Podguy

I am polishing up a spider and there are a lot of casting marks. I have tried a number of methods now to smooth out the metal first, but all are timing consuming.

So far I have a die grinder with several grits of paper and some metal polishing pads. I have a bench grinder with a expandable wheel with sand paper bands from 80 grit to 1200 grit. On the bench grinder I also have a polishing wheel with 80 grit polish. I have a 4 in grinder with metal polishing pads. It really takes off a lot of metal, but leaves behind a nice starting finish. I have 3" obital polisher and a 6" DA. They work well, but cannot get to the different inside turns.

Currently it is taking me with a combination of tools and hand sanding about two hours to get one tube smooth enough for polishing. When done they look great, but there has to be a quicker way.

All suggestions greatfully appreciated.

Dan the Pod Guy with three polished spider tubes.

s928s

Not that I am aware of..good'ol elbow grease. You may want to add a small dremel style tool with small sanding drums for the nooks and crannies. When i polished my 944 intake i hand sanded to 800 then switch too mothers aluminum polish and scotch brite pads. mahe sure you use latex gloves on your hands at this point...very messy.

Jim M.

Try the 3M ROLOC discs, available at Grainger or McMaster Carr or better hardware stores. They are fast, easy to control and with the right grits leave an almost shiney finish that just needs minor buffing.

Jim Mayzurk
93 GTS 5-spd

joejoe

Just finished 2 8" dish wheels and waiting for 4 more from ebay to show up. 3m is what I used also with an air palm orbital sander. grits were 180, 220, 320 sticky paper with foam adaptor. Then used 600, 800, 1000, 3000, hookit for finishing. When wheels arrived was disapointed as they had some major gouges on the face. Some work and all blemishes but one (real deep) have dissappeared and are near mirror appearing. For the lip of the rim I used a dremel with polishing wheels.
While most of the materials used relativley inexpensive (paper discs $5/pack) the 600 hookit could only be found in 50 pack box and was about $50. the 800/1000 come as a set for $12, and the 3000 was single. Also the paper is used dry and hookit is used with a mist of water and can be used over again.

docmirror

Yep, there isn't any shortcut I've found either. There's lots of polishing bits avail for the Dremel units but by the time your at the polishing stage, all the hard work has been done. Worth the effort ona cold winter day when you're locked inside.

Doc

Randy V

I've found that ceramic coating them in a silver/chrome finish gets pretty close to the same results without all the labour required.

After polishing you will still need to clear coat them.

Mongo

I did the complete opposite to a 944 intake. Instead of wanting to polish it, I hit it with high heat silver engine paint that gave it a real shiny, almost polished look. I went over it with a high heat clearcoat after than and got a factory original look on the intake. It made me much happier than a polish since I wouldn't have to keep using Mother's religiously on the polish job.

tv

3M SS wheel for a large stationary buffer/polisher, but they sell those wheels for all different tools

Podguy

Joejoe,

Where did you get the 3000 grit disks. The finest I could find were 2000.

I did find a place that sells paper at a discount. Online Industrial Supply. I just ordered a bunch and will let everyone know if the stuff is any good. Thanks everyone for the tips.

Dan the Pod Guy

danglerb

I was in a custom bike shop a month or so ago, and they used a giant belt sander type thing for the medium heavy work.

Big AL in VA

Well, I just finished my spider assembly 3 months ago. Lots and lots of elbow grease. First started with 80 grit. Then worked my way up thru to the 400 grit. At this time I started to wet sand. From 400 to 600 to 800 to 1000 to 1500 to 2000. Then I used polish on a 8 inch polishing wheel. By the way, anyone need a bench style polisher can borrow it in my area.
Definatly use gloves or your hands will be black for days. Beleive me I know about this. The tighter radius I used a small sanding drum with a dremel. The problem here is I could only find sanding drums 80, 120, and 240. After that your on your own creatively. I chose to hand sand up to 2000 grit. Because I was afraid to use a more aggressive approach with my bench polisher. Take too much metal off and it can be a very expensive mistake. For me it was worth peice of mind to do it by hand. any questions please feel free to contact me privatly or publicly.

Big AL from Virginia
84 928 twin ditributor monster

Big AL in VA

Oh, make sure you use a dust mask to protect your airway. Very important.

Big AL

cobalt

It is much easier than all of these approaches.

3M makes Scotchbrite pads that attach to a mandrill. I recommend buying an angle die grinder if you have air or use a high speed drill if not. They make different grit if you can call it that. The brown to start the blue to polish. Very simple and cleans the surface to a smooth finish in no time. I use these in bulk to finish my castings and it is the easiest approach to polishing out surface imperfections.

They sell kits at HD, autozone etc that includes the mandrill and a few pads for about $9.

If you want to polish, a series of cutting and polishing wheels are needed with different rouge to perform each step. I recommend heating the casting prior to polishing as the heat allows the rouge to cut and polish faster. Make sure you have a high speed drill or other device and that the wheel does not slip.

As stated wear a mask and protective clothing including a face shield, hat etc as you will come out looking black when you are done.

Good Luck.

bcdavis

Gratuitous Polished Spider Picture:

Daniel Dudley

Flap wheels for die grinders can help you to contour quickly, and can get into a lot of areas.