Since my motor is out, I decided to strip off all the paint on my upper plenum and jit it with some sand paper and compounds.

Here's the result after about 4hrs of work... Still needs a little more work but I think its coming along nicely.

Here I'm still getting off all the rough spots from the casting.


Here I'm perfecting the shine in a few spots




I'll be porting the plenum runners and heads tomorrow

 

i want to polish my plenum.. what are the products and steps required to do it?

 

^+1

Thanks

 

from what ive heard you still have a long way to go looking at those pics

 

Sure... you'll need:

-A fairly decent air compressor. Mine's a husky 15 gallon 150psi max that can barely keep up with a constantly running air tool. Get something better!

-Die grinder.

-Corded drill (you can do it with a cordless but you'll be going through batteries like crazy).

-A sanding flap wheel (80 grit) Availabe at any home depot or lowes. Also get a small sanding flapwheel since it'll help out in the tight spots.

-Ryobi polishing compound (there's different ones so make sure you get the one for soft non ferrous metals/aluminum).

-Mothers metal polish.

-Shop towels.

- 1500 and 2000 grit sand paper. (this is only necessary if you want to get really fancy with the finished product. You can skip all the grits just by using compund to get the light scratches off).

-Very IMPORTANT! Husky 2" surface preparation Kit. You'll only use one tool out of this kit and it will save you LOADS of time and that'll be the bit that has a scotchbrite-like tip.

-Bench vice (not entirely necessary but makes things a bit easier).

-Buffing wheel kit for drill/die grinder.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Begin by clamping the plenum by one of the corners or by any 2 of the studs that stick out of the bottom (make sure not to break them).

-Take the drill and attach the flap wheel and begin to smooth out the tiny peaks and valleys in the outter surface of the plenum. You don't have to be too careful in this step since you can always fix it later.

You will see the surface begin to get smoother but it will be riddled with small scratches.

-Next take the die grinder with the scotchbrite tip and spin it at low rpm while holding the compund up to the pad, make sure you get enough, especially on the outer rim. Begin to go over the entire plenum little by little, go back and reapply cmpund about every 30 seconds or so as you want the compund to take the beating, not the bit. By this time you'll start getting a decent shimmer but it still won't be a great shine.

-Then take 1500 grit sand paper and sprinkle water while sanding all over. You can also go 2000 but you could skip that and hit it with the buffing wheel and add compund regularly. You will see a nice shine developing and from here on out the shine will be all about how meticulous you want to be.

I normally finish it off by hand with mothers and a rag.

 

Not really... I'll be done tomorrow morning most likely, then I'm going for the front timing cover. Now THAT's gonna be a b*tch.

 

so whats the final product look like?

 

Sick @ss vette! nice plenum too.. finished pics?

 

I went out and got a bigger compressor to keep up with my air-thirsty die grinders today. Upgraded from a Husky 15 gallon to a Craftsman Professional 25 Gallon.

I will post update pics tomorrow.

 

Good eye! People go nuts over that vette. I ordered pizza the other night and literally couldn't get the delivery man out of the garage coz he was so into the car and my pizza was cold by the time I was able to get to it.

 

Looks good so far. I polished my plenum by hand , what a PITA! But 2 day's later it came out awesome, has a really nice liquid reflective look. But I made the mistake of putting my engine cover back on(which has abrassive pads on the bottom) and it scratched the plenum a bit.

 

^^^ any advice on how you polished it by hand? and how long did it take?

much appreciated!

 

i just finish mine by hand, took me 2 days like 6 hours each of work
--just start dry sanding with 320-600, take out all the dots! or else it'll look ugly at the end, then wet sand till 2000, good luck!

 

theres a personal satisfaction from DIY - but a machine shop can do the same thing for $60

Not trying to be negative - but its a lot of time... I'd just pay.

 

yes, tell a shop to do it! dont waste your time using hands like me =[