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Unread 10-17-2006, 09:31 PM
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Smithers Smithers is offline
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Location: San Luis Obispo, CA
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So while I wait for special valve changing tools I'm focusing some energy on making my engine show quality... well really close anyways.

So I picked up some polishing compounds and am contemplating what to do with the random aluminum parts and how far to clean up the block and heads. I am leaning towards an extreme clean with some chemicals to make the alloy bleached and shiny like new. But there are some stains that I will have to sand down with a rotatary sanding tool of my choice. I did a little test on a piece that had some casting imperfections and found that I could sand the piece down and then give it a good polish. The only problem is that some lines might develope from casting deviations as well as the divots that exist from casting as well. The sanding gives a nice consistant texture that I find is the most productive result. I wish I had the time to anodize everything but I definitely don't want to spend more than a day on what I have left to clean up!

Time to have the shiz powdercoated. It's quick and makes the parts look like brand new. So I took apart the throttle body and linkage on it as well. These peices were VERY corroded and the coating will do them well. These will be a smooth finish semi-gloss. They need to be smooth since they slide in contact with each other.

The water bridges and waterneck assembly will be a nice black texture similar to the texture of the intake and valve covers. I don't want the engine to look too red. Race engines aren't all one color. The typically are aluminum finish with a couple of red covers. I think the black intermediate parts will look really slick. I have before pictures that I will post with the results. They will look better than new without being red and too annoying.
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