Plenum polishing..

[75glnt]

Hey guys. As some of you know. I have bought a rwd modded plenum for my g63.

I'm wanting to clean it up nice, just need a few tips

How can I get rid of that darn orange peel effect off of it all? So it's all smooth?

It's cast alloy so once I polish it, what could happen to make it look.. Bad? Eg. Metal can rust. What happens to this stuff?

Cheers

[75wagon]

How can I get rid of that darn orange peel effect off of it all? So it's all smooth?

Basically sand/file it off.
Then treat it like paint work, work you way down through the grades of wet and dry until it almost shines, then polish.
You can use plenty of different types, Autosol, I believe Mothers make an alloy polish, and then there's what I use Josco alloy polishing products (you can buy the kits at Bunnings so I just found this week). The polishing bars and cloth wheel set up are the best as they leave a waxy type residue on the surface of the alloy and seem to take longer to lose it's shine. It's the same way the pros do it.
Bare alloy with discolour and corrode if left unmaintained. So once you start doing it, you need to keep it up.

Save yourself the time and effort. Take it to a professional.

You can thank me later.

What vr4retrofit is referring to is, it's a bugger of a job, you get covered in alloy. You will be black (and I mean black) when you've finished without protective gear on.
I wear disposable overalls with the hood on, and a full face mask is recommended (I use a full welding mask, because that's just what I have here). Trust me, give it a go and toy'll see what I mean, you get covered in it.
And doing complicated shapes (like manifolds etc...) are no fun at all.
Saying that, if you have plenty of time, and don't want to spend to much money, and of course have attention to detail and alot of patience, then give it a go, it's very satisfying to see the end result.
But if you're a rough bastard with no patience, just pay someone... lol

Dave...

[A112H]

Send it out to be chrome plated, won't loose it's shine and need polishing like polished alloy and you will stay clean

[75glnt]

Lol!!

I can be particular if I want to be.. But, unfortunately, I har a short attention span. so unless it comes along rather quickly, I get bored, frustrated and mess stuff up. Lol.

So! I'll give it a shot. And if it comes along well, then great! If not... Then I'll try again later, and if I still don't get it. I'll send it off

Thanks Dave for a great description for me

[geezer101]

It is a very hands on labour intensive process. You will need files and die grinders to remove the casting seams and left over 'flash' on the casting, then start sanding it as 75wagon has instructed. If you're going to use the "Josco" metal polishing kit that's available off the shelf at Bunnings, buy a couple of extra buffing wheels as they get contaminated quickly - and use a separate buffer wheel to do the final buff up. A little tech tip when polishing - get your hands on a spray can of that cheap tyre shine and give the area you're polishing a very light squirt. It will keep the wax pliable for longer (it will stop it from building up and going hard on the item you're polishing). I've been using Autosol metal polish for a long time and IMO it is a really good product. You can buy it at most motor accessory shops and bigger retailers like Big W and K-Mart. This is a section of an inlet runner of a carby manifold I was messing around with -

[A112H]

^^^^^

[75glnt]

Hmmm... True. I'll look into it.. Around about, how much does it cost to get something like this done?? Is it something like $150 or so? Or $300?

[75glnt]

Oh yea... Well that can be something down the track.. I'll clean it up... Give it a go on the bottom side of it all. If I fail, then it'll go to a shop.. If I find its good enough, I'll do the topside