formula forever

So I was reading on the tech page about polishing the tpi plenum but it does not say anything about how you polish the runners. Do you follow the same steps as the plenum polishing?

89 350

iTrader: (1)

i am in the process of polishing a set of runners just lots of sanding and time i am using a bench grinder with buffing pads and tripoli compound works great

formula forever

I was planning on doing this by hand as part of my winter project. What grit sand paper should I start out with and finish with?

lb9 GTA

300 grit, 500 grit, 800 grit, 1000 grit, 1500 grit, tripoli, diamond polish
Don't go past 1500 grit, it won't buff out as nice.

formula forever

thanks for the tip.

Chevy86 IROC-Z

iTrader: (17)

Honostly, I would chrome them. Polished aluminum scuffs extremely easily. A clean finger can scuff a highly polished aluminum finish. Chrome, well it is some pretty tough stuff. You can wipe it down with a rag and not worry about scuffs. Just a thought.

formula forever

yea. Tonight i just started sanding down the top plenum. im starting to see some fine scraches on the plenum. Im sure the more i sand they should go away. but yes Im trying to think twice about sanding the runners.

lb9 GTA

the plenum takes some work put the runners go easy

formula forever

have you done this to your tpi system. Do you have any pics. I was thinking of starting with 500 grit on the runners and move up from there.

lb9 GTA

I have done it to mine. Believe it or not I did the first cut on my runners with red scotchbright pads. 500 grit would be a good start 'cause the tubes are fairly smooth to start with. Only takes a few minuts to do compaired to the plenum which took me more hours than I'd like to admit.

formula forever

here is an update picture

darbysan

I polished mine, but two years later, I wish I had gone the Powdercoat route. It's hard to keep them shiny. I have heard that Clear High Temp paint might help ( also heard that it yellowed over time).

80schild

iTrader: (5)

I know it's taking the easy route, but I just painted my plenum and runners with high temp aluminum paint, followed by high temp clear. I wanted it to be easy to clean once it's back together.

formula forever

its that true. If so that sucks. Any way I can protect my shine.

lb9 GTA

Rub them with polish every once in a while. Mine was done 2 years ago now and still shines like I just did them.

GTA matt

iTrader: (1)

I ground all the rough casting down with the little 3m "cookies" for a die grinder. Polished them back up with an aluminum polishing kit from eastwood. Was covered from head to toe in black when I was done and it took the good part of a saturday. Just hit it with some polish occasionally. Did the same with my miniram. They look better in real life then with the pics. They were taken before all the modern advances in cell phone camera technology lol.



Miniram still has some of the black stuck to it in these

89 350

iTrader: (1)

just finished mine orignally bought a set but decided to do my own

formula forever

looks very nice guys. I have heard once they are high polished like this you are not to use any metal polish on them again.

calebzman

iTrader: (3)

I just polished my First runners which were a lot rougher than the stock ones. I like to use an orbiter sander to get most of it, then hand sand the hard to reach areas, and finally polish. Mine aren't as nice as others that have posted, but I'm happy with the results.

89 350

iTrader: (1)

it looks good did you use a white rouge on themn that really seemed to make them look mirror like

calebzman

iTrader: (3)

Yes, it's crazy how much the white rouge gives it that shine. I actually did 60, 150, then 200 grit sanding before I went right to the red, then white polish. I guess that's why they aren't quite a mirror finish like 89 350's, but I was tired of sanding.