Just thought I would share some pics of the work I did earlier.
This was done 100% by hand with sandpaper in about 4 hours.
Sanding went as follows. 180, 220, 340, 400, 600, 1200, 1500

*for huge pics add "big" before .JPG

Early stages:


After polishing with mothers aluminum polish:


Engine bay pics:
Before:


After:




I'm quite happy with the result. I could have spent more time on it and maybe I will hit it with a dremel on some parts but I think its good as is. I plan to paint the letters gunmetal along with the dizzy cap and misc parts in the near future.

 

 

looks good

 

Good ****..

Looks like you had a bit of a problem around the letters..

 

cool, but don't stop till you hit mirror finish!

 

not to shabby

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by B16_madman &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">cool, but don't stop till you hit mirror finish!</TD></TR></TABLE>

lets see you do one mirror finished

takes foreveeeer

 

maybe its my comp settings but it looks the same to me when it was installed back onto the motor.looks nice off of it though

 

you got to hit it till you get 1000 grit or some wet to dry sand paper

 

the after pics arent doing it much justice I will take some tomorrow that show the shine a little better

 

nice

 

i'm planning on doing some of mine, practicing on my IM as i'm getting a new one but it's really hard to get a mirror finish!

I'm using AutoSol polish dunno if it's any good.

Good job on the rocker cover, looks much better if you want proper bling you really need a dremel or the equivelent. (i would like to see the 'bits' people use on their dremel though as i've got so many but some seem to destroy it!.. any where do i get replacement bits for it!?)

good job though!

 

Okay here is a better pic in the day with a different flash




In the near future I may go at it again maybe do some wet sanding and get it REALLY shiny, until then this is better then before. And yes I need to get in between the letters with a dremel along with some other crevaces.

 

Looks good but why are you sanding it with 180 grit, there should be no reason to sand the whole cover with 180 grit, only the areas that need touch ups. Here are some of mine I did. I have never fully polished one because its to much labor and it does not last. After I tell customers this they usually go with the painted route.

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=836261

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 90blackcrx &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Looks good but why are you sanding it with 180 grit</TD></TR></TABLE>

My cover had alot of deep scratches before I started as it came unpainted, I also read in many threads of people starting with 80 grit. I found that the 180 grit stage made the most difference, and actually wish I had spent a little more time with the 180.
As for lasting I doubt it is ever going to get back to the way it was. And anything is better then how it was.

 

Well since you don't really did not post close up pics after wards I can't tell. But a lot of people will use 180 but not spend much time on it after wards to get all the scratches out that they just put in.

 

Looks good. Some buffing wheels with some black and white rouge (sp) would put that mirror shine on (caswellplating.com they've also got some buffing forums and information on buffing). I've done the transmission housing, IM, valve cover and some other smaller stuff. Its a pita and takes time but it looks better than chrome in the end.

Here's a couple pictures.
(Not a great pic)

 

MIRROR FINISH. Yeah, so what if it takes a lot of time. Incase you're wondering why it looks odd... it's because it's partly painted, and partly polished.


Too bad I blew it a month later.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by HatchBox &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">lets see you do one mirror finished

takes foreveeeer</TD></TR></TABLE>
That it does. I haven't done a VC yet, but I spent roughly 4 hours on each of the lips on my wheels to bring them to a near-mirror finish. I say near mirror, b/c I'm sure someone could do even better, but I did an amazing job.

400, 800, 1000, 1500, and 2000 grit sandpaper. Began wetsanding at 1000 grit.
After that I used Eagle One wadding polish multiple times until my arm fell off, and when the next application didn't make much of a difference.

If I had time now I'd do a VC up partially polished, or fully. It's my DD, but I'll give it a shot one day.