here is a picture of my plenum that I'm starting to polish. I've ran over it 2 times quickly with the white rouge stuff. if I go over it more will it shine better? thanks

 

and one more

 

yes, if done right it should look like chrome.

 

Looks nice to me.

 

Looks good. When your finished it should look awesome. I did my plenum too and machined 85 CAMARO into it. enjoy

 

ok, im sorry, you guys know ive been dumb with polishing.


ok,,,,, you had the plenum pulled off....

then what did you do to it step by step?


Thanx because it looks great!

 

here is what I did

sanded with 80 grit and removed all hte pot marks, then 300 girt, then 400grit. then polished for about 10min with the tripoli compound and then about 10min with the white rouge compound. so far I have about 10 hours in it. I also have removed all of the cast marks, and started sanding the sides and bottom.

Josh

 

also thanks for the complement

 

If you had gone on to 800 after you finished with the 400, then wetsand with 1000, then wetsand with 2000, then the rouge, it would look even better than that, I promise. I'm working on mine as I type. Lookin good though. Removing the pitmarks is the worst part. I'm about to toss the damn thing through the window. hehe.

 

You have to go from 400 to the 600 grit, to the 800 grit, to the 1000, to the 1500, then to 2000. You dont need that rouge ****, just get some eagle one MAG/Aluminum polish, it does the same thing. Go over it with that about 2352315 times and it will look beautiful.

this was taken two years ago

 

I sure don't mean to criticize anyones methods because basically if it works for you then ........ it works. However I would pass on some info that may help prospective aluminum buffers and I know it will ruffle some feathers.

1. Anything above 500 grit wet is:
a: a waste of time
b: actually makes it less "mirror like"

Especially on a cast aluminum like the plenum. When you graduate past 500 it will get "smoother" but it won't get shinier. The cast aluminum has pores and they get black residue in them. You actually gloss over them with 500+ sandpaper and it will have a clouding effect.

That is why you have compounds and rouges. A micro fine sandpaper is available in 4000 grit and even higher. But the reason you have compounds is because of what they do.

You (strangely enough) Don't want to use aluminum polish. Aluminum polish is for removing oxidation and if you look at your rag after using it you will notice it's black. That black get's in the pores of the aluminum and also causes clouding. That's one of the reasons for the "white" rouge. It still gets in the pores but it shows back brilliance instead of dullness. The best final finish is plain and pure carnabu wax. I would recommend:

180 to get rid of cast and level ripple.
320 to remove these scratch marks
400 wet til' you're blue in the face. This IS the most important step.
500 for a few minutes ......... just because.

In a two step process:
tripoli compound on a sisal wheel
white rouge on a loose wheel
or
I use a four step process:
gray compound on a sisal wheel
gray compound on a yellow bound wheel
yellow compound on a sewn wheel (this is a coloring process)
white compound on a loose wheel

<img src=http://www.gmtips.com/3rd-degree/dox/tips/buff/plenum/25.jpg>

<A HREF="http://www.gmtips.com/3rd-degree/dox/tips/buff/plenum/pol-plen.htm">Polishing Your Plenum</A> Article if you want to see some of the steps.

 

I personally say using polishing wheels is the only way to get the best shine out of what you are doing. The steps that I use are as follows.
1. Use a die grinder with 120 grit and get in all tight areas or ones that a polishing wheel wont get.
2.Use 400 grit with the die grinder going over all spots that were covered in step 1.
3.Use the da sander with 180 grit to get every where else that needs to be sanded.
4.Go over the same areas with 320 grit with the da sander.
5.Use a blue wheel(made with carbon fibers)and use black grease compound. Go over all areas and get out all casting marks and scratches.
6.Use a yellow wheel(made from cloth) and use yellow grease compound. Do the same as step 5.
7.Clean the part and dry it.
8.Finish it off by using a buffing wheel and use white grease compound.

Those are my steps and they work pretty good for me.

 

Are you guys doing all this sanding & Polishing with Aluminum polish by hand?

What about the tubes on the side, you guys do them too? Were they hard to take off?

 

thanks everybody foryour opinons. and thats MIKEinaz for the info. your the polishing *** :-)

 

it doesn't look bad, definately needs work; here's a pic from on here that looks nice.

 

anyone have chrome like this........

i ceramic coated mine, but i always wanted chrome; just was affraid it would start changing colors; much like you see on motorcycles.

if it would last while driving i would do this.

 

IROCThe5.7L, I do most of my polishing with power tools,and some spots I will do by hand. The runners or tubes which ever you call them aren't incredibally hard to do.Just time consuming and take some skill not to sand through the beer can thik tubes.Ask Bimma 86 about the set I did for him. They are awesome looking.Hey I have some chrome like that on my car Kandied91z, I polished my valve covers and had them chromed at work.The only bad thing about them is that they are a pain to clean.

 

I got my plenum done (or close to) here is some new pics of it.

 

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