Board logo

Polishing Alloy Castings
myke pocock - 24/8/09 at 08:02 PM

Does anyone know just how restorers and concours engine builders polish alloy castings so that they get right into all the corners, clean off all the crud and gunge and get a good quality finish? I was thinking along the lines of washing with fancy chemicals and blasting with special grits (plastic etc)


rusty nuts - 24/8/09 at 08:10 PM

Dishwasher will get rid of most of the gunge, the ones that engine reconditioners use is just a bit bigger.


mark chandler - 24/8/09 at 09:13 PM

I think our local blaster uses wallnut shells to get a nice finish on ali.


rick q - 24/8/09 at 11:16 PM

I had my inlet manifold and throttle bodies soda blasted and was very disappointed with the result.

Ended up doing it myself with a Dremel and their various little polishing wheels - dead tedious.


blakep82 - 24/8/09 at 11:39 PM

pressure washer?


MikeRJ - 25/8/09 at 07:22 AM

quote:
Originally posted by rick q
I had my inlet manifold and throttle bodies soda blasted and was very disappointed with the result.


Soda blasting is just for removing corrosion etc. on delicate castings, it's not for polishing.