I've been polishing my plenum for ages now.. very long process. I posted some pictures a while ago, but now that it's completely done i'll put them up I've noticed a lot of plenum polishes seem to only do just the top surface, I thought i'd go a bit further and do down the sides as well. Also got some pictures of how my engine is looking at the moment. Not my pink camera haha Down the sides Before Before and After Before and After Before After In the process Engine awaiting new plenum EGR gone That's all
looks great I know how time consuming this is. I hope mine can look that good when i get mine finished.
hopefully u can keep it looking that good. i had mine done back in 06, doesnt look that good atm though it gets annoying keeping it clean from the oxidation over time. although it can keep a nice polish again and look new again but meh i cbf with it anymore. the eng will be coming out soon and when it does i will get it hpc coated polished look. this is mine when it was first done:
Wow yours looks really good too, did you do it yourself? Or got someone else to polish it? I've got some chrome throttle bodies being sent from coz at the moment too, the 58mm diameter ones.
that was done by a pro, no chance in hell id do that job. he almost kicked my arse and never wanted to see me again after he finished that job lmao
Hahaha I feel his pain lol. It's quite difficult to polish. Did he end up charging much for it to be done?
cant remember exactly it was in 06 but pretty sure it was about 300-400 for the plenum, throttle bodies, water pipes and few little bits. was from a dads mate that use to work for a polishing company and did it on the side. urs looks great but if u want it to look show quality, take it to a polisher now, and get him to just finalise it. they wouldnt charge much to finalise it. would come out even better
yea i vote for that, get it sealed and finished :thumbup: Last year i machined up a gear knob out of mild steal and brass, and polished it to a mirror finish, has small spots of rust now cause its not sealed
You did good, as I've said before I'd rather poke my eyes out with a burnt stick than polish another plenum
Damn, Do we have a professional polisher around here to finish off stuff? Mildura doesn't quite have as many services available like Melbourne. From what i understand I don't think the plenum should have much problem with rust as it isn't mild steel, i think it's some sort of cast aluminum alloy, I never saw any rust on it prior to polishing despite it being 20 years old haha. Not too sure what a pro would do to finish it off either? I can see little lines as thin as hair on the surface.. but only just, might help to use a lambswool polishing pad to get them out... but i doubt it. As i've been over it up to 800 grit and in some places 1000 grit. Then heavily polished by machine and hand. I used a brand of metal polish called "Purple".. it works really well.
ah well aluminum doesn't suffer from iron oxide u should be fine then, it is going to loose its shine over time from build up of road shit, but id say it would be easier to clean off than the original polishing process
Yeah i've heard they lose their shine after a while and always get dirty. But yeah it'd be soo damn easy to clean compared to polishing it.
Purple polish > all It kicks the living crap out of auto-sol, which I started to use on my plenum. Just don't leave the lid ajar, as it dries out a bit. I need to add some more solvent to mine to thin it back down.
Meguairs metal polish > Purple polish....the meguairs is actually a purple colour as well come to think of it.
the plenum does not rust. what i meant by finishing it off, was to go over it and bring the shine out even more. they use industrial machines, the faster, the hotter, the better the polish. but if u 100% satisfied with it then u dont need to do that, was just commenting if you wanted to bring it up even more out.
