Polishing Intake?
 

Has anyone ever polished an intake? not port and polish,but just the outer surface.
I've been thinking about polishing my performer intake myself. It gets so dirty whenever i work on the engine, i thought polishing would help with that and help the looks also. Just curious.

Thanks,
thad

Polishing is great, but IMOHO, just for show. Too much work to do it yourself (and look "good"), and too expensive to pay to have it done and not go faster :)
I cleaned my old Cobra intake (while off the car) and sandblasted it. Then clear-coat paint keeps it pretty clean.
Now my NEW MOTOR, that I just clearcoated everything before it went on:

http://www.dariusrudis.com/engine.jpg
:cool:

Everytime I see that car or engine I drool! http://www.duhspot.com/users/smiley/...a/as-drool.gif http://216.40.198.77/mysmilies/s/otn...onguesmile.gif

My freind polished his intake on his 300ZX and it was a nightmare. He spent countless hours and countless dollars on polishing rolls, grinders grease, different grit sandpaper, etc...

It looks awesome, but to much trouble in my opinion.

If you really want to do it, you can get everything you need at eastwood.com


I powdercoated my intake and it looks awesome, and is much easier. How do you post pictures here? I can show you.

Where it says attach file on the reply window, go to browse and find the pic you want to post! :) I'd like to see it too! :)

dont do it, i started(and never finished) my stock intake, and it was not worth the trouble.

i put in over 10hrs, and if i could have it powdercoated right now, i would.

big waste of time, unless it is strictly 4shonogo

see my other topic..."pwdercoated parts"

i say polish it if you have a belt sander a palm sander and a corded drill its really not that hard its just really messy wear a respirator and cover up as best you can i did my bike over this winter frame wheels swingarm and forks it took awhile but it was well worth it it looks great heres a link that might help

http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/P.../polishin1.htm

if you have any more ? just ask

why not just buy one already polished? i would think that the upkeep would be a lot less work than doing the polishing yourself.nothing some Mother's and a little elbow grease cant keep shiny.
i have been thinking of getting one myself, both for show and go...

that is a beautiful engine drudis!

I've been thinking of what i can do to improve the looks of the engine compartment and the intake polishing was one of them. I may or may not do it. The car is going to be down for one to two weeks while the heads get worked on so this would be an opportune time to do this stuff. I've got access to all the facilities and tools that i need for polishing the intake but if it takes a too long of time i might reconsider. I'll polish a small area to see how long it would take me first.
none of this will happen until this semester is over but i'll post pics of what i do and don't do in the engine compartment.

thanks for the replies all,
thad

there's something else i just thought of. theres a sand-blasting grit you can use called glass bead. I was told it would give any metals a semi polished look. We've got some at work that i'll try out. let you all know what i found out. Just an after thought.

I have and use a "glass bead" blaster at work, and it does not give a semi-polished look.

When you are forcing media into a piece of metal at high speeds, purpose to clean off paint and corrosion, its not logical to get a polished look.

It does give a finer finish than say 80 grit sandpaper, but its far from polished.

maybe your blaster is different. let me know.

I polished my Cobra intake very nicely by using a wire wheel on a die grinder, turned out beautiflully. I was just trying to clean it up, it was filthy, but it came out awesome. Don't have any pics though.

If it's the 89-93 style upper intake with that thick powder coat don't even try sanding it. First mix some strong paint removing chemicals muriatic acid might help but spray it on minutes before removing it with a pressure washer or a wire brush and a steady stream of water. Allow the mixture of various paint removers to sit over night first. After you've removed this coating the rest is easy by using a 320 grit greaseless paste or abbrasive rolls. The upper intake is a piece of cake. The lower with off set ground is tideous. Good luck

The glass bead blasting was something that was told to me so i couldn't tell you from experience. i'll try it out on a piece of scrap aluminum and let you know Mach1.
I actually had to blast it once, with normal grit, because the previous owner had painted it silver and it came off just by touching it. big mess!
No powder coating on it either, so that's a plus.