so, while my engine is out, I want to polish/clean paprts like my alternator, my oil pump, stuff like that. m IACV, what can I use, how do I do this? Hawkze, I know you got some ideas on how to do this.

 

I used the wire brush on my bench grinder to kinda polish my IAC when I was bored. Came out ok

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by InvaderTrax &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I used the wire brush on my bench grinder to kinda polish my IAC when I was bored. Came out ok</TD></TR></TABLE>

ill have to go pick one of those up for my bench grinder, did you like it? do u have any pics? did u use any compounds?

 

heres some things that might make this easier:

benchgrinder, a cheap one will do just fine
standard electric 4 1/2" hand grinder (use as a last resort and always wear eyeprotection... always securely fasten with a vice or similar device, small parts as they can become projectiles, just use your head with these)
die grinder along with variety of attachments, if you have a compressor these are my preferred method but i will sometimes still use the next tool...
dremel along with a variety of those expensive attachments(for tight spots - this work will take lots of time as dremels suck for anything but wood if you dont have lots of patience)
buffing wheels - used best on a benchgrinder but ive mounted them in anyway i can to your standard 4 1/2" electric grinder when a benchgrinder cant get to what i want it to... anything to avoid using that dremel
sandpaper - lots of different grades - depends on how far youre going to have to cut to get all the grooves and such out of the surface and you just keep sanding with finer grades the finer you get it to the less you'll have to polish
"polish" = you can buy these tubes with numbers on them from lowes maybe homedepot maybe other places but lowes has always had them and they have always been close to home so i go there for them. the numbers ive seen there range from 1 to 6... they are pretty self explanitory when you see them. not sure exactly what they are called, sorry. easy to use turn on the buffing device and let it rub into the stick of polish for a few seconds then buff away then apply more polish and buff away, move on to the next grade of polish after youve determined if you need to sand some more if you do need to sand some more you'll have to start the polishing process over again.

final result will depend mostly on preping the parts (sanding and grinding when needed) polishing is really easy except for tiny hard to reach parts cause my dremel hates that. make sure you dont get metal shavings or any other foreign material where it shouldnt be.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by x01vtec &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">heres some things that might make this easier:

benchgrinder, a cheap one will do just fine
standard electric 4 1/2" hand grinder (use as a last resort and always wear eyeprotection... always securely fasten with a vice or similar device, small parts as they can become projectiles, just use your head with these)
die grinder along with variety of attachments, if you have a compressor these are my preferred method but i will sometimes still use the next tool...
dremel along with a variety of those expensive attachments(for tight spots - this work will take lots of time as dremels suck for anything but wood if you dont have lots of patience)
buffing wheels - used best on a benchgrinder but ive mounted them in anyway i can to your standard 4 1/2" electric grinder when a benchgrinder cant get to what i want it to... anything to avoid using that dremel
sandpaper - lots of different grades - depends on how far youre going to have to cut to get all the grooves and such out of the surface and you just keep sanding with finer grades the finer you get it to the less you'll have to polish
"polish" = you can buy these tubes with numbers on them from lowes maybe homedepot maybe other places but lowes has always had them and they have always been close to home so i go there for them. the numbers ive seen there range from 1 to 6... they are pretty self explanitory when you see them. not sure exactly what they are called, sorry. easy to use turn on the buffing device and let it rub into the stick of polish for a few seconds then buff away then apply more polish and buff away, move on to the next grade of polish after youve determined if you need to sand some more if you do need to sand some more you'll have to start the polishing process over again.

final result will depend mostly on preping the parts (sanding and grinding when needed) polishing is really easy except for tiny hard to reach parts cause my dremel hates that. make sure you dont get metal shavings or any other foreign material where it shouldnt be. </TD></TR></TABLE>

all parts are off the engine/car...

 

Lots of Walmart carb cleaner and a toothbrush FTW

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Hawkze_2.3 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Lots of Walmart carb cleaner and a toothbrush FTW </TD></TR></TABLE>

would my g/f get mad if I used hers?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by egcoupe94 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

would my g/f get mad if I used hers?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Does she still have a sense of smell or taste?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Hawkze_2.3 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Does she still have a sense of smell or taste? </TD></TR></TABLE>

yup, lol

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Hawkze_2.3 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Lots of Walmart carb cleaner and a toothbrush FTW </TD></TR></TABLE>


lmao!! i must have bought like 100cans of walmart carb cleaner.. in the past year..

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by egcoupe94 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">all parts are off the engine/car...</TD></TR></TABLE>

so are you wanting to actually polish the parts or just give them a damn good cleaning? thats two entirely different things

i would define cleaning as restoring to a like new appearance

i would define polishing as the process of creating a chrome-like/mirror-like finish. which can be done to aluminum (valve cover, distributor, etc...), but will require maintainance and regular cleaning. good thing is once the aluminum is completely smooth it only takes a second to polish it again with the tools i listed above.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by x01vtec &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

so are you wanting to actually polish the parts or just give them a damn good cleaning? thats two entirely different things</TD></TR></TABLE>

give them a good cleaning. if you saw them, you would realize they need it.

 

ok... get a bucket of parts cleaner, soak those bitches then go buy a bunch of cheap toothbrushes, and dont use the ladies, unless you want her to leave, so..... take off any sensors and or anything rubber or plastic... you only want to drop the metal parts in the bucket. ive even used gasoline to clean parts. works pretty well at getting the old build up of grease and grime off. whatever you do, be safe, dont go inhaling fumes or smoking cigarettes around the gas. if you do anything silly its your fault

get a lowgloss black spray paint and hit all the rusty brackets and bolt heads with it, clean them well first of course. this will help make those cleaned parts look even better when all the hardware looks new too.

as with the alternator, youre kinda outta luck at making that thing looking new... unless you are willing to completely take it apart its going to pe a pain you dont want to do anything that will compromise the electronics inside it

 

Here is what I did with my alternator, just used a dremel with the polishing attachments. It took a day or so.

 

those fins in the alternator are exactly what i was talking about taking forever with the dremel, you cant really get in the tight spots with the benchgrinder so the dremel has to be used for the detail work. the benchgrinder would make easy work of the large flat areas tho. same goes for the distributor.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by x01vtec &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">ok... get a bucket of parts cleaner, soak those bitches then go buy a bunch of cheap toothbrushes, and dont use the ladies, unless you want her to leave, so..... take off any sensors and or anything rubber or plastic... you only want to drop the metal parts in the bucket. ive even used gasoline to clean parts. works pretty well at getting the old build up of grease and grime off. whatever you do, be safe, dont go inhaling fumes or smoking cigarettes around the gas. if you do anything silly its your fault

get a lowgloss black spray paint and hit all the rusty brackets and bolt heads with it, clean them well first of course. this will help make those cleaned parts look even better when all the hardware looks new too.

as with the alternator, youre kinda outta luck at making that thing looking new... unless you are willing to completely take it apart its going to pe a pain you dont want to do anything that will compromise the electronics inside it</TD></TR></TABLE>

thanks...not really looking to get them looking like new, but cleaner would be better. lol, not black with dirt