I Polished My Fuel Rail Guard (no 56K)

[caymanr26]

After an hour of snading with 40 Grit sandpaper it looked like this

Then went on to 120/220/440 Grit

Decided to give the centre a coat of Auto Glym metal polish to see how it would look

was quite pleased with that - went on to 500/600 grit then 700/800 grit and then finhally on to the 1200 grit.
This photo shows how it looked after one coat of metal polish (just on the centre piece)

Then after one coat of metal polish all over

Then the Final Product

Then Back on the Car

All back together

should be enough photos for everyone there!

 

[Rich]

Nice one. Looks great - some real elbow grease there, glad my best mates a metal polisher!

 

[John185k]

Looks mint mate, im in the middle of doing my inlet manifold.

Easy to take off?

 

[dannyboy172]

Thats bloody amazin, do mine! lol

 

[clio head]

loooks...like i have just sex weeded me self....

 

[caymanr26]

just two nuts hold it on - there are three holes on the front of it - just get a long socket and undo the 2 bolts and it comes straight off

 

[MRBILLYUK]

Top job that mate . You gonna do the manifold as well ? Did you coat it with anything to stop it tarnishing ? Maybe a quick wipe over with something like autoglym vinyl and rubber care .

MrBillyUK !

 

[caymanr26]

nah - not unless I can find a second hand one that I can work on and still use the car - am gonna do the Renault sport writing though - think that will look good.

 

[clio head]

was it easy to do... wat did u use emery cloth, wet and dry?

 

[Guy]

looks mint mate

how long you reckon it took you all in?

 

[The Big Yin]

Lovely

 

[Djw Dave]

Looks good

 

[Harry_manback]

nice one, whats the bhp gains doing that ? !!

 

[Gareth]

that's quality.

 

[caymanr26]

took about 8-12hrs roughly - started on monday and have spent roughly 2hrs a day working on it.
used aluminium oxide paper to start - emery peper did not seem to work very well - went on to wet and dry then - Richmcc gave me instructions and I am well pleased - was gonna pay to do it but thought I would save some money!

 

[riche]

Looks sexy as fook!

What did you do after the metal polish?? or was that the final step?

Rich.

 

[Harry_manback]

can u drive without that part or were u reattaching it each time, sorry if thats a silly question i have no idea what that thing does

 

[caymanr26]

final step was metal polish - about 4/5 coats and some serious rubbing!

 

[caymanr26]

You can drive without a problem - I think it is there in case of an accident so the fuel rail does not get damaged (but I could be talking crap)

 

[Rich]

If you want to finish it yet finer still than metal polish, apply a coat of an even milder polish such as Autoglym Super Resin as it will increase shine even more.

 

[caymanr26]

if thats true then I shall do it tomorrow - are you sure r-jay?

 

[riche]

What did you use to apply the metal polish?

Sorry for all the questions lol. lots of people seem interested though.

 

[caymanr26]

just a cloth - bought some polishing cloths from halfords to save wrecking my girlfriends tea towels lol.

Top job that mate . You gonna do the manifold as well ? Did you coat it with anything to stop it tarnishing ? Maybe a quick wipe over with something like autoglym vinyl and rubber care .

MrBillyUK !

Also if anyone knows - is that true - should I treat it to stop it tarnishing and if so what should i use?

 

[TheCake]

tim, i would have thought a weekly wipe over with metal polish, like i do on my minis chrome bumpers, will stop it tarnishing too much.

 

[Rich]

if thats true then I shall do it tomorrow - are you sure r-jay?

Best mate does it for a living, has worked on lots of the top show motorbikes over here. It's slightly less abbrassive then metal polish, so in the same way as stepping down in grades of paper when polishing, useing differt grades of polish does the same.

He does all his work by machine with different grades of mops, before using metal polish and then a milder polish still for the final luster, in most cases Autoglym Super Resin. This also leaves some protection behind to.

 

[caymanr26]

cool - shall be doing that then - should stop it tarnishing as well. Saying that though I just remembered it says long lasting protection on the Auto Glym metal polish anyway so shouldnt tarnish too bad - my exhaust stays looking good easily.

 

[Rich]

Weekly maintance - a coat of polish is all it needs.

You can get some laquer now that will take to polished metal but it dulls the finish slightly.

 

[caymanr26]

what is a polishing mop?

 

[Rich]

cool - shall be doing that then - should stop it tarnishing as well. Saying that though I just remembered it says long lasting protection on the Auto Glym metal polish anyway so shouldnt tarnish too bad - my exhaust stays looking good easily.

You can if you wish do

AG metal polish - AG Super Resin and then there Extra Gloss Protection.

We do this on bikes where polished bits cannot easily be got at during normal cleaning, without taking parts off.

 

[Rich]

what is a polishing mop?

It is a abbrasive polishing head that goes on polishing machine available in different grades to do what you did alot more easily.

http://www.frost.co.uk/productList.asp?catID=27

 

[jamesy]

bling bling that looks fooking phat i need my shades

 

[Alan]

That looks really smart mate, nice work!

 

[-TA-]

oooo shiny things!

looking good, now do the same to the inlet manifold!

 

[Harry_manback]

Stupid question alert

is that an aluminium part?

 

[caymanr26]

not sure mate either aluminium or steel

 

[Guy]

yeah will be alloy if it polishes it up like that.

 

[RichMcc]

Good job for your first time mate well done. Told you it was easy

You know whats next dontcha.....

do it!!!

 

[DH_GTI]

looks well good mate, alot work i bet,

 

[caymanr26]

need to get a spare one so I can still drive my car - gonna buy some proper stuff to do it with - mop heads etc. Gonna just do the Renault sport writing for now.

 

[RichMcc]

the writings a pain