Technical Need a recommendation for someone to polish quick change

I am considering polishing the center on my winters V8 quick change but most places that I have found don't do rear ends. Any recommendations out there? Any idea on cost?

I am in Los Angeles, CA and prefer someone local but willing to ship.
The rear end is new, no oil in it yet and will be taken apart to paint the axles.

Thank you in advance

 

Sihilling Metal Polishing comes to mind, they are in Santa Ana.

 

Pacific Polishing, Pomona.........Very nice people!...Great work!

 

Another idea would ask at big truck stops. There is usually a guy doing polishing on a big rig and he is portable.

 

V & M metal polishing in Chatsworth.
They have done multiple center sections for us.

 

It’s a long ways to ship one, if you were closer I would do it for you


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I have a local guy that does them. He is good but slow. Pricing is more than fair. He follows the rule "Good, Cheap, Fast - Pick 2".
I don't think it would be cost effective to send it here. PM me if you need more info.

For anyone contemplating having a QC polished:
Winters offers polishing on their Quickchanges, the current price for V8 castings is $625 on new centers, when ordered.
If you have a center that is already ***embled:
The entire unit has to be dis***embled, bearings, pinion, lower shaft, etc.
The polishing compound gets everywhere and takes forever to clean up.
Polishers do not like to finish your job after you F it up.
Rear covers, front seal plates and side bells don't match up perfectly. To get the very best job these items should be ***embled and cut to match each other before the polishing operations.

 

There's a polisher and plater in SoCal, I cannot remember their name but they've got a decent Facebook presence. They do a lot of lowrider stuff. I found them because I was looking to get wheels plated and there aren't many who'll do that, either.

 

That's a lot of territory to cover

 

Why don't you ask Winters who they use. At one time they were sending the bare centers to the west coast for polishing.

 

It might turn out, in the end, that it would have ben cheaper t get a polished one to start with. ***uming, of ocurse, that it was bought from Winters.

 

Thank you. I asked them for a quote

Thank you. I reached out and sent pictures...
They seem to have a nice customer service

Interesting. I found a place but didn't give it second though. I will revisit.
It sounds like a good idea.

Thank you. Waiting on a quote from them. A skip and hope away from me. Thank you

Great info! Thank you very useful.
I reached out to Speedway Engineering in Sylamr and asked for a quote to dis***emble and re***emble for me.
I have know clue of what I am doing and rather have someone that has experience and get it done right.

I found a few. I guess lowrider have a lot of chroming and polishing. Great lead!

LOL. Right! but still very useful....some times I just need a deifferent perspective to start a search

I did. No luck. They don't have anyone.
Asked for info on how to dissemble and re***emble and didn't get much either. Using the search option....hopefully I can some info that way

No doubt. The problem is my plans changed in-fly. I originally was planning to pain or powder coat, so figure I was going to save the extra $1k and apply it to the paint.
Long story short. I got an aluminum driveshaft off the junk yard, cut it, polished it and now I would like to match the QC....One thing brings another

 

Thank you all for your help. The power of the HAMB!
I've received a good amount of leads and have been able to get a handful of estimates....ranging from $160-$1,800....big range but I now got options.
Currently waiting on Speedway engineering to see if they are willing to dissemble the QC for me and re***emble once it polished and painted.
If anyone knows another company in LA that works in QCs please share that into too, please.

Thank you again!

 

Oh, yeah. I am betting we all know how that works. Sometimes budget makes you scale back, but,usually it seems like we just have to upgrade. Do it right, you know. best of luck.

 

Don't be afraid to take it apart and re***emble it yourself. It's not rocket surgery. Since it is brand new, you can do it with the help of your kitchen oven, and it won't stink up the whole house.

Here is the short form:
Take out the axles. (Long one should be on the left)
Remove the left axle housing (10 bolts)
The differential/ring gear ***embly will drop out
Remove the right side axle housing (10 more bolts)
Remove the rear cover (10 bolts), change gears and pinion retainer (6 bolts)
Remove the front seal plate (6 bolts)
Using a br*** hammer, drive the lower shaft out the front
It should bring the front bearing with it

Now the fun part:
Pre heat the oven to 350 degrees
Put the center section and rear cover in for 30 minutes
Using welding cloves or oven mitts, remove the center section and the pinion ***embly should fall out
Sometimes you have to tap the case on a couple of 2 x 4s to get it to break free
Same thing with the rear cover bearings (If you block the cover up in the oven, and put it face up, you may hear the bearings just fall out)

Let everything cool to room temp

Take it to the polisher
Spend $
Bring it home and reverse the procedure

On re***embly, if you put the pinion ***embly and bearings in the freezer while the case cooks, everything will practically put itself together.
Keep your br*** hammer handy incase you don't get everything centered and the case starts to shrink on the bearings

The carrier is already shimmed to set the preload and backlash
The pinion preload is already set
Now you will be the neighborhood expert on Quickchanges

 

I would stay away from the $160 dollar quote, not a chance you will get a decent job for that price.


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$400 - $500 would be about right, around here.

Ask how clean it will be inside and out when it is finished. It's worth more to have it clean. When it gets heated to re***emble it, the pores in the casting will open up. That lets any remaining grit in and out.

I'd like to see one from the $1800 guy. Not suggesting you be the one to try him out.

 

Yea $1800 is a lot! Better be more than perfect. Without having it in my hands, I would say around $500 would be close.depending on how rough the casting is and how much sanding is required.


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After you get the thing back from ANY polisher, I'd clean it in a bucket of lacquer thinner. Just buy a five gallon can of the cheapest lacquer thinner you can find, and pour half of it into a bucket that the center will fit into. The thinner will dissolve all the buffing compounds off the aluminum, but won't hurt any of the surfaces or the polish. Wipe dry with a soft cotton rag when done, then re***emble.

 

I have seen lacquer thinner turn polished aluminum cloudy, if I were doing it I would have the inside masked to ensure nothing inside and everything I polish is returned spotless.


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BE CAREFUL! When JR was still working he told me they had tried several polishers including a couple of the big ones in the south and the job was not up to their standards and that's why they went to the west coast. As far as some of the quotes you've had as an option I charge 500 for the polish on a V8 center and I make a few bucks.

 

We don’t dis***emble the center section completely when we send them to V & M.
We leave the yoke, bearings, and shaft in.
We just tape everything up to keep compound out of it, and clean it off before and after removing the tape.
Never had an issue.



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Have you looked at the Jet Hot style performance coatings? Not sure if that's the look you are after, but it would be way easier to keep looking good, just wipe it off rather than polishing regularly.
Also not sure if it would trap heat inside the housing, but if not it could be a good compromise given the low maintenance aspect.
You would also be going in with a known end result, with polishing it can be tough to ensure that your idea of "polished" is the same image the polisher has in his mind. Especially with the fins and tight corners on that centre.

 

Thank you for the info. That makes me feel more confident.
Now I just have to get the wife out of the house for an hour or so.

 

Funny thing...The guy that Speed Engineering uses to do their polishing is the same guy who charged me the $160. Small little world, turns out to be the same guy that is doing the powder coating and chroming for my roadster project....

 

Thank you. I hadn't put any though to the inside or how clean the inside would be left. First time ever getting anything like this polished.
Great info! I will be sure to be careful and take some extra precautions.

 

Ok, good to know I am not too far off. I had imagine a $500/$600 budget

 

Interesting! I will look into this. Thanks.

 

I guess maybe in different regions but I wouldn’t even consider doing it for that.


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Or just fire up the barbie. That's what I use to heat ring gears when installing them over a frozen flywheel.