Polishing

This is a project that takes time and patience. You will be wet sanding and it makes a little mess and your finger nails will be black for a while. The first thing I polished was the Y8 Valve cover. This being my first polishing project, I set my self back a couple of steps by sand blasting it first and creating more texture for me to have to sand down. Here's what you need:

-A variety of sand paper, I had

240 grit

320 grit

400 grit

600 grit

1000 grit

1200 grit

1500 grit

2000 grit

- Mother's Wheel polish

- Blue Magic Wheel Polish

- any automotive carnuba type paste wax in a can

Depending on the surface you are starting with, you may begin with 220 or 240 grit for something rough like as a bare cast aluminum surface (intake manifold). Or of your surface is already pretty smooth (such as a valve cover or distributor) you can probably start with 400 grit.

Sand until the surface is smooth, then move up to the next highest grit. The important thing is not to rush. Be sure you sand long enough to remove the scratches left from the previous grit sand paper. If you rush you will find that you will be sanding more with a higher grit (which has a finer & less powerful cutting power) to remove some of the left over deeper scratches from the earlier more coarse sand paper. For small areas you can wrap a piece of paper around a pencil on the eraser end, or folding and using the edge will work.

I couldn't find 800 grit in any store where I live, so I had to sand probably twice as long with the 1000 grit.

You will see the aluminum starting to get a slight luster after 600 grit, and more from there on. After 2000 grit it will be time for Mother's polish. Your already raw fingers will now get to do some rubbing. Use a rag you don't need and put some Mother's on and rub it in. The surface will start to shine and the towel will turn black. A

After you have polished the whole thing with Mother's, I found a product called Blue Magic which will actually make the surface a little brighter. It is not abrasive like Mother's but it does remove any of the black residue that your rag did not pick up.

Last put a coat or 2 of automotive wax on as if you were waxing your car's paint. This will help protect the surface.

You may want to clear coat if you plan on using your car through the winter. After 1 winter my valve cover didn't look so great, I need to shine it up now.

Next I polished a set of aluminum wheels which were badly corroded. I began with 180 grit on these because there was so much corrosion to sand through. From there it was the same as above. On the first wheel, between 1000 and 1200 grit, I masked off all the inset areas between the spokes to be painted. I did this before the 1200, 1500 and 2000 so that the rough edges from the masking tape would be sanded smooth as I finished the surface. The masking was a lot of work though, Next time I am just going to paint before I start with the 240 grit. That way I can just sand it off the rim surface rather than masking off every curve and spoke. Be sure to clean the inside of the rims as well so you can have the stick on weights put there rather than on the outside of the rim you just polished.