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Tech: Garage Intake Polishing (learn from my mistakes)

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by Tony Bones, Jan 28, 2005.

  1. I've been polishing some stuff lately, mainly smooth cast Harley parts. Decided I needed to give something sandcast a go. Thought I might be able to make a little extra cash on the side. Posted a request for a flatty intake to polish, free of charge. Haring obliged my request and purchased what I believe is an NOS Thickstun 2 x 2.

    Here it is, as it arrived at my house:
     

    Attached Files:

  2. I took a trip to Home Depot w/ a gift certificate I got for Christmas and bought the following:

    -7 80 grit Dremel flap wheels
    -30 packets of dremel Scotchbrite pads. These come two to a packet, one coarse and one finer
    -600, 800, 1000, and 1500 grit sandpaper
    -A couple of masks to keep gunk out of my lungs
    -Safety glasses

    I already had a Dremel, a 3/4 HP. polisher (looks just like a benchtop grinder), polishing wheels, a brick of Tripoli compound, and a brick of Chromium Oxide compound. My compound and wheels were bought from HAMB'er Polisher, www.englishcustompolishing.com The product he sells is far superior to what you'd buy at your local hardware store. Good guy too.

    A couple things to understand before you take this task on:

    1. It causes an insanely large mess. The dust gets everywhere
    2. It takes a long, long time to polish an intake. It took me over 20 hrs. Polishing shops will tell you they can do it in 6-8. They can. It's because they have industrial tools and you don't (more about that later). If you have a die grinder and one helluva' big compressor, you may be able to knock a few hours off my time w/ the Scotchbrites.

    Anyway, start out w/ those flap wheels and knock the sandcasting down. You want the surface to be semi-smooth w/ no dimples or crevaces. Spend the majority of your time here. You'll get frustrated as hell if you don't. I know. There's going to be places you'll need to hit by hand. Have a little 100 grit for this. Here's what the intake looked like after about five hours of beating away on that sandcasting:
     

    Attached Files:

  3. Damn! That was ugly, huh? This is the point where you'll be scared that you just ruined your intake. Multiply that feeling times 100 if it's someone elses intake. Times 100 again if he happend to leave the pricetag on. Sheeee-it! Anyway, it'll work out.

    Hit it w/ the coarse Scotchbrites now. Once you're happy w/ the smoothness you've obtained w/ the coarse ones, move on to the finer ones. Things will start feeling good now and the intake will look something like this:
     

    Attached Files:

  4. Now it's time to hit er' w/ the sandpaper. Start coarse, sand the whole intake well, and move on to the next paper. Continue until you're done. You're going to get pissed off right about now. The intake won't shine nearly as well as it did when you'd finished w/ the finer Scotchbrite, but the hand sanding takes out swirls and such. Hang in there.

    Wash your intake w/ some warm water and to get all the funk off. Dry it well.

    **Here's a really good tip: Before moving on to the polishing wheels and compound, heat your intake to 175 on your grille. This will stop the compound from sticking in any crevaces you missed. You will miss crevases. Don't think about grabbing that sucker w/ out some gloves on fool!**

    Bring out the Tripoli (coarser compound) and get ready to look like this:
     

    Attached Files:

  5. I have nice eyes, huh?

    Fire up your polisher and lightly hold your compound to it. You'll see that the compound starts to melt onto the wheel. This is good.

    Get a good grip on your intake, pay particular attention to any edges, and keep those edges from getting hooked on the moving wheel. If you don't pay attention to this, you'll catch an intake in the toe or shin at something like 80 MPH. That hurts. Slowly work the intake against the rotating wheel.

    Things will start lookin' good now. Kind of shiney, but a little hazy. Try your best to get into all the crevices and move the intake CAREFULLY around the body of your polisher. If you clink it against the body, you get scratches. They suck.

    If your wife won't kill you, run the intake through your dishwasher w/ no detergent. This will get any stray Tripoli out of the nooks and crannies. What the hell is a nook or crannie anyway?

    Stick the intake back in the oven and get it up to heat again. Don't forget the gloves. Now move on to your Chromium Oxide compound and give er' hell on the other wheel. Never mix compounds!

    Things should be really shiney now and have a nice mirror, but there will be quite a few places you couldn't get at w/ your wheels. "But Anthony, this is where you should use your Dremel w/ sewn polishing wheels."

    Guys, I'm not going to feed you some line of shit. This is where things went awry for me and I needed to seek help. All the little places you "should" be able to get into w/ sewn polishing wheels for the Dremel? Yeah, screw the Dremel. It doesn't work for anything when it comes to polishing compound. Too wimpy.

    So I had this nicely polished intake w/ crappy looking valleys and nooks and crannies. What to do?

    Long story short, I decided to pay a polisher a pretty substantial amount of money to finish this thing off right. I told Haring it is returning to him polished. It is. This was the right thing to do. Here's the end product:
     

    Attached Files:

  6. Think of the intake looking just like the pic. below, but w/ the crevaces not so nice. That's where I got it to. I hated the fact that I had to pay someone to get it where I knew I could have w/ the right tools...but I did it. I would have had to buy a compressor, a grinder, and all sorts of other stuff. It wasn't in the budget.

    Look at this tech. as a good way to save yourself a ton of money at the polisher by doing the hard stuff yourself...or look at it as a way to polish your intake totally yourself... if you have a big ass'd compressor and the right tools :)

    In closing, This isn't something I want a damn thing to do with ever again, unless it's my own. Maybe not then. It's hard, dirty work and I have a lot of respect for those who do it for a living. But if you've got time, give it a go. The info. is all here.

    I hope Haring likes it.
     

    Attached Files:

  7. Roddin28
    Joined: Jun 23, 2004
    Posts: 349

    Roddin28
    Member

    you did a great job - looks awesome
     
  8. aedan
    Joined: Oct 18, 2004
    Posts: 524

    aedan
    Member
    from ###

    you done good man at least you had a go and got it to where it is
     
  9. Dat Dirty Rat
    Joined: Jan 15, 2003
    Posts: 3,505

    Dat Dirty Rat
    Member

    F@#in' awesome post holmes...I have a x-1 that is partially polished and wanted to finish it but was unsure about how to do it plus dont have the $$$ to get it done..Thanks..I owe you a 'cold one'!

    Dirty
     
  10. Great Tech! Sadly, I only seem to learn from my OWN mistakes. I'm determined to polish a few thingies I've got lying around. Thanks to you, I've now got enough knowledge to be dangerous!;) -Keith
     
  11. Automotive Stud
    Joined: Sep 26, 2004
    Posts: 4,390

    Automotive Stud
    Member

    Looks great, but you bailed out at the end :(

    When I polish that stuff, I don't use a wussy dremel to get into the hard to reach places, I use an air powered right angle grinder with the heafty stiff buffs they sell at the swap meets that fit in them. The cone shaped ones about an inch or two long usually get into those hard to reach spots. I always thought my stuff came out pretty good, but that one looks like chrome!
     
  12. joeycarpunk
    Joined: Jun 21, 2004
    Posts: 4,446

    joeycarpunk
    Member
    from MN,USA

    Messy job for sure, looks nice though.
     
  13. Duster
    Joined: Nov 19, 2004
    Posts: 219

    Duster
    Member

    Great post. You think and for sure treat people the way I like to. I would have done the same thing. keep up the good work and stay along time. I make knives and use the same type of polish. LATER
     
  14. Thanks guys. Yes, that Makita would have helped the cause. I'll be looking for some of these magical cone shaped polishing wheels at the swaps too.
     
  15. zonkola
    Joined: Nov 29, 2002
    Posts: 567

    zonkola
    Member
    from NorCal

    This is the same place I end up every time I polish one of my parts--2 intakes and set and a half of valve covers so far. (And one of the intakes ended up with what I call the "10 Foot Special".) Man, what a pain. I'd love to know how the pros do it and what kind of equipment they use.
     
  16. They do it exactly the way I did, but w/ powerful die grinders and really big polishing wheels. Occasionally they'll use handheld belt sanders, but many shops hate them.

    I had the same question and the gentleman I took it to was kind enough to show me around. I tell ya', that heating thing makes all the difference though.
     
  17. jangleguy
    Joined: Dec 26, 2004
    Posts: 2,668

    jangleguy
    Member

    Good job on the post and the intake! "Reality Tech"...I polished stuff for a living for a few years (just a small part of my regular job), and really dug the instant gratification, but my asshole stayed puckered up, as these were expensive parts I was playin' with (like that Thickstun). One day the boss came in (Mr. Famous Rodpartsguy) to give us some pointers, and promptly launched some high dollar parts across the shop, missing all the personel, but scaring the shit out of everyone, and embarrassing himself. Those parts still hang on the wall there today, as "trophys"...Now I go for a "10 ft" polishing (at home) on my stuff, then brush 'em with a Scotchbrite pad - I like that look...
    Todays special: get a full face shield......
     
  18. G Griffin
    Joined: Jul 19, 2004
    Posts: 521

    G Griffin
    Member

    At least you had the stones to send it out to be finished...
    I do some polishing at the shop, and a clear, full-face shield will keep the funk off your face.

    G.
    www.goodluckphoto.com
     
  19. i polished a 2 pot similar to that several years back, before dremil was born. i spent proly $100 bucks on buffs, compound and tootsie rolls, i used the electric makita for all the polish work, and that thing was a f$#*in shark! i wasted several sewn cotton buffs due to bad assed rpm. it will fuzzzzz em up like an eskimo spitz on crack cocain. it took forever, it turned out pretty good. but i gotta hand it to ya, you done a good job, and the right thing.
     
  20. polisher
    Joined: Jul 28, 2002
    Posts: 651

    polisher
    Alliance Vendor

    I warned you!
    Headers are work, and that's a fairly easy one.
    The Edmunds is one of the better ones to work on.
    Modern day ones are a bitch.
    In our shop we have 5,3,1,3/4 and 1/2 horse buffs, variable speed belt grinders, ( with belts from 1/8th to 1 inch wide and from 30 to 600 grit) die grinders, a dremel, with buff wheels that don't fly off. ( I love my little dremel, with the right abrasive it's a little beast) abrasives that allow us to buff from 60 grit, angle grinders, end grinders, maybe 5 hand held buffs, polishing sticks, slow and high speed drills and all sorts of bits and bobs.
    I would reckon a manifold like that at around 12 to 14 hours.
    All our equipment is built for polishing, our die grinders and angle grinders are slower and have more torque than most types.
    That is how we get the job done.
    And it's still a bitch.
    Dremels are great with the right gear, but dremels own buffs are crap. We like it because it can get into such small places, and our die grinders can generally get into the rest.
    But we need proper respirators and air exchange units, and still have to vacuum weekly or when we change metals.
    If you polish at home better to stick to valve covers and other open pieces that are easy to get around until you have good enough tooling to power into it efficiently.
    I'll gladly help and advise any one, but with something like headers I'm inclined to warn you that you are about to find out why people pay the like of me.
    Damn! They left out my icon with the shades!
     
  21. Rocknrod
    Joined: Jan 2, 2003
    Posts: 648

    Rocknrod
    Member
    from NC, USA

    Polisher, You ever get into the ultrasonic stuff?
     
  22. haring
    Joined: Aug 20, 2001
    Posts: 2,335

    haring
    Member

    Here's a disappointing* turn of events ...

    *I want to use words like "infuriating" and "sadistic", but am trying hard to remain calm.

    The United States Postal Service LOST THIS MANIFOLD.

    In short, the package was received in Philadelphia, then disappeared. If I ever see it, it will be a miracle. I want to vomit. I can't think of anything else to say.

    Stay tuned.
     
  23. Oh man, this hurts. I feel terrible for Don and quite frankly, I feel terrible for me. That thing was a lot of hard work, time, and money in supplies and finishing. I did insure it...but only for the value of the intake, not the polishing. As I'm not a bonified business, I didn't think that'd work out.

    Furthermore, this thing sure wasn't small. Not like they lost a letter or something.

    Ugh.
     
  24. graverobber63
    Joined: Sep 8, 2004
    Posts: 4,134

    graverobber63
    Alliance Vendor

    Hey Tony want to polish my finned valve covers?
     
  25. 38pickup
    Joined: Aug 11, 2004
    Posts: 1,109

    38pickup
    Member

    Awww man , that brings tears to my eyes :( I hope it works out ok :(
     
  26.  
  27. polisher
    Joined: Jul 28, 2002
    Posts: 651

    polisher
    Alliance Vendor

    Never use ultrasonics, don't have a rig for it in our shop.
    We'll probably build an ultrasonic tank once we put up the extension we're waiting to do.
    Ultrasonics is great for cleaning aluminum, but not so cool on Brasses, which an aweful lot of people use them on.
    To set up an ultrasonic tank the size we need would take a couple of grand most likely.
    I don't like electropolishing because the solutions can be unstable and it's not so good on recesses and the complicated shapes, but again if it is set up properly it's great.
     
  28. hey man,

    i think you did good...even in the "imperfect" state, i'd be proud to wear that on my ride - i'm one of those guys that would rather wear the flaws like a badge of honour having attempted something myself. having said that, the intake looks super sano fully polished :D

    oh shit man i just read your post on the manifold getting lost - super sorry to hear that...

    danny
     
  29. Larry C
    Joined: Nov 18, 2004
    Posts: 47

    Larry C
    Member

    "In closing, This isn't something I want a damn thing to do with ever again, unless it's my own. Maybe not then. It's hard, dirty work and I have a lot of respect for those who do it for a living. But if you've got time, give it a go. The info. is all here."

    Your "experiment" may not have turned out as well as you would have liked, but your good intentions and integrity are intact!
     
  30. Muttley
    Joined: Nov 30, 2003
    Posts: 18,501

    Muttley
    Member

    Somewhere right now theres a Mail Man installing a nice polished intake on his Flahead.:mad:
     

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