[LuMpY]

I I tried polishing my valve covers, and it was a complete disaster.

What happened? I would think the valve covers would be a piece of cake to polish. Now the alternator on the other hand..I bet that's a bitch.

 

[a70]

What happened? I would think the valve covers would be a piece of cake to polish. Now the alternator on the other hand..I bet that's a bitch.

i did my valve covers... harder than alt, alt was cake.

I did my valve covers by hand sanding, no buffing or compunds. i used a dremel on the bottom lip to get rid of the cast marks.. did more harm than good.

Valve covers are harder than you think.

 

[stonedworm]

Back when i took metalworking in highschool i built some stuff out of aluminum and polished it. IMO, the best way to do the 3000 pipe would be to sand it all down to get rid of any pits and stuff and then use a highspeed buffing wheel. It will look amazing; just like a mirror. Then just spray it with a high temp metal clear coating to preserve the shine.

 

[LuMpY]

A70..I just might have to do some polishing. I thought about the valve covers but I don't know if it's worth it since they aren't fully exposed.

Stonedworm...that's what I did but you can't tell mine's not coated. If I were to put any coating on it it would be black powdercoat. At that point I'd just but the HKS pipe and have that p-coated.

 

[a70]

Ive polished nearly everything in my engine bay. The hardest thing (my opinion) is the intake manifold. Some guys say its easy but they usually do a shit job and leave most of the pits.. On my valve covers... you take them off youll see not 1 imperfection. I spent way too much time on those. I know know u really dont need to polish the parts you dont see.. its a waste of time

 

[a70]

that was taken with my 1 MP camera haha

If i had power sander or something, it would have been easier. I reccomend using buffing compunds!!!!!!
I used them on my intake manifold... brought out a whole new level of shine!

 

[a70]

this is the intake manifold.. not finished... still (taken with 2MP camera)

and...
here is the y-pipe (taken with my 4MP camera)

 

[NegativeGeForce]

wow bro...im doing the intake manifold now, and its hard as F**K to get the pits out. What did you use to get the pits out? There has to be a faster way

 

[a70]

i have bought Black & decker mouse sander. That helps in getting through the pits... BUT it leaves its own swirly mars.. which need to be hand sanded out. Ive found when polishing pipes, ect, if you cut the sand paper into strips (about 1" wide and as long as possible) you can go around the pipe and pull back n forth... its works well... since it gets boring quickly to hand sand.

you should go to home depot in the tools section they have a buffing kit made for drills, it comes wirth compund and only costs $12.

 

[Bishop92T]

Damn, where do you guys get the patience to polish all that stuff? I got bored just polishing a 3"x3" piece.

 

[NegativeGeForce]

i have bought Black & decker mouse sander. That helps in getting through the pits... BUT it leaves its own swirly mars.. which need to be hand sanded out. Ive found when polishing pipes, ect, if you cut the sand paper into strips (about 1" wide and as long as possible) you can go around the pipe and pull back n forth... its works well... since it gets boring quickly to hand sand.

you should go to home depot in the tools section they have a buffing kit made for drills, it comes wirth compund and only costs $12.

hmm...sounds good :-D ill do that

 

[LuMpY]

Hey Bishop, I think a little bit(ok a lot) of this helps..:weed:
Good job on the mani A70...I luv me some shiny aluminum.

 

[suprakikdurass]

HKS 3000 pipe is definitely superior for flow, the stock 3000 pipe can almost fit inside the HKS pipe. I personally wouldn't waste time polishing the stock 3000 pipe, it's a major bottleneck which should be removed.

Couldn't you just remove the restriction where the 3000 pipe bottlenecks? It's 2.5 inches in diameter going into the throttle body.
What the shop is doing for my defcon Hardpipes is hacking off the bottle neck to the 3000 pipe and then welding the hardpipes to fit the end so that everything is fluid. This way I keep the stock mounting sites and makes for a cleaner install. Instead of having the defcon pipes only held in place by the throttle body coupler.

 

[Bishop92T]

Couldn't you just remove the restriction where the 3000 pipe bottlenecks? It's 2.5 inches in diameter going into the throttle body.

You could, but the HKS 3000 pipe would still be bigger. The stock 3000 pipe at it's largest point isn't as big as the HKS 3000. If my HKS 3000 pipe hadn't come with my HKS IC kit I would have simply made my own 3000 pipe.