polishing plen and injector guard?

[kevin.s]

not sure if this is the right place to ask but as its more polishing than mechanical i thought it would be.
any way how do i set about polishing up the plenium and rail guard. is it just a case of wet and dry flatting paper from p400 up to p2000 then a good ol` polish with a rag and some cutting compound or is there more to it than that?

 

[bearne1]

I wouldn't mind doing this too - is it a fairly straight forward job or better machined?

Thanks

 

[powey]

could bust out some autosol and a toothbrush

 

[kevin.s]

looks like there might be a few people here that want to have a go

 

[cat171]

There are places that sell them readily done, they do them on a part ex basis, plus a few quid.

 

[David Ramsey]

Which places do this?

I've started doing my spare one but got bored lol

 

[kevin.s]

i was thinking of getting a spair and just doing it as and when i get time. how much can you pick them up for.

 

[cat171]

Sorry folks you'd need to do a search on here, or look in the for sale section as folk often sell them in there.

 

[Tigger]

I took the Dremel to an already half-polished one last night.
Some parts of it came up well too, not having used a Dremel before or knew what bits to use lol I think I made a pretty decent attempt

Two things though - how the hell do you do around & in between the letters? :S
And between the lines looks all rough too - any tips for smoothing it would be class

 

[jack_davey]

I'm also looking to do this, don't want to do on an exchange basis as I've just had the inlets matched!
I don't think you can do inbetween the letters, will be way too complicated!
I could do it myself but I want to have it done by a company as they will do it in 1/10th of the time with all the grinding wheels etc that they have.

 

[Tigger]

That's what I'm thinking mate - the one I've tried to spruce up was already mostly hand-polished by a mate I bought it off ages ago and fitted it to the car.

My other plenum is the matched one from JamSport so I'm looking to get it done by a polisher

 

[jack_davey]

yeah I had mine done by jam-sport, guess your in the same boat as me then
I polished a rocker cover on my old car and it looked the nuts, but the effort I had to go to I would rather pay someone else to do it.

 

[jack_davey]

I contacted ashford chroming, they have quoted me £165 to polish it and £45 to powder coat the area around the renault sport lettering, just like the one pritchard182 had for sale.

I thought people paid much less than this! Who has everyone else used?

 

[kevin.s]

i ended up having a go myself in the end. didnt turn out too bad but like said before the letters are a pain in the arse and there are still a few little defects but over all im quite pleased with it.

 

[Jon.L]

any pics kevin? what did you use and how long did it take? did you do it on the car and just mask up the bay to stop dust or does it not really matter?

 

[kevin.s]

heres the pics mate.

before

after

started off with some 80 grit d/a discs and a dremel to lose the texture. then i just worked my way through the different grades from corsest to finest then polised it up with a rag and some autosol. still needs a tickle here and there but overall its not too bad. i did it on the car and just blew it off with an airline after each grade of paper.
but i did take the rail guard off to do that as i wanted to paint some bits on it as you can see.

 

[Jon.L]

loks like a good diy job mate im tempted to do this myself how long did it take? you get a good shine?

 

[jack_davey]

Not a bad attempt, but I'm sure you'll agree even when you have a DA sander and a dremel, it takes AGES!

 

[iimushroomzii]

Tidy job that mate!!

 

[davo172]

not sure if this is the right place to ask but as its more polishing than mechanical i thought it would be.
any way how do i set about polishing up the plenium and rail guard. is it just a case of wet and dry flatting paper from p400 up to p2000 then a good ol` polish with a rag and some cutting compound or is there more to it than that?

Take it to a pro polishing place mate unless you have a LOT OF TIME and patience !!




Started doin this myself but ended up having it done instead

 

[Tigger]

Where did you get it done Davo, cost much?

 

[cat171]

Legohead has a polished bit in the for sale section

 

[davo172]

Where did you get it done Davo, cost much?

ACF powells in walsall west midlands mate.

cost 60 notes

pain in the ass to do youself thou !

 

[Tigger]

I know, I've tried lol

I rang Impact Metal in Nottingham about 10 mins ago - gave me a really good price on the inlet, fuel gaurd & throttle body but it's posting them to & fro again.

Could be worth it

 

[davo172]

I know, I've tried lol

I rang Impact Metal in Nottingham about 10 mins ago - gave me a really good price on the inlet, fuel gaurd & throttle body but it's posting them to & fro again.

Could be worth it

How much mate ?

It will be worth it

 

[Tigger]

£45

 

[kevin.s]

took me about 3 hours to do the rail guard and about 4 hour to do the plen but its still not perfect. if you are after a flawless job i would take it somewere to have it done as it does take ages and you start saying "that will do" to your self then when you look at it you realise that it wont and that you have still got to keep going at it.
very tedious job.

 

[Tigger]

Ok once you have your polished inlets done & fitted, what is the best way to keep them clean & shiney?

 

[kevin.s]

i just get a bit of the old autosol on them and give them a quick polish when doing the rest of the car. they dont get as dirty as i thought they would and i do about 30 miles every day.

 

[Tigger]

I have used autosol and a bit of fine wire-wool then buffed off with a microfibre;
when you lift the engine cover off you can see it's actually dulled instead of maintaining the shine lol

 

[Tigger]

How can I go about fixing the above? ^^

 

[Tigger]

Anyone lol

 

[Scott™]

Theres a guide in the guide section