Polishing Radiator Shell and Headhight Buckets?

30Tudor

30Tudor

Senior Member
I would appreciate some advice on how to polish up my radiator shell and headlight buckets. Both have some very minor scratches that I would like to remove as well. Thanks

Mike
 
I use 0000 steel wool with mothers mag and aluminum polish and wipe off with a new terry cloth towel and then another new towel and re apply more polish and wipe off with another new towel, i have polished alot of aluminum and had the best results with that system, hope it helps!
 
It depends on what the scratches are on the parts.

The process for buffing is to sand off scratches with a higher grit paper until you get to a scratch that the buffing process can remove.

If your scratches are just minor surface things you can not feel with your fingers then you might be able to just buff them off. If you can feel them then you might have to start with 400 or 600 and work your way up to 1500 or more. The key is to know when you have removed all the previous coarser scratch. This means sand in different directions for each grit.

Here is a great place to get buffing supplies. The owner is very helpfull and has decent prices.
http://www.tarheelparts.com/

Places like Eastwood might sell you wheels that are unsafe because you do not get the correct washers and such. For people on a budget I believe Harbor Freight has a good price on a cheapy buffer motor. Buy some correct and quality wheels and supplies from Tarheel and you should be good to go for a moderate amount of buffing.
 
There is an article in the latest rod & custom mag about buffing, both paint and chrome/stainless, about 6 pages long, basically an ad for Mother's products but a lot of good info incl tips on buffers, pads, etc.
Paul in CT
 
the issue escapes me but one of the earlier "How to Restore Your model A" books has a good article on how to do the headlight shells. Polishing is an art form in it's own right and can be dangerous because of the high speeds needed in some cases when power polishing. Although I love Mother's Products you might consider trying Flitz polish. Been using it all week too:cool:
 
Some years ago I purchased a reasonable priced buffer, it lasted about a week; sent it back and got a Balder Buffer; got the correct buffing wheels and polishing compound from a plating shop. Best choice I ever made. After a number of years and lots of use the Balder Buffer is still running strong.
 
Thanks for all the advice. My hope was that I could do this as much as possible without removing the radiator shell and the headlights (or at a minimum remove the headlight and horn bar). It sounds like the steel wool method may be the best choice?
 
Can't help on polishing out major scratches, except that it might be worth taking it to a professional.

For the light stuff, I also like Flitz.

BTW, got this at a garage sale. $10 for the buffer, $6 for the welded angle iron stand. It's a slower speed buffer because it takes wheels up to around 14".

I've since gotten some proper sized wheels for it.

Steve
 

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