i went ahead and bit into this project. got allt he sand paper i needed per the FAQs on this site. im sitting there with my 60 or 80 grit (cant remember now which one it was) and my dad pulls out his new rotozip. "hey try this". needless to say i was getting nowhere with the sandpaper and the rotozip took the cast of fairly easily. it still took a while but the ease was amazing. throw on the polishing wheel at 15k rpms and do your thing. after removing the casting i hit it with an 800 grit wetsand to remove swirl marks, a 1000 grit wetsand and finally a 1500 grit wetsand. i think it came out pretty nice. it feels like glass. im not totally finished but you get the idea. the little valleys int he back of the plenum will be painted black or a dark blue (havent decided yet).

btw, i know it looks a little dull but i believe thats the camera. its very very shiny.

 

look's sweet bro

 

Wheres the shine? Heres what I did to my plenum

 

85SportCoupeto89RS
I love the shine, and I cant wait till my plenum looks as good as yours!! (P.S. I love the custom 85 camaro emblem in the middle)...
See you around!

 

looks really good, I got an idea for my car

 

here's some better pictures.. i think the one i posted earlier was before the mothers aluminum polish...

 

You can try this website for more tips on polishing you plenum, i found this site acouple of months ago, there pretty helpful.

http://www.gmtips.com/3rd-degree/dox...m/pol-plen.htm

 

Wow, that site is pretty neat. Thanks for posting that!

 

i dont want to flame you but how is that you have piks of your plenum but not your car cuse i really want to see it

 

the car is nothing special... i havent had the time to really work on anything nor the money to spend on a lot of parts yet. its quick, clean and reliable and thats all i ask of it for now. in the near future though i am looking at a set of hedman headers (probably hedman), BBK throttle body, full exhaust (hooker maybe) and we'll see what happens from there. also, i've only owned the car for 4 months.

 

Hey Mike, Great job on the plenum! Did you just polish the top of it or did you do the sides as well? Are you planning on getting an aluminum dist. cover and polishing it? Your car is really clean as well. Take some more pics of your car and keep posting pics about your progress on your plenum.

 

didnt do the side yet. i wanted to do the top and see what it woudl turn out like before i got too in depth with anything. im usually off on wednesdays so next tuesday evening ill probably remove the plenum again and do the sides.

as for an aluminum distributor cover, yes i do plan on getting on. my father works for alamo rent a car and deals with body damage so he is able to order parts direct from distributors and get them to me at wholesale prices. lately i've had problems getting parts because of alamo's recent bankruptcy problems but he has told me that they are back dealing with the GM guys again so it will be soon.

thanks for the comments on the car, as i appreciate all criticisms/comments. the car is a project and a passion for me. i've always wanted to be a "car guy" i just never had a car that i liked much. now i've got the car and i've been able to surround myself with friends who are willing to help me out so its always a lot of fun.

sorry for the long post....

 

I want to do my 92 also, but what polishing compounds did you use and where did you get them. did you buy them from the eastwood company. are you going to do the base and the runners. any one got any tips on polishing the runners and base. how would powder coated runners to match the car look like with polished plenum.

 

as stated in the original post, all i used was my fathers rotozip and teh attachments it came with (actually, just the polishing wheel), some 60 grit sandpaper to get some of the remaining casting off, and then some 800, 1000, and 1500 grit wetsand paper and then finished it all off with some mothers aluminum/metal polish.

i plan on doing the runners probably next wednesday/tuesday night. the base i dont plan on doing because i want to get the scoggin-dickey base and a set of vortech heads. ill be sure and post pictures when i get that all done.

as for the powder coating. i've seen it done but im not sure if i like it. i suppose it could be done with certain colors but others iw ould say no. my body color is white and i think that would come out ugly. i considered maybe doing blue but for now ill go with polished. a buddy of mine, bad blk z, is thinking of doing his runners black to match his car. im sure we'll keep everyone upt o date with that.

 

sorry about all the questions, I just though you may have used some other compounds before using the mothers. My car is viper blue so the powder coating was an idea. Here is another Idea how about ceramic coating on the runners. could it be done and would it look good

 

i believe someone had looked into doing jet hot coating of the plenum/runners and accessories and the price came out to like 3 or 4 hundred (may be wrong on that). for me, this will work just fine and looks just as good if not better. just ordered some headers which i will definately be having jet hot coated.

i dont mind all the questions, gives me something to do when im bored.

 

Id rather give the 3 to 4 hundred for new runners and base. besides it was just a idea that popped up. I like what you are doing better. I think I will give my tpi a try. Do you think the shine will last. May be with an occasional going over with the mothers polish the tpi should be good to go. I guess.

 

A good way to keep the shine is by clear coating your polished parts.

 

I used a dremel and some mothers on some spare engine parts and it shined a little part up real nice. Its just with a dremel that would take me weeks and weeks to finish. I find it hard to fit into my beer, Football, WWF, and work shedule. But I'll get it done soon.


Im with stupid------->>>>:lala:

 

my entire engine bay is clear coated... now its as simple as running a light mist over the parts to get them clean.. hehe