at home polishing/intake

[331 stang91]

So I want to get that polished look on the outside of my intake manifold. Is this possible for the everyday guy to do? I have drillls and a dremmele (sp). tool. Am I crazy or can it be pulled off. The guy before me well lets just say messed up the outside of the intake so if I could fix it that would be great. THANKS

 

[silverstripes]

It can be done just takes time and patience. Proper technique i'm not quite sure. Dremel tool will be good for the cracks but would be hell doing the whole thing.

 

[331 stang91]

ok what im looking for is what attachments would be best to use anyone know that?

 

[2002whitegt]

Hey what's up man, I was in the same position you are a few months ago, just be careful because once you polish the intake you will also want to polish the valve covers, after that its the alternator, then the powersteering bracket, and then..... Let's just say it gets addicting in a way.

Here is the link I used for all my polishing needs, and pm Almoststock, Stang22, masonozz for some more tips as they are the "Polishing gods"

http://www.leemotorsports.com/almoststock/

go to polishing tips

Hope this helps

 

[cjman15]

Can you polish stock valve covers? I'd love to do something about mine... they look crapppy...

and how do you guys get in those tiny creases like in the A/C compressor, the lower intake and the t-body!? that's amazing... I want to do some of that stuff

 

[stang22]

Anything and everything (aluminum) can be polished. If you don't have any patience, don't even bother. Be prepared to have sore fingers, fore arms, back, shoulders and everything else that comes with the elbow grease you are going to be using. I stretched all of my polishing over a 7 month window, so I had plenty of time.

Follow the instructions on the link above and you can't go wrong. This is just my personal opinion, but stay away from the Dremmel. It has tons of RPM's, but not enough torque and the sanding/polishing wheels don't cover enough area and it is very easy to "burn in" one area. I never used a Dremmel...

http://www.leemotorsports.com/stang22/misc_polished_parts.htm

Tim

 

[Zero_chance]

Its not too bad with the right tools. I used to do it in my spare time but never had a lot of customers around MA or CT so I gave it up.

 

[BlackFox5.0]

If you start, you'll need to finish it. It's a VERY long process, most (if not all) people underestimate how much time, effort, and patience it takes.

 

[pwcracer]

I didn't think our valve covers were aluminum..

 

[stang22]

I didn't think our valve covers were aluminum..

Yep, they sure are.

Tim

 

[OL' WHITEY]

I did my cobra intake (upper only) a few months ago. I will never do another one! It looks sweet, but it's a real PITA! Took me about 40 hours to do my upper intake using mostly a die grinder spinning thread-on scotch brite pads and buffing/polishing wheels. My fingers and back ached and it's a messy job. Breathing aluminum dust can't be good for you either. Even with a mask on, I had black boogers for days! Better off to buy the parts already polished or chromed in my opinion.

 

[Zero_chance]

I agree with ya Whitey. It is a PITA especially if you dont have all the tools. I used to only charge 50 bucks for an upper and 35 for a lower! I did about 10 of them over the course of a year until I started doing repair jobs on the side and making a lot more money

 

[stang22]

It would be nice to have everything chromed, but too much money to do that IMO. It's work either way... Either you work to save the money to have someone else chrome or polish it, or you work your tail off to polish it yourself.

Tim