Want to polish TPI but don't want to spend a whole lot of money doing so. All I have is a dremel tool but I doubt this will cut it. What should I get. And no I don't have the money for a big buffing wheel

 

Well, some sand paper, a die grider with spiral and loose buffs and some tripoli and white rouge compound.

But I would highly recommend some kind of electric sander.

I spent about $150 on my project because i did not have all the equipment. And I also bought alot of things I did not need

Hope this helps

 

some sand paper, a mexican guy to lock up in your basement, and a few beers and sandwiches

j/k

 

If no money or time is an issue, you would be amazed as to what a couple of coats of mothers aluminum polish can do to some of those peices.

 

Hey ss85tadude your engine looks awesome!! Can you post a pic of the tools you used, and how about a close up shot of that engine!? Your video is too short!!

 

I spent about $30.00 total when I polished mine. I used grits 80-2000....and I used an electric sander (bought for $15.00) from 80-320 grit....then 400-2000 grit by hand. Then I used "Mothers Aluminum & Mag Polish"......by hand...but then also hit it with my dads $300.00 buffer..just to get it done a bit fast. Mother's worked great..and it's cheap.

 

240-400-600, Buffed with tripoli. Still have to buff with rouge.

 

here's the pic

 

well you could probaly do it for under 20 bucks, all you need is a terry cloth, some mother mag an aluminum polish, and some sand paper

 

i never messed with the actual intake but i did my a/c parts, brackets, lines, etc. all for under $10 just for the sand paper and compound.

it isn't much.

 

Hey Kandied....where did you get that air intake tube at? I'm kind of looking for something like that....but have no idea where to even start.....

 

built it....4" air going in and 4" exhaust going out! it's basically mendrel bent tubing, a few elbows were welded in and smoothed which was the ceramic coated for the shine. works quite well but is rather loud which i could take or leave. sounds identical to a 6-8lb blower wine.

 

Sand paper and polish will work ok. If your having a tough time tho you can always buy an electric sander and return it and they make buffing wheels and sanding pats for electric drills as well.

 

OK I'm willing to spend $100 bucks, what should I buy??

 

sandpaper, white rouge, tripoli, towels, mothers mag & aluminum, and a sling cuz your arm is gonna be tired as hell when your done

 

will sand paper and poilishing my TPI by hand get a mirror finish??

 

yeah for sure man, I did mine by hand it it looks awesome

 

Thanks, sorry dont have pics of the tools, but I used an electric sander to sand the cast out of it. I went to 400 grit wet and then used an air power right angle die grider with 4 in. buffs and the compounds previosly mentioned. $100 dollars should do it if you spend your money really carefully and borrow tools.

Here is a link with my engine pics

Engine

 

looks awesome!! Gonna start buying the stuff. Going to try sanding a buffing by hand and see how that works out. Since this won't be going on for a while there is no hurry. I'll keep you guys up to date on the progress. One last question though...once I get that mirror finish should I protect it with some sort of coating or leave it bare??

 

do not put a clear coat on it, the clear will haze the finish... just leave it bare and polish it every so often... even windex works well to clean