how to polish engine to near mirror finish????

[CHA53R]

hi there, i have seen a few vr commodores with near mirror finish alloy components on their motor... any suggestions on how to get this finish out of my motor? cheers...

[Jacko84]

lotsa elbow power start with course grit finish at the end with steel wool

[godatfourdigital]

what kind of money do you want to spend on equipment?

if you buy a good buffer, and some good lambs wool pads and some good gritty metal polish its pretty easy to do... thats the cheepest option

or you could spend 3-4 hundred on a good strong bentch grinder and get a few polishing mops and do it that way... each will give the same result with enough time put in...

either way you want to go... let us know and ill give more detailed description on how to go about it.

cheers, Ray.

[CHA53R]

want to spend little as possible.. dont mind doing the hard yards by hand... prob go with buffer, hands and the metal polish... on a tight budget as saving for another car and fixing up other stuff on the car at the same time.... thanks mate..

[godatfourdigital]

i have never taken alloy to bright shine by hand, i wouldn't think it would be fun or easy...

you best bet would be wet and dry... depending on how bad the alloy is your starting with you should start at something like 320grit and don't skip and grade right up to 1000...

then get a small rubber disc backing pad you can put in your drill chuck and a wool pab to go with it. and hit it with that.

i did these with bench grinder and polishing mops...

[RichoKidd]

Just rip it out give it an acid bath?

[godatfourdigital]

acid won't polish, only clean...

for something to be polsihed it makes the surface flat... so flat it reflects most light...

simple acid or deoxidiser will only ever clean...

[vsv8berlinawag]

As godatfourdigital said, wet rub from course through to fine (2,000), then I used good old "brasso" and reflections metal polish paste on an electric drill fiited with a felt pad

[Rhin0o8]

Check out this thread.

be sure to comment. like any car enthusiast they like feedback on their hardwork

Polishing the plenum on your ecotec

[aussiesport]

thats nice ... i like to polish with a can of flat black

[soop]

It takes allot of time!
Lots of time.

What parts are you looking to do?

[pjdm1980]

As godatfourdigital said, wet rub from course through to fine (2,000), then I used good old "brasso" and reflections metal polish paste on an electric drill fiited with a felt pad

Holly crap that must have taken ages to do and not to mention how much up keep to keep it that clean!

[vsv8berlinawag]

It took quite a few weekends and many many Coopers Sparkling Ales ! but to keeping it polished up isn't to hard. All I do is give it a quick wipe over with Reflections metal polish 3 to 4 times a year though when I high pressure wash the engine you have to wipe it down asap before the water dries else it leave drip marks which take a bit more polish/effort to get out.

[CHA53R]

thats the look i want, bloody awsome... going to do anything i can thats polishable... starting with the intake manifold this weekend.. i know its only a 3.8l but hey make the best of what your given i say