MotorHead

Here's what I did, after sandbalsting manifold I got a 20,000 RPM die grinder and one of those cloth buffing wheels. I found some buffing compound that came in four stages and I bought the light buffing and finishing ( high gloss)

Well It wasn't even a low gloss finish, the area on the manifold turned very dark and not what I had in mind, good thing I was practicing on my old Performer before I tried my Air Gap.

I know this can be done, any ideas how ?

Pete79L82

A cast intake manifold is to rough to start with a cloth wheel. You need to sand it smooth first. The big areas are easy. The little areas will have you pulling your hair out. Start out with sandpaper around 150-180 grit on a DA sander or dremmel tool. Work up to 320grit then 400 grit then 600 grit. After that you can use your buffing wheel to bring the shine out.

Good luck and don't say I didn't warn you. First one I did took me about three weeks.

MikeC

I tried a couple of years ago, when I had the original manifold off, but I gave up. I sandblasted over the parts that I had tried to do. I figure if I want a polished one, I'll pay the extra and buy it polished!

MotorHead

So sandblast finish it is :D
I did the same thing sandbalasted the mess I made trying to polish it.


[Modified by MotorHead, 5:35 PM 1/13/2002]

Duke94

I polished mine last year with one of the Eastwood manifold polishing kits. You need to use 2 or 3 different grit sanding wheels on a die grinder, then 2 grits of buffing compound on felt wheels. After a week of polishing, it looked great until I sprayed it with the Eastwood clearcoat (so it wouldn't tarnish) and it dulled the finish.

Chris O'

I bought a performer and painted it with clear heatproof paint. Big mistake as it turned yellow. :mad

I stripped it with paint remover and tried the buffing/polishing kit and got nowhere. I used a thick wire brush and in 45 min it came up beautiful! still looks as good 6 months later. :)

MotorHead

Chris O, --> What do you mean "thick wire brush" can you give more details ?

One more thing, someone on the forum said he used ordinary Tremclad clear coat on his manifold and it has looked good for 6 years no yellowing etc. Wish
I could remember who it was, but I think I am going to use that on my Air Gap.

JIM

A polishing shop shoulld charge about 60-100 bucks.You need decide if it is worth the effort or the money. Personaly if I wanted a polished manifold I would buy it polished or pay the polisher. Just my .02.

kellsdad

I was researching this topic a while back and found this useful web site: http://www.rx7turboturbo.com/robrobinette/polish.htm
I hope it helps.

ylose

Polished aluminum air/gap
I sweat and slaved.....I sweat and slaved... note pic on left...


for the money to buy it that is.... :lol: :lol: :lol:


[Modified by ylose, 1:14 PM 1/14/2002]

Lohkay

Its funny you mention this as I sandblasted my torker intake this weekend and didn't feel like painting it so I decided to polish it. I got one of the runners polish, you need to sand a lot to get rid of the casting bumps/holes and then buff it...I found out I needed a lot more tools to do the rest. I might paint it afterall...it was just a test.

ylose

omg....Lohkay....i cant imagine how much sweat you would have to put into
it to shine like this....
http://temp.corvetteforum.net/c3/ylose/enginedone2.jpg

I commend you for trying .....(me salutes)
but with not knowing how long it will last.....mine is a $100 more than the plain one....... :D

Chris O'

Motor Head, mine is not even close to Ylose's manifold. I used a narrow wire brush with thick bristles to clean mine up after taking off the clear heat paint. Mine's a little better than a new "out of the box" look.


[Modified by Chris O', 9:16 AM 1/16/2002]

Ace77

Wayne,

I'm curious too, because I'm puting a Performer on mine, and I'd like to keep it pretty.
Here's the previous thread... http://forums.corvetteforum.com/zerothread?id=206115

so are you gonna polish it or not? I think the polished aluminum looks alot better, and should be easier to keep looking clean, even without clearcoat.

Lohkay

Yeah ylose...like I said, it was more a test than anything. I might go for a blower so polishing my intake would be quite useless. I'll put that on the side for now and think about it. It sure looks like a long job...ya must have a lot of free time.