Check out these Jugs!

62288 Views 308 Replies 68 Participants Last post by danbran67, Jul 21, 2012

DarkOneSK

Discussion Starter · Mar 13, 2007 (Edited)

6

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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dennisB

· #2 · Mar 13, 2007

Damm ... wrong Jugs!

mercedesman91

· #3 · Mar 13, 2007

my valve covers are painted green.. is that whats under the paint? if so im going to pull mine off tomrrow..

strife2

· #4 · Mar 13, 2007

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!

AzimuthAviation

· #5 · Mar 13, 2007

Made me look! Oh well...the polish job looks really good even though I can't get a visual of running my hands over it.

DarkOneSK

Discussion Starter · #6 · Mar 13, 2007 (Edited)

6

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.

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Teutone

· #7 · Mar 13, 2007

Wow, you should put a warning on top of your post.
Thank God I was wearing shades to protect my eyes from all the shine. Great job.

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mramay

· #8 · Mar 13, 2007

That looks great!! A lot of work but a really nice result.

strife2

· #9 · Mar 13, 2007 (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.

DarkOneSK

Discussion Starter · #10 · Mar 13, 2007

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.

S_Class_Don

· #11 · Mar 13, 2007

dennisB said:
Damm ... wrong Jugs!

yeah i got that impression too lol!

BNZ

· #12 · Mar 13, 2007

strife2 said:
I

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

!

What kind of preparation to only paint them ?

*

Jukka L.

· #13 · Mar 13, 2007

Nice!!

mercedesman91

· #14 · Mar 14, 2007

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!!

DarkOneSK

Discussion Starter · #15 · Mar 14, 2007 (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

strife2

· #16 · Mar 14, 2007

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.

DarkOneSK

Discussion Starter · #17 · Mar 14, 2007 (Edited)

7

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.

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DarkOneSK

Discussion Starter · #18 · Mar 14, 2007 (Edited)

3

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

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AzimuthAviation

· #19 · Mar 14, 2007

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!

DarkOneSK

Discussion Starter · #20 · Mar 15, 2007

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.

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