Attn. Ben

[white87306]

I read that you were polishing some aluminum, I found a site with a really good tech. artical on polishing you might want to take a look. The address is mustang50world.net the top selection on the left-hand bar is polishing 101. Hope it helps.

[Saleen91]

Thanks man.

FYI, here's the article I've used. Forced347 on the Corral did this a few years ago.

http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Pit/7713/polishin1.htm

[Saleen91]

I took some pics today of the parts I've been polishing and put them on my web page. Some of the PoMoFo's saw the blower discharge tube the day I polished it. I've since touched it up some more.

http://stang.v8mustang.com:81/pics/polished/

I just did the blower inlet tube last night. I only did half of it. The half that you can actually see. :)

[Saleen91]

Nope, I'm using a Makita cordless drill with a mandrel. The mandrel holds a 6" buffing wheel.

I'm not doing a perfectionist type polishing job so I wouldn't rank this up there with the work that Dave (http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Pit/7713/polishin1.htm) (aka Forced347 on the Corral) does. I think he carries his sanding up to 1000 grit and he's got a free standing grinder/buffer. His stuff comes out extremely shiney looking like it was chromed.

IOW, I'm not sanding out ALL of the casting pits left in the aluminum, but I'm getting out most of them. I'm spending most of my time on the sides of the pieces that are visible, not 100% of the polished parts are polished.

I start of with 100 grit to get most of the casting roughness removed and leaving a smooth surface. Then 200, 320, 400, and sometimes 600. The only piece I went all the way up to 600 was the discharge tube. Everything else I stopped at 400. Then using the buffing wheel in the drill I use some "Heavy Cleaner" (similar to Tripoli but I couldn't find actual Tripoli). This does the serious smoothing out on the metal. I finish it off with a "High Gloss Polish" (similar to White Rouge but I couldn't find any of that at Lowe's either). Most of my time is spent using the 100 grit and the "Heavy Cleaner". I need to keep looking and see if I can find actual Tripoli and White Rouge in a stick.

When the part is done I wipe it down with some Wenol to remove any swirls and finger prints.

As a comparison, I spent about 2 hours doing the blower inlet tube last night, from start to finish and I only did the part that you can actually see. The part that is behind the fender well is completely untouched.