What to use when polishing the manifold?

[SalSheikh]

how you have got me on getting them done have a spare rocker cover but may have a N/A 20v rocker cover coming

i bought a spare rocker cover and mani off ebay for pennies and took it to him for polishing.

 

[D.K]

What to use from start to finish in order? And at what stages shud i change the grade on sand paper?

If you want to have a go at polishing you will need the following

Charge pipe
To strip the paint
Safty gogles and dust mask, you are going to make a BIG mess !!!!!
1x Drill
1x wirebrush wheel

To polishEither
1x Bench grinder with asorted 4" or 6" polishing mops & polish.
OR
Assorted wet & dry sand paper's from 120 grit to 1200 grit.
Fine grade wirewool and metal polish, i.e Autosol.

Manifold
These need to be smoothed before polishing, I use an orbital sander.
Once it's smooth use the same equipment ans the pipe but becarefull as the manifold's are a lot softer than the charge pipe's and will scratch very easily.
You will also find small airbubbles in the cast, these are impossible to get rid of as they will go all the way through the cast.
This is also an on going task as it will always need attention to keep it looking good,the more you polish it the better it will look, so if your the type of person who only wash's your car once a month this might not be the best mod for you.
The manifolds can also be done on the car, personally I would'nt bother polishing the 4 inlet pipe's, they are a pig to get to and once it's on the car you dont see them.

Also this is'nt the best time of year to be polishing metal unless you've got somewhere warm to do it as it will go dull.

This is part of the kit that I use.

If anyone needs any help give me a shout

When you feel that the paper is no longer cutting the surface or the scraths the paper leaves are uniform then change up to the next garde, the first 2 grades take the longest.

 

[SalSheikh]

POLISHED ROCKER COVER

INLET MANIFOLD WITH PHENOLIC GASKET

 

[sambryant]

here mine i did

 

[SalSheikh]

Sam, what do you use to keep it shiny looking? i have told to use Blackfire All Metal Sealant but its about £25 a bottle!

 

[D.K]

Sam, what do you use to keep it shiny looking? i have told to use Blackfire All Metal Sealant but its about £25 a bottle!

Thats a cheap one, I'v seen some that are a lot more than that

 

[sambryant]

wd40 and wire wool

 

[Wiggy20]

How am I doing?
Before ( I didn't paint it red btw )

After 2 grades of wet & dry