KALEL

Me and a friend of mine have been working on trying to polish some of the parts inside our engine bays. however we cannot seem to get the surface to be completely smooth..yes i have checked some other threads but the procedures are somewhat vague..i have read that sanding isnt really necessary on some parts, however we have sanded starting with a 60 grit and worked down to a 600 grit. we still have small scratches however and when i try to buff them out nothing happens. I dont know if there is a certain technique or what that i am missing but i do know that that glass surface is not showing up. we tried working on his brackets that hold his headlights in place(he has a 98 z28.) what exactly to we need to do? do we even need to sand the brackets or other parts? how long should the buffing process take?(we worked on 2 parts for 5 hrs and still didnt get it perfect)what tools are necessary and what can we get by with?

ritchie

600 grit seems a little rough. i just got a dremel tool for christmas, and the first thing I did was polish my MBA shift ****..... and it came out sweet. but what I did was sand it with 320 grit, then 1500, then 2000. Once it was smooth, I used the dremel tool with the polishing attachment and used the metal polish it came with to polish the shift ****. I don't have pics, but this is how shiny my shift **** came out:
http://store4.yimg.com/I/shopmomo_1773_4330092

I think the metal polish made a big difference too. In a little over a week, the shift **** had gotten a little dull, so I'll need to re-polish. I also have a B&M shifter, and I polished the shaft of the shifter also, for a ferrari-ish look. Hope this helps a bit.....

KALEL

yea it does. we actually looked for 1000 grit but have not been able to find any. Neither Home Depot nor Lowe's has anything over 220. Where would i get some that fine?

ritchie

I'd go to Wal-Mart if there's one in your area. I usually have to go where the cans of spray paint are in the automotive section. That, or Pep Boys, if you have one of those around.... not sure. Your best bet is to look anywhere spray paint is sold, and it's usually right next to it. If it turns out the way you want, post some pics for us!

KALEL

ok next question...can i sand it by hand...yea i know it will be tougher but i think it would work better for me since im using a drill connection and the drill tends to move like crazy sometimes since i cant keep it stable

ritchie

That's what I did, even though i have a dremel, all of the attachments seemed a little rough. It takes a long time, but the results are worth it.... especially for an engine bay. The only thing I used the dremel for was to polish the **** out of it once I sanded it with 2000 grit, and it worked. Same went for the shifter itself, I just went outide and sanded it by hand. Just FYI, I've never polished anything before like this.... going from a rough surface to a smooth mirror finish..... so I'm no expert but it can be done!

KALEL

ha...neither have i, but we have had some issues, we are in the same boat as you. we have 2 dremels, and thats it

KALEL

one other thing...how long do you generally have to sand with each different type of sandpaper? will the metal look a certain way? how can you tell?

ritchie

I could tell by the visible scratches still on the shift ****. There was no specific amount of time, but I would suggest that the most amount of time be spent on the final 2000 grit step, as this will be the last resurfacing before buffing. I noticed after I polished my shift **** that there were a few scratches left, so I'm stuck having to go back and re-sand with 2000 grit and polish again. Just a repeat process until you get the results you want. Good luck!

Dawg One

A public service announcement:
Once you go through all this and polish a part that wasn't that way to begin with, you'll ALWAYS have to polish it or it will get all dull and nasty. That's why I opted not to fully polish my just installed GMMG chambered exhaust. I worked diligently on the tips with rubbing compound, white rouge and a polishing wheel. The intermediate pipe, which you can't even see way underneath the car, looked great. But now that it's underneath the car, it'll never be seen again! I've been told this by several people in the business, so if you're prepared to keep after the parts on a regular basis to maintain the bling-bling, no problem. Otherwise, it doesn't sound like it's worth the time.

Joe "Preachers Sheets" DIESO

iTrader: (4)

Yea, what Dawg One said. It's a pain in the neck. I sanded and polished my old shifter **** and I was glad when the threads ripped off the shifter ****. It was a pain trying to keep it nice all the time.