Some Things I Made Shiny

[EVBuilder]

I can't find a finished picture after all the sanding and buffing was done on the exhaust tips. I guess I need to take some now that they are on the truck.

[chevyrestoguy]

Nice work! Most people don't realize how much work it is to take a rough cast aluminum part and make it shiney. It's very tedious, time-consuming work. I don't have the patience for it. I have great respect for anyone that does.

[EVBuilder]

Thanks for the compliment. You are right it is a tremendous amount of work and it gets to be even more when you are working in an area of a part that doesn't lend itself to power tools. I did a set of Trailblazer wheels that had a recessed area in the center of the spoke which was not wide enough for my mini DA and it was rough cast. This area had to be sanded with a finger tip on all 5 spokes, on all 4 wheels, through every grit. I thought it would never end.

[kevinc]

I have some chrome steel wheels on my truck. The previous owner painted one of them with black spray paint and the rest are really scratched up and not so nice looking. Would your polishing method work for that or does it only work on Stainless and Aluminum?

Thanks,
Kevinc

[CRGRS 66]

Nice work EV, Ingersol eh? hmmmm, might just be needing some polishing done at some point...

[EVBuilder]

Unfortunately chrome plated parts are a different thing. Being the shiny layer has been electrically plated to the part its very thin. If you attempt to repair its finish with abrasives you are most likely going to go right through it. Only very fine imperfections can be repaired. Otherwise they would need to be stripped and replated. Being the plating process on something as complex in shape as a wheel is very expensive to do. Unless these wheels are something very special and rare it isn't worth the money to replate them. It costs a fraction as much to simply replace them.

[EVBuilder]

CRGS 66, Just let me know. I will do my best to make your parts as good or better than new.

[CRGRS 66]

Originally Posted by EVBuilder

CRGS 66, Just let me know. I will do my best to make your parts as good or better than new.

My grill and side trim would be what I would be interested in having done, do you repair dings, etc. as well?

[EVBuilder]

I have been experimenting with some of this stuff. The aluminium parts used for trim on some of these 60's cars and trucks were anodized. Over time it becomes dull. It is also slightly harder than the aluminium itself. So what I have done on some parts for my 1962 Pontiac Tempest is sand the anodizing off and then polish the base aluminium. It looks really nice but it is different then before. Also it doesn't have any kind of protectant from the elements like it did so you would need to polish it by hand from time to time and keep it waxed. As for dents I can remove some of them depending on how bad they are. I do have some friends that are better at it than I am who can help me with it if they are too bad. I am going to post some pictures soon of a headlight bezel from the Tempest showing what it looks like after my process. Maybe that will help you decide.

[EVBuilder]

These are some 1962 Pontiac Tempest headlight bezels. I have not completely polished the one in the photos so its easy to see the contrast between the shiny bare aluminium and the anodized area. I think they will look better than new but without a doubt different.

[Greg63]

I am going to have to come down with my '63, park it next to your GMC, and we can look for parts to polish on mine.
Nice looking work.
Greg.

[glos55]

NICE WORK EVBuilder!!! I can appreciate your work!! I operate an ABB CNC Robot that polishes aluminum parts for the company I work for. Although the robot does all the back breaking physical work I have polished various metals through the years....it's hard and dirty work! You do great work!!!

[EVBuilder]

Thanks guys

[glos55]

Originally Posted by glos55

nice work evbuilder!!! I can appreciate your work!! I operate an abb cnc robot that polishes aluminum parts for the company i work for. Although the robot does all the back breaking physical work i have polished various metals through the years....it's hard and dirty work! You do great work!!!

abb

[EVBuilder]

I need one of those.

[Captainfab]

Just a FYI. Oven cleaner will strip the anodizing from aluminum. That might save you some time.

Originally Posted by EVBuilder

I have been experimenting with some of this stuff. The aluminium parts used for trim on some of these 60's cars and trucks were anodized. Over time it becomes dull. It is also slightly harder than the aluminium itself. So what I have done on some parts for my 1962 Pontiac Tempest is sand the anodizing off and then polish the base aluminium. It looks really nice but it is different then before. Also it doesn't have any kind of protectant from the elements like it did so you would need to polish it by hand from time to time and keep it waxed. As for dents I can remove some of them depending on how bad they are. I do have some friends that are better at it than I am who can help me with it if they are too bad. I am going to post some pictures soon of a headlight bezel from the Tempest showing what it looks like after my process. Maybe that will help you decide.

[westcoast5]

Originally Posted by EVBuilder

Thanks Chief.
Snow, I only wax them at this point. I read that Eastwood has a new protectant that lasts several months but I have not tried it yet.
West, It depends on the condition of the metal. If its light oxidation Mothers wheel paste or Auto-sol will both work well to shine it up again. If it needs more than that you're into doing it the hard way. Start with a rough enough sand paper to remove the scratches, then work progressively finer in different directions to remove the scratches from each previous grit. once you are down to 2000 its time to start polishing. First with a Spiral sewn buff and Tripoli rouge then to a loose wheel and White rouge (cleaning the surface in between to remove the previous residue so as to not contaminate the finer wheel). Then hand rub it with Mothers Wheel paste or Auto-sol to remove buffing haze. I just taught you almost all my tricks.

Cool Im gonna give it the old college try this weekend.

[corvettejim1968]

Originally Posted by EVBuilder

Thanks Jim. I have another set of these right now for the same car that are going to be done in the silver and the burgundy body color in the spoke area.

Astronaut, I would prefer they weren't sand blasted as it makes for a lot more work sanding the pits out prior to buffing. I will post more pictures soon of other things I have done.

i had Affordable powder coat do some work on my Corvette rims. they sand blast as well but in the areas not to be blasted they use a special tape. my rims were chrome and all i wanted black were the slots. the chrome was not effected at all. maybe look into this tape it could save you alot of time.


on another note. i have used Walmart brand oven cleaner (like Easy Off) to remove anodizing. this way you dont need sand much or not at all. plus its not harsh like other cleaners/strippers

[EVBuilder]

Good Information Corvettejim1968. I will look into the tape and the oven cleaner idea as well. Anything that saves time is a huge plus. I have a grille for the Tempest to do and that is a hell of a lot of anodizing to deal with.

[corvettejim1968]

the tape i saw them use was a dark amber color and the surface of the tape was smooth and shinny if memory serves me correct. i go to Affordable tomorrow to pick up a couple of dash cluster parts for my 65 i will ask what tape they use. maybe they will just tell me. lets hope

[EVBuilder]

Getting ready for a car show where I will have a booth set up in Lambeth Ontario on Saturday the 22nd. Here are some of the things I polished to take with me.

[padresag]

Originally Posted by corvettejim1968

i had Affordable powder coat do some work on my Corvette rims. they sand blast as well but in the areas not to be blasted they use a special tape. my rims were chrome and all i wanted black were the slots. the chrome was not effected at all. maybe look into this tape it could save you alot of time.


on another note. i have used Walmart brand oven cleaner (like Easy Off) to remove anodizing. this way you dont need sand much or not at all. plus its not harsh like other cleaners/strippers

most oven cleaners are sodium hydroxide-(lye)
ron

[61_FL_Apache]

Great looking work!!

[corvettejim1968]

i picked up my Go-Quad frame from Affordable powder coat because they found a small crack i need to fix so i wanted to take this opportunity to photograph the tape they use for protecting threads when they sandblast and powder coat. i don't know the name of the tape just yet but these pics might steer you in the right direction.