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Just wondering if anyone has a tried and true method to polish the intake and valve covers.

I'm doing it right now, and I used an angle grinder with a 120 grit disc, and its WAY too powerful. Now I have a dremel with soft wire brushes, and it works pretty good. Not sure about the buffing and polishing stage, the cracks are so awkward..... Aluminum polish probably exists, and a buffing wheel is what I'll try.

Steel wool?

There was a recent post that was something I wouldn't have thought of. I can't really describe it.
The search function rocks.

Ya 120 grit would take down the pebbles on the intake for sure. I was going to see about a buffing wheel mounted on a furnace motor. Anyway thanks for the input so far. I've polished fiber optic cable and you can go to 10,000 grit for that. More than we need for sure but 4, 000 grit isn't out of the question. I think mechanical is definitly the way to go. I have a friend who owns a detailing business (does my headlites for free ) I'll consult him too.

If you're gonna use something as high power as an angle grinder ot get out the casting marks, whatever you do, DON'T TURN IT SIDEWAYS!! I mauled the D in my MAZDA on my SOHC vc....

Did you try doing a search?
People seem to be afraid of it, or something
I would really like to know more about the fiber optic cable polisher. What is it?

OK, I'm going to hook a buffing wheel up to my crank pulley and have at it, 7,000rpm of polishing power, no cuts no guts I always say. Wish me luck. KLZE buffing wheel.

all you need to do is get it smooth and remove any corrosion final sand it with 600 grit. use a die grinder with a skinnier cloth cutting wheel and black compound this will make it nice and smooth( make sure you dont push too hard it will smudge the compound which is a b---- to get off) then with a angle grinder on low speed use a bigger wider buffing wheel(cloth) with green polish and very lightly go over your surface in even pressured strokes once again not pushing too hard, this step brings out the shine like you wouldnt believe. if you follow these steps you wont have any sanding marks etc. ill see if i can up load the sl500 lips on the rims i did when i worked at a wheel refinishing shop.
you want a lot of wheel speed with the black cutting compound and a slow even speed for the final polish

Black cuttin compound? Green polish?

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some c5 wheels i high polished

yeah theres a lot of steps to do it properly the black compound is what takes any sanding lines out. its about 5-6 inches long and an inch in diameter. green is the same it just wont take out you sanding lines its the final high polish just shines it up. if you sanded with 4000 grit maybe you dont need the black compound and can just high polish it. but if you do it right it will look perfect and last which is the important thing. ill find outbrands and whatnot and where to get order them along with the polishing wheels. those vette wheels took about 14-16 hours to give you an idea of how long it takes its a really tedious process. and the whole valve cover etc. would have to be EVENLY sanded to get the best results.

Ya nice to know the step by step and products that work. I have access to a lot of different things but which one work the best is always the question. I know the polishing thing has been done time and time again so I was hoping I didn't have to reinvent the wheel. Someone would have a link or what ever to a step by step process.
quote: fowljesse, Did you try doing a search? People seem to be afraid of it, or something, unquote. You know how hit or miss the search engine can be. I didn't find anything usefull that's why I posted. I'll re-search though and try again.

theres a better explanation i found on a web site that sells kits if you looked on the site theyd probably show different compounds, wheels and their different uses. the finish depends a lot on the SANDING being even though

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