Aluminum Polishing

L

lesterwa58

Member
I have an aluminum intake manifold in the raw and it needs to be polished to look good. What is the best way to do this? Is it easier to have this done by someone who is experienced in doing this kind of work and if so who might I contact here in the Pacific Northwest? Information would be appreciated, Please respond to Wes Jones and my direct e-mail address is: lesterwa58@yahoo.com
 
Had a set of heads polished, got a few quotes, one was way out there and others were close. I would not purchase the equipment and invest in the time, when professionals do this at a reasonable cost and quality. Then the fun part,
keeping them looking good.
 
After you get your manifold polished, you might want to consider having it clear powder coated. That will seal any pores in the casting and help prevent gasoline stains. FWIW
 
From my experience, clear coating is not the way to go. I've done it twice. Both times gasoline (leaking Holley 4 bbl., of course) got onto the manifold and seemed to get under the clear coat or stained the coating itself. Now I've got ugly yellowed manifolds I can't clean up.
 
I polished a manifold once. The price they charge for factory polishing is not that unreasonable once you see how hard it is to do yourself. That being said, life is about more than just saving money.

I screwed the manifold down to a sawhorse. I started with a wirewheel, then graduated to Scotchbrite Roloc discs with varying coarseness, then to a buffing wheel with different compounds. I'd figure a full day's labor.

In the end, it turned out pretty good, but there were nooks and crannies that I never could get at like the pros could.

As far as clearcoat, powdercoat may be better, but I've seen clear engine paint go bad in a short time despite the label saying it was gasoline resistant.
 
If you are a young man, buy the stuff. If you are my age, send it to Mike 51 Merc above. If he did one in a day, he beat me by nearly a week!
 
It all depends on how much you value your time - the cost of supply’s - and if you can deal with the mess of being coated in black muck all the time.
Personally I got my fill of it long ago.
I recently had a PM7 done for 200 bucks …. Flawless and far better than I could have done.
 
After polishing, have any of you ever applied "sharkhide" protectant to the polished serface? I was curious how well this stuff works.
 
I just did this one myself. It's by no means perfect, but I am hard headed enough to want to do it myself...

DSCN6402.jpg


But if you aren't already set up to do it...I'd find a professional polisher. I just had some aluminum wheels done. Full polish for $50 a wheel...and they needed a lot of work. I wouldn't stand in front of a buffer all day for that...

Neal
 
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