Abaddon's Riv

WOW! thank god you have a pack or two of camels to keep you company! lookin good

albertj wrote:

how long will it hold the polish - or do you have to anodize it clear or something?

Albertj

I think it will last a long time as it is. The aluminum won't rust, and being that polished, there is no where for anything to stick to. I ran the Thermo housing under water. It runs off instantly. Beads up kinda like liquid mercury.
I thought about clear coating it. Even talked about it with the painter......he polished every Aluminum part on his Quad, which is exposed to wayyyy more elements than my engine will be. Anyway, he says his quad has been spotless for 2 years now. He just has to hose it off. I'm a little skeptical of this but, I had a set of polished alloy wheels on my T-bird that lasted 10 years (5 of which sitting in the backyard) with minimal pitting. I think it'll be ok.....

LOL @ Robo.

The thing about aluminum is that it corrodes quickly. I'd have to talk to a chemist or metallurgist about this - but I suspect the way you polish the thing has an effect. Aluminum reacts with poisture in the air to form aluminum oxide, one of the hardest materials around (it's used as an abrasive among other things). The reaction starts immediately and after about 1/2 hour under otherwise "normal" conditions the stuff is basically unpaintable due to the oxide layer - I mean you can paint it but the paint will come off pretty quick if the piece is in any kind of weather or corrosive environment.

I imagine that if you polish an aluminum piece a certain way, an oxide layer builds up and that oxide is what you end up polishing - in which case the piece is not going to corrode/pit much at all. I also imagine that different grades of aluminum behave differently. For instance I have a garlic press - washed it in the dishwasher and it got a thick coat of gray oxide - polished it with steel wool (a brillo-type soap pad) and now it's easy to keep clean just by rinsing and wiping dry after use.

It will be interesting to see what happens with your aluminum pieces.

Albertj

My experience with buffing and polishing the aluminum pieces on a Harley are that they come out looking as good as what you have done, with a lot of manhours but and I mean a big But, It oxidized so quickly on me that I was sick and disgusted and tore the whole bike down again and had everything that was aluminum painted black (prior to the advent of powder coat) to contrast with the chrome and the painted pieces.
There are products available now, that I have seen on the automotive shows on TV where they buff and polish an aluminum wheel, apply this other product to seal the polished aluminum and supposedly it is good for about 3 years with snow, ice and salt before it needs to be re-applied.
Don't know the name of the product but I would be doing some research and apply this stuff before re-installing the SC. Will be easier to do while it is off the engine.
Just my $0.02 from experience.

all ya gotta do is ,clean the crap out of em after their done,buy high temp clear enamel,gloss-satin-etc,and coat the crap out of em. works everytime....

About them oxidizing.....the final white rouge that I use is made of Aluminum Oxide. I'm not sure if this help prevent it from oxidizing, but it sounds like it should. Robo, have you ever used clear Enamel on polished aluminum? I can't ponder how it would stick to it.

robotennis61 wrote:

all ya gotta do is ,clean the crap out of em after their done,buy high temp clear enamel,gloss-satin-etc,and coat the crap out of em. works everytime....

that sounds about right, as long as you clean the parts (that wheel cleaner I mentioned in a diff thread, I think ammonium phosphate or some such) dry them, and paint them within 15 min. or so of the cleaning.

I have a set of wheels I did that to (prep and paint aluminum alloy) going on 4 years now **NO** corrosion--and they are the WINTER wheels (all they see is cold,, snow and road salt)

Albertj

Looks like it's gettin a healthy coat of clear then! Thanks for the input guys.

there is a place called,Aircraft spruce & specialty co. they support the aeronautics industry. go to their site and look in "covering supplies." there you will find a bunch of products to prep alu. you can also go to a good body supply shop and pick up some "aluprep" its expensive shit,a bottle will last a long while,and will prep the surface for paint. its a whole systemic process though,preparing alu for paint, several different steps should be taken,although ive clearcoated alu with nothing but clear enamel with good results.but its worth spending a few $ by getting the right prep materials. good luck.

Abaddon wrote:

Looks like it's gettin a healthy coat of clear then! Thanks for the input guys.

not sure if i remember this correctly, but i thought i remember hearing about someone who put clear on a blower and it yellowed from the heat. this could have been with a painted blower but i would imagine that it would have the same effect on the polished blower, if not more noticeable because of the amount of polish and lack of color. just a thought...

Thanks for the info Robo, I'll definitely look into it. I'm also tempted (after I get it done), to have it anodized like AA was talkin about. I think a clear anodizing would look sweet after being totally smoothed. Whichever I decide, it's going to be the "theme" of the engine compartment The plan is to do all the aluminum parts the same way (not every one).....at least all the "plain view" pieces.

I started blending in the edges of the top today with an aluminum bur (or burr?). I get started on it, and I don't want to stop. I did this on my lunch break.

Anodizing? sound expensive. but a great idea!

97 park ave wrote:

not sure if i remember this correctly, but i thought i remember hearing about someone who put clear on a blower and it yellowed from the heat. this could have been with a painted blower but i would imagine that it would have the same effect on the polished blower, if not more noticeable because of the amount of polish and lack of color. just a thought...

That makes sense. But, I don't think 200* or so would be enough to yellow the clear. The charger gets about as hot as the roof of your car on a blazing, 95* day.

That's looking pretty nice.

Can't wait to see it on the motor Scott!

BMD wrote:

Can't wait to see it on the motor Scott!

Me either! Too bad it's going to be a while before it goes on. Need to get the inards of the new build done first. Have to start savin my $$$$. This polish job is just to pass the time.....

[quote="Abaddon"]

97 park ave wrote:

not sure if i remember this correctly, but i thought i remember hearing about someone who put clear on a blower and it yellowed from the heat. this could have been with a painted blower but i would imagine that it would have the same effect on the polished blower, if not more noticeable because of the amount of polish and lack of color. just a thought...

That makes sense. But, I don't think 200* or so would be enough to yellow the clear. The charger gets about as hot as the roof of your car on a blazing, 95* day. [/quote

youre comparing automotive paint shop clear to rattle can clear, unless you were planning on getting it professionally cleared, in which case i retract my statement because i have never heard of any ill effects from that. im not even sure if ive heard of someone trying it, but i have definitely heard that DIY clear from the parts store will yellow on the blower.

I just added another Buick to the family. The woman had to turn in her lease, so it was my job to find her some "budget" wheels. I found her a white '96 PAU (Series II S/C) with burgundy interior. It has 109,000 old person miles. It was owned by an old couple since it was new.
I've already replaced the LIM gaskets, and everything above it. Also replaced the front sway bar links. The car is beautiful and runs like a raped ape. The tires are good, and the brakes are like new. I see really no other maintenance needed yet. Best part about it all......I got it for $2500!
I'll post some pics when I get a chance.

Sounds like you got a great deal! White with Burgundy interior... can't wait to see some pics.

Here it is. It's dirty, I know. I need to clean it up.
She likes it so far. It's wayyyy faster than her Malibu was lol. I also need to fix the Antenna and the Driver seat....nothing works on it. I'm hoping it's a busted power wire or something. Haven't had much time to look. But, for $2500, this car is b-e-a utiful!

Pretty nice car.

sorry park avenues arent allowed
nice old park ave though, thats the first one of those that i have seen with the series II L67

This thing surprised me when I slammed the gas. You can tell the previous owners babied it, and it was garage kept. Unfortunately, they didn't do any maintenance besides oil changes. It needs shocks/struts, the antenna, and the driver seat fixed. As I said before, I've already done the LIM gaskets (which were leaking terribly), and replaced the broken front stabilizer links. I told here that if she treats this car like all "the others", I'm gonna repo it.

Niiice, I like these cars and I like the colour combo on this one. Body and interior look like their in great shape. Relatively low mileage on the car too, you did well Scott. I bet your wife really like the power eh?

Abaddon wrote:

Here it is. It's dirty, I know. I need to clean it up.
She likes it so far. It's wayyyy faster than her Malibu was lol. I also need to fix the Antenna and the Driver seat....nothing works on it. I'm hoping it's a busted power wire or something. Haven't had much time to look. But, for $2500, this car is b-e-a utiful!

I learned a long time ago, you never give them the car until everything is in working order if you expect the car to be taken care of.
You give them a piece of shit, you get one back. Frequently.
At least if everything is in working order to start with then you a leg to stand on when they present you with a piece of shit one month later, you can at least use the argument that everything worked when I gave it to you. you know what i mean, actually not to be mean but just an asshole a little bit, which I seem to be accused of on here now and again.