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Check out these Jugs!

63K views 308 replies 68 participants last post by  danbran67 
#1 · (Edited)
Check out these Jugs! (DarkOne's Progress)

Well after reading the thread, "good news for me", I got jealous, so I decided to start detailing the motor.
I will keep posting more pics of my progress here on this thread of the car so view the thread thoroughly. I know there are a ton of pages, but I did a ton of work. Trust me. It'll be worth your time to read it all.

Valve covers stage 1, 2, 3,and 4. Rotory sander, rotory scrub pad, steel wool, and black buffing compund with rope like rotory buffer and cone shaped buffer.


Valve covers stage 5: Red jeweler's rouge and sewn spiral Rotory Buffing wheel, and cone shaped buffer


Stage 6: White liquid rouge and soft buffing wheel


Finished product:


AHhhh.. That's better. Nice Jugs eh?


And a shot of the air filter after final polishing




This of course is just the beginning. Trying to get ready for New Hope in august. I think I can make it.
 
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#4 ·
I got mine to the point where I could see myself pretty well, but I didn't try to get every flaw out - this gets exponentially more difficult.

I'll know that you are obsessed when you do the water pump and power steering pump :) I did.

BTW, no, this is NOT what's under the valve cover paint. This is what's under the valve cover paint after hours of dirty, nasty work!
 
#6 · (Edited)
strife2 said:
I got mine to the point where I could see myself pretty well, but I didn't try to get every flaw out - this gets exponentially more difficult.

I'll know that you are obsessed when you do the water pump and power steering pump :) I did.

BTW, no, this is NOT what's under the valve cover paint. This is what's under the valve cover paint after hours of dirty, nasty work!
The trick is getting them smooth. The grinder in the first picture is what I used. these weren't made to be polished so they aren't exactly very smooth and have many imperfections. Don't use a course sander though. I used a 220 disk to start it off.
I got both done in about 10 hours. and yeah. I was covered head to toe in black, nasty, aluminum fragments. Very Dirty work. But well worth it.
Next project.: Do the same for the fan blades, then the PS pump, then the alt

Before we proceed to the rest of the work, Let me show you what the car looked like when I started it.



First came the suspension. Intrax springs 65 lb resist and KYB sport shocks. Also replace entire front end all ball joints, control arms center link, and tie rods.






Ahhh that's better. more on that a little later.





 
#8 ·
That looks great!! A lot of work but a really nice result.
 
#9 · (Edited)
The fan blade is VERY difficult, and took an arsenal of tools to do. Worse, it seems to be made out of a different alloy and corrodes/tarnishes almost immediately upon hitting air. I had to redo them on both cars and coat them with clear, which dulled the finish quite a bit.

There are additional problems with doing the fan blade, I think the danger of cracking/weakening it is real (a new one is VERY expensive, although it's possible to get one used). Also, I worried about affecting the balance. I can tell that one of them had been ground in spots for balancing. An unbalanced fan might put addtional strain on the clutch and/or water pump bearings.

BTW, I have a chrome plated accelerator servo for a 126 with new rubber isolation bushings. I bought this for my 107 and sent it to get chromed but the 107's mount is shaped differently so I couldn't use it. PM me if you want it - The chrome wasn't great, but it wasn't expensive either. Putting in those rubber mounts almost killed me.
 
#10 ·
hmm. maybe i'll just clean it and paint it then. The thought of spending what looks like another 10 hour job to see it tarnish in seconds doesn't sound too appealing to me. Thanks for the heads-up.
 
#14 ·
so if i spend lots of time... and lots of help from my friends i can get valve cover like that.... hmm seems very much worth it to me.. just making a fine automobile even finer! and i think my water pump is starting to go so i spose before i throw a new one in i will make it look nice... and whats the best thing to do for my intake cover.. its all pitted like... i dont like it like it like that since i am going to do the valve covers.. what an awesome idea.. what different grit disks did you use.. and also how fast did your sander spin? i can't wait to get this doneee!!
 
#15 · (Edited)
slow speed drill sander. used 220 grit to start. then a light hand sand with 400 the rest was all metal buffing wheels.
If your air filter is pitted, you may want to get a new one. they aren't very thick. if the pits are not very deep, don't sand it. just use the buffer wheels as described. Sanding the air filter with anything but 400 hand paper or steel wool is a no-no. I only used a sander on the valve covers to sand down the imperfections which were always there from new. They never intended for them to be buffed, so, they weren't really critical on the smoothness. The air filters were made fairly perfect new, and only require steel wool and a buffing wheel. the kit I used to do this was bought here.
Caswell Inc. - Aluminum & Copper Alloy Polishing Kit
 
#16 ·
One little additional comment: when you do these parts, clean them REALLY THOROUGHLY after they are done, inside and out, with engine cleaner, and then let them rince with water and dry. All this buffing stuff is grit, after all, and you do not want this to get into the engine.
 
#17 · (Edited)
Here are some before and after shots of the engine and my buffing and cleaning frenzy.

Day 1. Clean with Simple green (BIG MISTAKE) and Gunk engine degreaser Gel (Safe alternative)


Day 2: Valve covers, as posted on page 1


Day 3: Detail engine with mothers protectant, buffing wheels, sand paper, steel wool, emery cloth, and wire brushes.




 
#18 · (Edited)
and here's another higher rez photo


Before: Note everything is a whitish corroded mess after cleaning.


After: Man that sucked to polish.


A Nice high res image. If this image is lagging people. let me know and I'll take it off
 
#19 ·
DarkOneSK said:
and here's another higher rez photo


Before: Note everything is a whitish corroded mess after cleaning.
A Nice high res image. If this image is lagging people. let me know and I'll take it off
THE CORROSION WAS THE SIMPLE GREEN!!! ;)

You've done a great job. That CCA has got some serious bling factor to it! I doubt I could ever put that much effort under the hood. I'm usually too pooped from cleaning the outside to want to wander into polishing anything most people won't see. It's kinda like the house. The front is always mowed and edged but I might skip the backyard a week or two! Again, looks great!
 
#20 ·
AzimuthAviation said:
THE CORROSION WAS THE SIMPLE GREEN!!! ;)

You've done a great job. That CCA has got some serious bling factor to it! I doubt I could ever put that much effort under the hood. I'm usually too pooped from cleaning the outside to want to wander into polishing anything most people won't see. It's kinda like the house. The front is always mowed and edged but I might skip the backyard a week or two! Again, looks great!
Yeah yeah. I know better now. The simple green was a mistake. Thanks for the compliments though. Keep checking back. I'm gonna use this thread for my ongoing work on this car.
 
#21 · (Edited)
Just got my exhaust done today, 2 days ahead of schedule! Custom Single 2.5" Flowmaster system with 2 tail pipes, (The 3" turned out to be a bitch to bend). It never sounded better! I love it! As stated in another thread,:

If you want to hear my new exhaust, click here.

I left the tailpipes a little long so I had room to move and cut them once my body kit goes on so don't flame me on it.
I'll post more pics once I scrub the underside of the car. It's very dirty and quite frankly, after I cleaned everything else in the car so far, I'm embarrassed by it.

I know, call me freak.

 
#24 ·
DarkOne,

That looks really good. :thumbsup:

How did you route the right tail pipe?

Behind the bumper, the way Satish did his, or by the fuel pump?
 
#25 · (Edited)
AxelWulff said:
DarkOne,

That looks really good. :thumbsup:

How did you route the right tail pipe?

Behind the bumper, the way Satish did his, or by the fuel pump?

I didn't like the idea of a 90 degree bend at the bumper so, I squeezed it past the fuel pump. I moved the fuel pump back a few inches as well. A few stratigic bends and I cleared it. It's not as pretty as I'd like, But I got it done. When I get my Twin turbos from Jonathan, I will totally move the fuel pump and filter so I can make it prettier. I just did this as a temparary fix for now. I'm also in the process of making a heatshield for the pump as an extra precaution. Ok I'll post 2 pics. but don't look at the dirt please. I need to scrub the whole underside of the car with soap and a brush before I'm comfortable.

So here's your 500 SEC upskirt photos. Enjoy


 
#26 ·
Here are some more pics I dug up of the interior in case you missed it on my interior thread. All cleaned and absolutely perfect. needs nothing except maybe new mats. they are good, but good isn't good enough at this point.



Enjoy!
 
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