polishing aluminuum

M

mad4slalom

Senior member
hi been polishing under the bonnet, got the metal polish on the vanos now want to tidy up the oil filter housing cap , anyone tried this , it is quite oxidised so thinking of wet and dry sanding with progressively finer grades then buffing, have ordered a new cap so i can do that one first and then swap it over when i change the oil, any ideas ?
 
Have used used wet/dry with finer grades on 'non-auto' aluminium before- then finish off with SolvoAutosol - and hand buff or dremmel buff (cloth head) - works well
 
Don't use wet/dry, you're just pushing water into the pours of the alloy. Use wire wool. However you do it, it will corrode faster and you'll get little white furry deposits (sounds ominous i know!) on the alloy surface.
 
get a polishing mop set,,,, it will save an awful amount of work.. they are cheap enough if you use your own electric drill.. search for 108 refurbishment in the how to section
 
Here is a rather lengthy link to my exploits with ally polishing when I did the plenum on the 350

http://www.350z-uk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=50059
 
bought a new oil filter canister lid, polished it up and swapped it over at oil change, i now have a spare ,if anyone wants it to do the same and then swap it over they are welcome, then just keep passing it on foc to anyone else who wants it. pm me if interested , 1st come 1st ser\ved basis. :thumbsup:
 
Fortunately aluminium oxidises in air, if you clean the oxide layer off, it will just oxidize again. If you want to keep it shiny get it hard anodised else you are wasting your time.
 
disagree; once its polished it only takes few minutes say once a month to keeit shiny, and it not outside so doesnt oxidise very fast,
 
Anyone got any pics of shiny polished zed engine parts? Desperate for a project that doesn't cost that much...
 
Spray them. Polishing alloy has do be done properly and you need to get into EVERY gap, otherwise it looks half arsed, which after being to numerous car shows always happens.
 
mad4slalom said:
disagree; once its polished it only takes few minutes say once a month to keeit shiny, and it not outside so doesnt oxidise very fast,
Click to expand...

SARS is right in this. Unless you treat it (or lacquer it with something suitable for the environment it's in) you'll be re-polishing it periodically.
 
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