machine buffing is..After I buffed my SLP runners with white rouge and a wheel, I thought "I'll make em really shine" I started to wet sand one with some 6,000 (yes six thousand) grit micromesh...it dulled the runners. So it was back to the compound and wheel with that one.

 

Thanks for the compliment Ions91Z28 Nope all those parts are really polished just ask Bimma86 or pm him. I still work at Street, im just in the machine shop now. I did work in the polsihing shop for alomst a year and doing that everyday you can get reall fast and good a polishing. Its all in the technique you use and experiance. The last month I spent in the polishing shop I did nothing but gm runners every day. Just ask the 73 people who got a set of polished ones they loved em.

 

Okie, now I'm convinced.

 

Ill post up some pics of my plenum once the decent weather hits. I did my extension which came out good i think. I started with 180 grit dry, and did a dry wet combo going on and off. Started with 180 and finished with 2000. IMO but i think that the wet does a little more work then the dry. The end result is really nice just takes a long time. The 3&M sanding sponges work great too. Heres how my extension came out.

 

It looks good, but reall scratchy. You can get a whole lot better results with pro equiptment. Machine Polishing wheels are the only way to go with polishing. How long did that take to polish? With all my equipment I can do one in 20 minutes, and have it looking like chrome and get inbetween the raised lines. I got a pic on the first page of this post, check it out. It all almost looks like it was chromed but its polished. It would dang near impossible to get the same results with hand polishing.