chrsgrain
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| posted on 10/5/06 at 09:16 AM |
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Will this polish up?
Hi all,
got a second hand power cap for my XE engine - pic below (click for a larger image)... I think its cast alloy and is quite rough at the moment!
Will it polish up (even in theory) and if so how is the best way to go about it - I don't have a polishing wheel!!
Chris
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Jeffers_S13
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| posted on 10/5/06 at 09:22 AM |
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With a lot of elbow grease maybe or you could get a polishing place to do it, they probably have some mechanical means of doing with soft abraisive
wheels ? but probably a few hours work so may be expensive. Ive had stuff aqua blasted, glass beads in water. Ali stuff comes up amazing, it wont
take all the roughness away but will look better plus its very cheap. Or you could have it powder coated ? again very cheap.
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greggors84
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| posted on 10/5/06 at 10:24 AM |
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Could always get it chrome plated if it wont polish up.
Chris
The Magnificent 7!
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Dave J
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| posted on 10/5/06 at 10:28 AM |
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If you get some fairly coarse wet and dry paper (100 grit)and a bucket of water, you should be able to rub it down so the finish is fairly smooth
(lots of time and effort needed), then go to a finer wet and dry (200grit) then finish with finer still 300-500 grit.
You should then be able to polish with metal polish to bring up the shine.
It takes alot of time and effort, but should be ok.
Cheers
Dave
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big_wasa
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| posted on 10/5/06 at 10:37 AM |
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yep Ive done cast swing arms for bikes and fork legs and anything elts that I could get of 
like most things you get out what you put in.
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chrsgrain
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| posted on 10/5/06 at 10:44 AM |
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OK - bucket of water and the stereo on then!
I'll post the results... and if I ruin it I'll get it powdered!
Chris
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02GF74
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| posted on 10/5/06 at 11:22 AM |
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you won't make it worse than it is. worst case, paint it then smooth it down,
I'd use a little dremel sanding cylinder for the bulk of the work - looks like quite big pits so will take some time to get it smooth.
I guess you have lots of spare time - there's nothing wrong with how it is,
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chrsgrain
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| posted on 10/5/06 at 12:31 PM |
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Just popped out to get the throttle body grit blasted, and the bloke said he'd do that and the powercap for the same (token) amount... so
I'll see what it looks like once its done...
Chris
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NS Dev
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| posted on 10/5/06 at 01:04 PM |
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Nono noooooooooooo!!!!
Don't grit blast ally whatever you do!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
BEAD BLAST!!
You need glass bead blast (or wet galss bead blast, the aquablast thingy)
Gritblasting will make it look awful!
Incidentally Clive who you are already dealing with has a template for an infill piece to go on top of those powercaps I think cos they use them on
16v conversions of mantas
Retro RWD is the way forward...........automotive fabrication, car restoration, sheetmetal work, engine conversion
retro car restoration and tuning
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chrsgrain
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| posted on 10/5/06 at 01:34 PM |
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Its OK Nat - I was being generic! The chap is going to use dry glass bead medium.... Thanks though!
I don't have any room over the powercap for a bit of Clives special engineering as the bonnet is REALLY close anyway! Looking forward to getting
the header tank from him though.
Chris
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NS Dev
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| posted on 10/5/06 at 01:38 PM |
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phew! Ok no probs, you'll find bead blasted ally looks pretty good anyway. Not polished, but it looks nice and smart.
Retro RWD is the way forward...........automotive fabrication, car restoration, sheetmetal work, engine conversion
retro car restoration and tuning
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DarrenW
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| posted on 11/5/06 at 12:35 PM |
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i dont understand this fetish for spending multi-hours on polishing castings when time could be more productive spent elsewhere. Sure it will look
nice but it also will if painted.
Personally if i had to polish something like that i think id get a polishing wheel for bench grinder.
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NS Dev
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| posted on 11/5/06 at 03:19 PM |
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Depends on the time available I guess......................I don't even paint em!!
Retro RWD is the way forward...........automotive fabrication, car restoration, sheetmetal work, engine conversion
retro car restoration and tuning
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chrsgrain
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| posted on 11/5/06 at 04:27 PM |
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That's why none of us on here have bought a car of the shelf - so we can do things differently....
I'm not in much of a panic to get it finished, and SWMBO does as much as me and so I don't get dramas about spending hours on the car....
I want it to look good, so I'm prepared to spend the time on it...
All good practice for the next project!
Chris
PS pics of it blasted just coming, but camera battery dead!
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chrsgrain
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| posted on 11/5/06 at 05:21 PM |
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Blasted.... think I'll leave it like this!
Before .............and .............. After
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DarrenW
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| posted on 11/5/06 at 11:22 PM |
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Looks good. Will you have to put some lacquer on to stop it corroding?
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NS Dev
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| posted on 11/5/06 at 11:41 PM |
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Yep, either get it clear anodised or laquer it (clear anodising will be much nicer and not yellow like laquer can when it gets warm)
Looks smart!!
Retro RWD is the way forward...........automotive fabrication, car restoration, sheetmetal work, engine conversion
retro car restoration and tuning
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chrsgrain
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| posted on 12/5/06 at 07:52 AM |
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Ahh... wondered about that... where could do that??
Chris
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