They're coming...

I finally got around to detail sanding the last side (intake side), which by all means was the most difficult pain in the ass I've ever put myself through. Fortunately a majority of the most complicated crap on this head is either hidden behind the timing cover, or below the intake manifold and will never be seen. I didn't have time to get all the crazy stuff in the corners with the 4"wheels, so I just worked with what I had because I'm running out of time on this.

'wound up not being able to find aluminum oxide polishing compound and just used Jewelers Rouge #1 (JR1). The red stuff. Time consuming, but it worked great. I also scored big time on an electric Milwaukee DIY grinder for only $10! I had to use 4" stitched Flannel polishing wheels... no 2" wheels to be found anywhere within 50 miles from my house.

But!... in my travels, I did manage to find a sweet company that has everything on the planet for polishing by mail order... Including Aluminum Oxide compound.

http://www.eastwoodco.com/

I'll try to get pictures up tomorrow. I'm to tired to monkey with it right now. Oh yeah... BTW: this hasn't been moved to the tech forum yet?

 

wow your crazy man
i got lazy to sand down my spoon bars so that i could paint them
if you want this moved i would PM one of the mods for this forum and ask them (i would do it but im not a mod for civic forum) , but i think you may want it copied...they might have left it here because it might get more hits/views here though

 

Okay... let the sickness begin. I meant to have these posted Friday, but I loaded up the civic and went skiing instead.

It still needs to be tanked again, so I'll probably be hitting it with metal polish one last time. But here you go. The next time I see it, it will be clean, ported, 7-angled, Crower valve springs, HKS cams.

I deeply appologize to all the 56k users.

 

had trouble with the auto-focus in a few of these. It kept focusing on the coke can because the head was so shiny.

 

Here's the intake side.

 

Exhaust side. This is what faces the front of the car.

 

:love:

 

Unreal man. Outstanding work. Maybe I'll have to try that Dremel of yours.

 

Okay... it's time again. The thread that just won't go away. Polishing takes time. I wanted to post a few things I learned.

I bought a 6" bench grinder at Lowes for $35 a few weeks ago (3rd picture). Standard issue cheapo model. 2 wheels and a gooseneck work light. I got a 6" bastard file to scrape the wheels with (4th picture), and picked up 2 flannel stitched wheels. The white one is medium, and the yellow one is hard. With the right compound, this will put a glossy mirror finish on any metal.

Another thing that helps is using the right compound for the metal you're polishing. The (5th picture) picture is what the rouges do. The white diamond rouge works 10x faster than Jeweler's rouge on Aluminum, but the end result is the same. I wish I had this stuff when I was polishing the head. Black Carbide rouge will polish Stainless Steel after getting it to only 220 grit, but it will tear up aluminum. Be careful with that stuff unless you're working with harder metals.

I have two words for anyone who's looking for polishing supplies... TRUCK STOPS. They've got 10lb bricks of rouge for sale for like $7. They also usually have Nev-R-Dull which is the best damn stuff for cleaning the rouge (and everything else) off of your polished parts. Truckers are restricted to a certain amount of road time each day, so many of them polish their trucks to pass the time. They've got everything for polishing.

I picked up a 4-pack of rouge (2nd picture) at a car show for $9. It's about enough to finish what I started. I wanted a variety so I could try them all out. Car shows are also a good place to find supplies. Not just any car show. It's easier to find these vendors at at the antique and hot rod shows.

Polishing with a bench grinder greatly reduces the amount of time you have to spend sanding because the wheels are so much bigger and faster. Aluminum parts are ready for polishing after sanding them to 600 grit. You can clean up stainless with the black rouge after only 220 grit, and follow it up with the white stuff, then you're done. Bench grinders are best for smaller cast parts without much detail, sheet metal, and piping. Bigger unweildy things or detailed castings will require a DIY grinder.

All you have to do to polish whith a bench grinder is:
1) wear gloves
2) wear long sleeves
3) wear a dust mask
4) wear safety goggles or a face shield
5) load the compound evenly on the wheel
6) rake the wheel with a straight edge (4th pic) lightly to smooth out the chunks. (I'm taking pictures, you should ALWAYS hold it with both hands.)
7) (1st pic) always use the front face of the wheel so the part doesn't get jerked out of your hand. Always use both hands to hold your work. Press the part lightly into the wheel and let the wheel do all the work. Don't linger in one spot, always stay moving slowly at an even pace. You don't have to press hard enough to distort the wheel, but if you do slightly, you'll cover more surface area per revolution. Press too hard and you can wear out the bench grinder's motor, but a little pressure won't hurt it.
8) rake the wheel (4th pic) vigorously before re-applying new compound, switching to another compound, or when finished with it.

This makes a mess. The wheel disintigrates into dust, and little tiny pieces of rouge will get flung everywhere. Your hair, your nose, your eyes, your lungs, clothes... And the dust it creates is ridiculous. Take steps 1-4 seriously. Don't bolt your bench grinder to your mom's coffee table in the living room and expect to get far. Do it somewhere that you can make a mess. A shed, a garage, outside and cover up stuff in the room that you don't want to get dirty. You will get filthy. But the result is amazing. Check my website to see the results.

http://www.homepage.mac.com/Jafro

 

Here's a teaser for those that don't like to click.