Series 1 Cam Cover cleaning and polishing

[andrewh]

I am just taking a load of stuff for the E to my Vapour Blaster. I was wondering whether I should get him to vapour blast the cam covers prior to going to the polisher. Does anyone know whether it would be good to do this?

[wol916]

Did mine a couple of weeks ago, I used the tried and trusted sand paper method, you're looking at about 12 hours each. However I foud that the metal pan scrubs (the ones that look like a pile a swarf) get the job started a lot quicker. To my cost I only found this out towards the end of the job

[andrewh]

Ah, well thanks. So you didnt use a mop and wax? I was rather assuming I would pass the polishing onto a professional outfit but wanted to know whether VBlasting first would be beneficial. Well done do it yourself!!

[wol916]

No I started with 80 grit then 120, 600, 800, 1000, 1200, 1600 then polish then buffed with a soft cloth.

[ChrisC]

I would not bother vapour blasting it Andrew, the polishing company will chemically dip it to clean all the surfaces regardless as they risk clogging their polishing tools.

You can polish it yourself with various grades of sandpaper... but to be honest its an awful lot easier and quicker to use polishing mops.

I used sandpaper (in various grades) to get rid off all the high spots but stopped at 400 grade. Then I used 3 grades of polishing wax (1 mop each - the stiffest mop being used with the coarsest wax) - with each mop being used for maybe 10-15 minutes each.

here was the end result:


One thing you have to remember is that alloy doesnt STAY polished - you have to maintain it so you need a modicum of polishing knowledge / elbow grease plus alluminium polish

[osgii]

Did exactly the same with mine (sandblast paper + mop on driller), works very well!