The 'E' Type Forum

How do you get them very shiny do they have to be machine polished

Car nut,

When I bought my 3.8 back in '97 the engine bay was a mess and the aluminium was a very dull musty white, I stripped the carbs then lightly glass bead blasted all the parts including the manifolds I then bought a polishing kit from some car show and adapted a bench grinder to accept the polishing mops and set about polishing every item.
It took a while I won't mislead you there but the end result was great if I knew how to attach a photo I would.

Dave

Thanks Dave, I knew it wouldn't be a quick job ;)

go to welcome or general section there's a thread how to do it :)

I did something similar to Dave - I started with 400 grit wet'n'dry paper by hand, worked down to 1500 grit, then finished off with a polishing mop in my bench grinder. Its good enough for me - not mirror or looking like its been chromed - but as Dave says, it takes a while and is boring as heck to do.

kingzetts wrote:I did something similar to Dave - I started with 400 grit wet'n'dry paper by hand, worked down to 1500 grit, then finished off with a polishing mop in my bench grinder. Its good enough for me - not mirror or looking like its been chromed - but as Dave says, it takes a while and is boring as heck to do.

do you use a bit of water that wet and dry?

Not to begin with - I worked dry until I got down to 800 grit. It really depends on how deep any scratches or corrosion have gone. If its just dull, I'd start at 800 grit but you need the coarser grits to tackle pitting or scratches.

In fact if its just dull I'd try with the polishing wheel first - theat works amazingly well.

Cheers john.

Hope your cars coming along nicely :)