Every Day

[warpt71]

Any given day, I would rather look at, and read about, other peoples projects than watch the TV. I love looking at other boats set-ups and general lines. Maybe that is because I’m not able to work on any of my own stuff right now and I’m just living through you all. At any rate, what else is anyone working on? I wish I could share some story of what I have don’t to the boat this winter but I got nothin!!! Its ready to go whenever anyone else is though :D :D

[RiverRacer]

Well there ain't $hit on TV anyhow so I hardly ever watch it, but I'm buried in so much crap I can't get nothing done,lol. I got a boat to put together to sell(money for the GN)a truck to do, rewiring a BUG and a house to fix up to sell, and the GN that I can't hardly get to let alone work on it!.. I need about 5 employees, LOL...

[warpt71]

Cheap labor, give me a fast boat ride!!! I'v had the time, just not the green

[RiverRacer]

Yeah, that's another big drawback the damn "green"...:rolleyes::D

[Fiat48]

Well....maybe I oughta post my little project then. Gotta figure out how to do pics here but won't take me long.

[Fiat48]

1979 Cole Tr2. The way she was January 20th.

http://www.v-driveboat.com/vweb/picture.php?albumid=16&pictureid=64
http://www.v-driveboat.com/vweb/picture.php?albumid=16&pictureid=65
http://www.v-driveboat.com/vweb/picture.php?albumid=16&pictureid=66
http://www.v-driveboat.com/vweb/picture.php?albumid=16&pictureid=71

[RiverRacer]

That was quick, LOL..:D

[Fiat48]

Low E.t. Art. LOL.

http://www.v-driveboat.com/vweb/picture.php?albumid=16&pictureid=67
http://www.v-driveboat.com/vweb/picture.php?albumid=16&pictureid=70
http://www.v-driveboat.com/vweb/picture.php?albumid=16&pictureid=68
http://www.v-driveboat.com/vweb/picture.php?albumid=16&pictureid=74

[Terrible toy]

Art, how ya doing? Not much boat engineering over the winter huh!

Well, you were helping me with this deal that's gotta count for something. I got the v-drive braced and the drive line cover polished. Now working on little things that weren't up to my specs.

[Fiat48]

The game here is to get the boat back up nice as I can and spend very little money (that I don't have anyway). LOL. Soon as my fingers get healed up from sanding I can maybe get a job at Mcdonald's (heard they were hiring) to pay for all the sandpaper I bought.
http://www.v-driveboat.com/vweb/picture.php?albumid=16&pictureid=76
http://www.v-driveboat.com/vweb/picture.php?albumid=16&pictureid=77
http://www.v-driveboat.com/vweb/picture.php?albumid=16&pictureid=78
http://www.v-driveboat.com/vweb/picture.php?albumid=16&pictureid=81

[warpt71]

The game here is to get the boat back up nice as I can and spend very little money (that I don't have anyway). LOL.

Did it come as a complete boat that you striped? or no hardware?

[Fiat48]

It had a little. Some cavitation, no V drive, some of the steering. Odds and ends. I've scrounged quite a bit of stuff.
It's a little better than this today as I spent the day doing the small things....some detailing, etc.
http://www.v-driveboat.com/vweb/picture.php?albumid=16&pictureid=75

Eventually it will get the motor out of my Tr1.
http://www.v-driveboat.com/vweb/picture.php?albumid=16&pictureid=83

[warpt71]

Damn, quick work!!

[67 Wickens]

It had a little. Some cavitation, no V drive, some of the steering. Odds and ends. I've scrounged quite a bit of stuff.
It's a little better than this today as I spent the day doing the small things....some detailing, etc.
http://www.v-driveboat.com/vweb/picture.php?albumid=16&pictureid=75

Eventually it will get the motor out of my Tr1.
http://www.v-driveboat.com/vweb/picture.php?albumid=16&pictureid=83


Fiat,
What did you put on your floors? The boat is looking good!

[warpt71]

Mike, those are not my floors, they are Fiat's. They do look good though!

[grayson]

the boat looks great:cool:

[poncho]

i love the project threads,that looks beautiful,in the first pics it looks like the wood on the floor was coming up i`m assuming you redid them just curious what it took (materials)and would you change anything next time,just trying to pick up tips along the way,thanks

[Fiat48]

Remember...budget deal.

Outside: At first I started to DA the old paint off as the previous owner did. The idea was to get it back to Gel Coat and then just primer the whole thing and run it for this year. Paint would come another year. But the paint and the primer were super hard and thick. So...I started carefully Razor blading the paint off. I found that the razor blade would glide pretty good on the primer and peel the layers of paint off not bad. Using a stone and swiping the razor blade pretty often made the razor blades go farther.
I tried some paint remover but I could see it was gonna hurt the Gel. After I got the paint off top and bottom I wondered how to get that primer off. It was thick. I thought I would try Kleen Strip paint remover for fiberglass.
I tested an area on the bottom and it seemed to work. In the end it worked great. It never bothered the Gel anywhere.
Once I got the paint off....I wondered if I could just leave it Gel....wet sand and buff it and come up with a matching paint close enough to make those bare areas (where the guy hand sanded it through the gel and also where the seam is filled) look decent.
I went to a paint store with the boat and we color matched a paint as best we could. In the end we came up with our own "formula".
I primed those areas and touched up but the yellow is really transparent and gray primer kinda showed through. Then I tried white primer. A little better.
Finally I went back to the paint store and we mixed a primer with yellow tint as close as we could to the original yellow.
Now we had something. That was working. So I kept touching up, sanding and buffing. It's not bad....presentable but far from perfect. At least there is no real work wasted. The old paint is off....we are back at Gel. But if the boat had not been sanded on I coulda brought this thing back to it's original gel real nice without sanding marks and bare spots.

Inside:
Transom: I removed the one layer of dead wood. Sanded and ground back to pure wood. Then I got some very heavy Knytex cloth and Morg and I epoxied that in there. It's stronger than original. Was a pain in the ass tho.

Kickboard: I made a new one and epoxied that to seal it.

Stringers: They appeared a whitish color in a lot of areas. But only a couple spots showed any real delamination. I reglassed one area which I thought was worse than it was. I suspect really what had happened is this boat was outside for years in the Arizona sun and the glass just lost it's bond to the stringer wood. I got some Git Rot thin epoxy...drilled tiny tiny holes in the glass on the stringers and used a syringe to force the epoxy in there. It worked very well and bonded the glass back to the wood.
Then I filled the tiny holes and then sanded the stringers.

Floor: The floor was not coming up....it just had a lot of checks in it and glass shrinkage over the years. At first the idea was to sand it down and flow coat the whole thing. Use either black Gel coat in the center black areas and maybe even black out the stringers....then shoot the thing with Duratec. Or just sand and buff the floor out and live with it.
Regardless it had to be sanded so...sand I did. And sand. And more sanding. The floors are not flat. You try to make them flat and you start seeing the fiberglass cloth is near the surface. You get into that cloth and you gotta grind out the glass and reglass.
Many of those check marks are all the way into the glass. My feeling is that you spray expensive Duratec on glass like that and you are still gonna see them. So....I thought why not sand and buff and see how it looks.
Every day I would sand a side and say it was ready to buff....only to find it really wasn't. So I would sand more. Till I could no more. It's not bad....it is what it is.
I found on the couple of areas where I sanded and you could start seeing the cloth through the glass....that I could use and airbrush and spray in some Urethane clear...then sand with 1500 and buff it. I did that yesterday and it worked real well.
The black center section is a thin coat of resin with a black pigment. It is really hard to flow that it there. But I did and then sanded and buffed it out.

Like I say fellas...she is a long way from a good job...but she is better than when I started with very little money spent. Of course at 5 cents an hour I have 1.2 million in it. :D

[poncho]

5 cents an hour times a mil you broke up this house,gotta give the war dept. a few minutes still have a few questions,that was funny,will reply

[poncho]

hey folks we have a home builder who`s been real busy!

[RiverRacer]

Art, how ya doing? Not much boat engineering over the winter huh!

Well, you were helping me with this deal that's gotta count for something. I got the v-drive braced and the drive line cover polished. Now working on little things that weren't up to my specs.

Hello Bill, yep too busy to get any boat stuff done unfortunately, I see yours is looking good though, sounds like you'll be ready for summer!..:cool:

http://www.v-driveboat.com/vweb/attachment.php?attachmentid=13&d=1205817404

[RiverRacer]

hey folks we have a home builder who`s been real busy!

That is sweet, great job!..:cool:

http://www.v-driveboat.com/vweb/attachment.php?attachmentid=14&d=1205895581

[RiverRacer]

[QUOTE=Fiat48;227]It had a little. Some cavitation, no V drive, some of the steering. Odds and ends. I've scrounged quite a bit of stuff.
It's a little better than this today as I spent the day doing the small things....some detailing, etc.
http://www.v-driveboat.com/vweb/picture.php?albumid=16&pictureid=75

Bob, that is bitchin, it's a totally different boat from the last time I saw it, you're doing a heck of a job on it!..:cool::cool:

[poncho]

Fiat,thanks for the info,as much as i enjoy the $70,000.00 resto`s yours is more like what we have going on out my way,i spend most of the year working out of state so time saving tips are what its all about,you have done a very nice job another v-drive rescued from backyard tarp oblivion, awesome!keep us posted

[poncho]

Fiat,btw beautiful trailer,love the decking

[Fiat48]

No doubt this will help someone in the future so here goes:

It's hardware time. Clean up all this abused anodizing and faded pieces and try to save a lot of bolts.
Art has always had good luck with Easy Off oven cleaner to strip but it doesn't work good for me. I suspect it is the temperature difference between here and Arizona. So here is what I do:
I use Red Devil lye. For small parts I just pour about 2 tablespoons in a coffee can of Hot water. Then I put the part in there and let her eat. Remember this stuff is toxic.
Be careful while messing with it. Also throw the batch out when your parts are coming out filmy. The stuff gets contaminated with anodize.
When the anodizing fades on the part pretty good...I take the part out and hose it off real good. There may be a film of the anodizing left...depending on how diluted your mixture is with old anodizing coming off.
Bigger parts I get bigger containers. Motor rails are gonna be a problem tho. These things are 6 foot long. I am using some Easy off oven cleaner on those but it isn't cleaning near as good as the Red Devil. Using the Red Devil I get a nice satin finish....ready to buff if I want to. Not so with the Easy off.
I'm thinking about going to Home Depot and getting a 6 foot long pice of gutter. Put a cap on each end and use that as a trough. Fill it with hot water and a little Red Devil
and let her eat. I may do that.
The bolts I am soaking in some rust remover....then wire wheeling them and then buffing them. So I clean bolts while the lye eats the anodize off.
I priced some marine stuff last night. Looks like I will be fabricating a lot of stuff. LOL.

[RiverRacer]

Yeah that's the only drawback to using Oven Cleaner it works with heat only, you can use an oven for the small stuff but the big stuff has to be done out in the sun, I did all my shit when it was 110-115 and no humidity works like paint remover, lay the stuff out and let it get hot then spray it, let it sit for 5 minutes or just before it starts to dry then give a spray and scarpe it off rinse with water and bada bing ready for polish, but when it's cold it won't hardly touch it!..

[Fiat48]

I pretty well got the stuff off. I ran out of Red Devil and they don't sell it anymore. I tried another brand but it was pretty lousy. So...I used the heater and did quite a bit of it with Easy off. I found the old formula Easy Ooff at Walgreens. Yep...gotta be hot in order to work. Got stringer washers left to do.

[RiverRacer]

I got this stuff from Costco it's by CSG(Sherwin-Williams), Quality Care Heavy Duty Oven and Grill Cleaner, it's cheap as hell compared to Easy Off and works just as good, probably the same ones that make Easy Off but you don't pay for the name!...

[poncho]

Great thread guys,i wanna add if i may,i set this up this week on my bench.Where i live on the east coast plating and polishing is scarce and ridiculously expensive so for $100.00 plus freight i can polish all my own parts,the buffer came from harbor freight for $54.00 and the polishing kit from Eastwood for $45.00,the only change is switching the grinding wheel to a stainless wire wheel,don't use a regular wire the iron can embed in the part and rust later.I messed around with it last night and it works great,cant speak for the longevity of the motor,so for less than $150.00 you can do you're own stuff and see the transformation

[poncho]

i just found this subject in finish and trim,oops

[LeadSledMerc]

That is sweet, great job!..:cool:

http://www.v-driveboat.com/vweb/attachment.php?attachmentid=14&d=1205895581

Thanks, Art.
I've been a car guy for a long time and this is my first v-drive so it's been a real big learning experience, but between this site and a bunch of contacts I've made it's been pretty easy. Been bustin butt on it for a while on it now, so it's nice to have it going back together. The paint still needs to be rubbed out and some striping, but I'm hoping to have it back together in the next month.
On the home stretch!!!:D

[RiverRacer]

Yep, first one is a big learning experience, I still can remember mine!..

[poncho]

Let me be the first or second to say very frickin nice,we all missed this site when it went down because the alternative is get a equity loan and try to keep up (crap) this guy is a friend of mine and you could not ask for a better person to join our little old man dinosour club,Keith you have raised the bar the boat is beautiful!

[warpt71]

Well looks like I get to do some wrenching tomorrow, putting my buddys tranny back together for his 20' Schiada. Not mine, but definatly a cool boat :D :D

[RiverRacer]

TH400 I take it, those are a piece a cake just tighten up all the clearances and put a good 32 element sprag in it, and a TH350 pump bearing at the back of the case!..:cool:

[warpt71]

Not even that envolved, just gotta bolt it back up to the block and v-drive and put the interior back in it. We had it appart to change flywheels and starters, what a headache that was!!!

[RiverRacer]

Not even that envolved, just gotta bolt it back up to the block and v-drive and put the interior back in it. We had it appart to change flywheels and starters, what a headache that was!!!

Piece a cake then!..:cool:

[LeadSledMerc]

It was a great weekend...I finished all of the motor mount parts, and was even able to get the engine and a few other parts installed before the relatives showed up for Easter!:D

[tunnelrunner]

Looks great!

Love the gold on the engine block and heads. Is that a 2 pack as discussed on another thread?

Cheers, Tony


P.S. The 383 Clevo may have finally had its day... swallowed a valve at 70mph on Easter Sunday....now... how can I talk The Handbrake AKA The Wife into a Merlin BBC?

[RiverRacer]

It was a great weekend...I finished all of the motor mount parts, and was even able to get the engine and a few other parts installed before the relatives showed up for Easter!:D

Looks great!..:cool:

[RiverRacer]

P.S. The 383 Clevo may have finally had its day... swallowed a valve at 70mph on Easter Sunday....now... how can I talk The Handbrake AKA The Wife into a Merlin BBC?

That sucks sorry to hear that!... Just tell her that it's mandatory if you don't want it to blow up and you'll be money ahead, she'll jump at that for sure!.. Don't worry when you blow that one up we'll come up with another one no problem!.. I would suggest not letting her read this though, she may not comprehend!...:D:D:D

[67 Wickens]

Great thread guys,i wanna add if i may,i set this up this week on my bench.Where i live on the east coast plating and polishing is scarce and ridiculously expensive so for $100.00 plus freight i can polish all my own parts,the buffer came from harbor freight for $54.00 and the polishing kit from Eastwood for $45.00,the only change is switching the grinding wheel to a stainless wire wheel,don't use a regular wire the iron can embed in the part and rust later.I messed around with it last night and it works great,cant speak for the longevity of the motor,so for less than $150.00 you can do you're own stuff and see the transformation

Poncho - Tell me how this buffer/grinder works for you. I went through two of these from Harbor Freight. Both of them seemed to work great until I applied some pressure and the wheel would slow down and come to a stop. I hope they work out for you. Boat looks great !

[SonnyGlide]

just my 02, but I use to polish Alum/Stainless on custom Bikes, Hot Rods etc.
Baldor was the only Motor I used, Had 3 of'em in the shop, 2wheels on ea one
theres a place here in Tampa, True Grit...has everything for the industrial Polishing Shops, Ck'em out.
Baldors were so powerful, if U leaned N2 the wheel too much, Ud either start to dig N2 the soft alum and creat an inpression < divit, or the wheel would pull the pc. outta Ur Hand and send fly'n across the shop, no lack of power on the Baldors.
keep N mind in a cool/cold shop U might have to pre-heat the pc. to warm, if not, then the Grease Stick< Polishing compound, Black Eboney, Brown Tripoli, Green, White etc, will leave a dark streak where Ur polishing, like un melted polishing compond
if this happens the part is too cold, get a hand held torch and warm it up.
ea. wheel needs to get to spd. to polish, not pressure.

Polishing is a dirty Job, but sure looks great.

BTW theres a bunch of Wheels U need to get, to get the pc. to the final Briliance. use only 1kind of compound on ea. wheel, for ea. stage of the polishing, Have Fun:D

[poncho]

Sonny,right you are on all accounts i worked at a plating shop when i was younger and the motor those guys used would rip a truck bumper from youre hands and throw it across the room,more than one of them were missing finger parts.I was chatting with a friend of mine this weekend who has been polishing for a long time and he said the same thing about the heat,pretty much saying you are melting the metal to the point that it migrates around effectively closing the porosity creating the shine and why after a good polishing its easier to mantain the shine.Right now i have the sisal on and just tring to get it seasoned with some lesser parts and yes one compound for each wheel,all good stuff,thanks for the input.

[poncho]

67 Wickens,even though the motor spins 3450 rpm`s it has very little torque,i could see if u leaned on it for several hours its life could be very short,on the polishing side it does alright but using the 8" wire wheel its quite easy to stop so i guess its have a little patience but if its like right now for me with plenty of winter left taking a little longer is okay,once the boat is back together there will be little use for it so i guess i hope it lasts for this project,this motor would not be my choice if i were continually building things here

[SonnyGlide]

Rite on Poncho,
I used a bunch of diff. wheels and Dia. too, bigger wheels in effect R faster then smaller wheels, cover more surface in 1 rotation, used some real loose Flanell and the White to get that show bike finish, we had some white powder, cant remember name, but we would dust the finish part then whipe off to get rid of any oily finger prints.

I'd polish Blowers, Harley Cases Tunnels etc. w/the Hemp wheels w/Black Eboney at 3600 R's man that would cut the smoothing/shapping part faster then sanding rolls etc. but U gotta get N2 the nooks and Cranys w/the rolls if U really want show quality. did some ol'plastic tail lites that were really dull,
used pink compound and a really soft mop like wheel, came out great.

then theres the Bike wheels and Car wheels, nother Muther alll 2gether.
regged up a pedistal w/axel shaft to mount the wheels, and rolled'er up to the 330B w/8in. shafts and rotated the wheel as the Baldor did it's job.
U wanna know what work iz Boyz, stand behind a Baldor for 10 hrs w/ a Blower or Harley Cases N ur hand.;)

[SonnyGlide]

get a loong shaft motor, it will allow U2 polish better and keep U from the motor case< that damn thing gets in the way on BIG parts!:D

[poncho]

Sonny the little polisher i got has a longer shaft and i mounted it out alone on the bench so its open all the way around help a little,when i plated i did hard chrome which was more of a technical job on mostly small to medium parts and did very little of my own polishing,we knew who did the grind around there and it was some goodhearted bs back and forth about who was working the hardest,the polishing guys (4) definately had the toughest job,the motors that they used were like 10hp with 16" to 20" wheels that would throw parts hard enough to ricochet and smack the ceiling 25' foot above,my workstation was behind the wall and every once in a while you would hear a loud crash and you couldnt help but smile knowing someone just got humbled,good for a laugh usually,the floors were heavily cushioned

[67 Wickens]

67 Wickens,even though the motor spins 3450 rpm`s it has very little torque,i could see if u leaned on it for several hours its life could be very short,on the polishing side it does alright but using the 8" wire wheel its quite easy to stop so i guess its have a little patience but if its like right now for me with plenty of winter left taking a little longer is okay,once the boat is back together there will be little use for it so i guess i hope it lasts for this project,this motor would not be my choice if i were continually building things here

I completely understand the speed thing and not necessarily the power. These two buffers I tried didn't seem to work properly so I returned them. It didn't matter if I was doing small brackets or trying to do the motor plates it ended up being more like just lightly resting the piece against the wheel. If any pressure was applied at all the wheel /buffer would slow and come to a stop??? Anyway, I've given up and handed over the rights to my first born to the local shop...

[SonnyGlide]

Bra. I bet Ur gonna pay the local shop what Ud have in the Baldor-wheels and compounds to get U started in the shop, and then some$$$, if U have alot of stuff to polish, dont let the Nightmares Poncho and I R spreading around here discourage U.( Poncho everytime I read Ur experiences I laff my ass off True that Bro.):D
U cant get a 330B/332B for 2-3 bills 3/4 HP 8in. shaft.
U get a good set-up U'll B polishing everything:cool:

[poncho]

Sonny,i have to agree once youre set up you have it for a long time i will know by the end of this week if this thing is going to fly or not will definitely keep you guys posted,seems most of the folks here are the DIY types and i dont mind spreading the word

[LeadSledMerc]

Sonny,i have to agree once youre set up you have it for a long time i will know by the end of this week if this thing is going to fly or not will definitely keep you guys posted,seems most of the folks here are the DIY types and i dont mind spreading the word

Stop flappin your gums about it, Keeny and get that wheel spinnin...you need your hands good and black!!!:D

[poncho]

yes um sir,Mr. large heated shop guy,horn on truck quit no pass inspect now gotta deal with that,wtf

[LeadSledMerc]

yes um sir,Mr. large heated shop guy,horn on truck quit no pass inspect now gotta deal with that,wtf
Play nice now...what's a large heated shop have to do with polishing parts at your bench in the basement??? Besides it's so warm out there today, you could do your polishing out on the deck, with a carona (or 2...) at your side!! ;)

[poncho]

All very good arguments counselor,defense rests,yea it was so nice washed my truck in a speedo and and a corona in each hand,neighbors love me

[LeadSledMerc]

All very good arguments counselor,defense rests,yea it was so nice washed my truck in a speedo and and a corona in each hand,neighbors love me

hahaha...that's not a visual I need just before dinner!!:eek:

Come on, bring on the pics of those polished parts. I want to see some progress pics! ...PICS...PICS...PICS...I know you've got'em!:D

[RiverRacer]

it was so nice washed my truck in a speedo and a corona in each hand

This is way more information that we need here ya know!..:eek::D:D:D

[poncho]

Did these brackets tonight took way too long,this buffer would be great if youre freshening up parts that were previously polished its not for rough castings or highly pitted parts (like mine).If i lay into long enough it works fine so if you have the time like over a winter this is a very inexpensive way to clean things up,if i were to start over i`d buy a motor with more huevos but this one does work

[RiverRacer]

Looks great, but you have to remember $400 compared to $50 what do you expect, you're not doing 8 hour a day production polishing, just don't push it keep the rpm's up and it works good!.. It's no different than buying a mill, a $8,000 Bridgeport or a $3200 Taiwan duplicate, I've had mine for 15 years and it's like new and it's accurate, but I don't do heavy 8 hour a day production either!.. Can't see throwing money away just to say I have this brand name!...

[LeadSledMerc]

Did these brackets tonight took way too long,this buffer would be great if youre freshening up parts that were previously polished its not for rough castings or highly pitted parts (like mine).If i lay into long enough it works fine so if you have the time like over a winter this is a very inexpensive way to clean things up,if i were to start over i`d buy a motor with more huevos but this one does work
Kenny, you've seen what I'm using to polish my parts and it's probably less of a motor than you have. I take some time up front with paper,then scotchbrite pads with orange compound paste and then switch to cloth with orange then white to get my rough parts a little closer, then I go at it with the wheel. I've found that these steps have saved a real lot of time for me versus just trying to hit it with the wheel.
This may not be the "prefered" method for the experts, but it's been working well for me.

[poncho]

Thanks Keith,i`ll talk to you more about this later,have questions

[SonnyGlide]

Bra. on the pitted parts not polishing up well, I saw ton's of parts that were pitted, very small holes in parts from'da casting process......

U need to get sanding rolls on a mandrel fitted to a air die grinder, then use 60-80 grit to smooth and shape the parts, U'll C the pitts being removed and C some good solid metal beneath, then 180 to smooth out the scratches the 60-80 left when U were removing the pits to get to the good metal, the keep going up to 220-300 grit, Bra. thats the ticket to show quality parts.

U just cant start polishing raw material, some times U can, U need to get a trained eye for the metal, U'll get it....if the part is fairly large and not too many nooks I.E. 90's< corners, in the parts, then U can start off w/black eboney on a sisial wheel, the black is very abrassive and will do a ton of work 4U, then Brown Tropil on a firm spirial sewen, then move to the green and finish on a loose swene Flannel wheel w/white B-U-T-Muss like glass!

on the nooks and cranys, get the tappered & flat rolls 60-80-180-220&300, U can even place the rolls on the black eboney, and use it like U would a polishing wheel, this will start to give great results in the tight places, use the 300 rolls and brown/green and it will almost be 95% polished so it will look great even thow the ploishing wheels cant get all the way N the tight areas.

I know this is a long thread But I know polishing, and really want all of U to B sucessful, U just need to know some tricks, and U'll find this not as hard as it looks once U know the secret, I did it for over 20 yrs.

BTW on some parts U'll need to get some metal de-burr'n tips to place on the die grinder to make quick work of removing the humps and ugly casting seams, coat'em in cutting/grinding industrial bees wax 1st to keep the bits from filling up w/alum, then the sanding rolls then the polishing wheels, no-one was more picky then custom Bikers, it had to B perfect for Daytona Rats Hole Custom Chopper Show, they'd bitch about eveerything. when my work was done it look'd like it was poured glass, and U can too;)

nothing worth having comes easy.:cool:

[Fiat48]

Thanks for that long and detailed post on polishing. Now I know the correct procedure.

[SonnyGlide]

didnt wanna bore U cats, but this isnt just as easy as it seems, but when U get the tricks, U'll have show Quality Parts/finish< and that seperates the boys from the BOYZ:D:D:D

[RiverRacer]

It ain't no different/harder than anything else, just have to learn how to do it, and polishing sucks, little stuff is not too bad but the big stuff I'll leave to the polishers!..

[poncho]

Haha Sonny i was looking for you got a question so heres the story,i started on the front motor mount today and quickly realized it was way too rough so i sanded starting with 60 grit and worked my way to 220 at that point it looked very good with all the scratches gone so i switched to the sisal and emery with very good results,at this point i went to a sewn buff with tripoli and it just got better with just a light haze but no surface problems,now is the problem,when i went to the loose buff with white compound it wants to shine but i cant get rid of the cloud i heated the part and cleaned the wheel but it dosent want to pop,any ideas?

[poncho]

BTW,what a sumbitch

[SonnyGlide]

Poncho. I hear Ya, it's big flat and watch out for them edges, that loose Flannel swen will Garb'er faster than HoBo looking 4 a free lunch.

I have always gone Green after Tripoli.some of the Harder aircraft grade alum, above 6061 T-6 can B harder to shine from Tripoli to white due to the aloys they use.in the big flat surfaces I use the big 3-4in round flat surface preperation disc.< their just like industrial strenght scotch brite pads< and U can use ur polishing compounds on them too< this helps-promotes a less scratchy finish*U can get'em outta McMasterCarr on line..the Brown is real ruff then Red then Green< smooth) put'em on a die grinder< u'll never leave a divit w/them.

the white is only after the Green, its used to get the show Quality finish, the haze is due to the fact that the part is telling U theres still more polishing needed thus the green, the Tripoli is only the next step up from the Eboney

Eboney + Sisal + 1800 rpm
Tripoli + tight sproil swen 1800 rpm
Green + loose spirol swen 3200-3600 rpm
White + an "air way Flannel swen"<only about 3 rings of stiching on the wheel and 3600 rpms

the white is very very dry compound U'll need to continully apply it to the wheel< when u have 2much it will have/leave a gray powder around the contact area of the wheel and the metal as U polish.if its a new wheel it will take a lot of compound to season the wheel< thats why U never want to use one wheel and several compounds.

Raking the wheel< use a Hacksaw blade or get a polishers pro Rake, is used to remove the metal that the wheel picks-up/Transfers from the metals U've been polishing< this is like very light grinding vs. polishing.

on big areas, to avoid leaving streaking as U shine< I.E. U can C shinny streaks that R equal to the width of the wheel vs a big show quality mirror, stack the wheels up, use 2-3 or 4 wheels at one time.the part should B warm never let if get HOT:eek: when U polish< this will leave little valleys wher U were polishing.the softer the metal the slower the spd.

U can block sand< rubber hand held typ,e like the BodyMen use, w/wet-dry paper on the motor mounts, never w/ur hand
always plenty of H2o and go up to 1000 or higher
Hope this helps;)

[poncho]

Hey thanks for the tip i will try what u said,i guess i jumped too far ahead