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POLISH OUT YOUR VALVE COVER & OTHER LINES

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Old 03-26-2008, 03:53 PM
  #121  
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so there's no like... quick way to do this? i'm kinda lazy, but i want my IM to look good.. lol
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Old 03-26-2008, 04:09 PM
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yeah...send it to KRRZ350 to get the SSIM and polish, or just the polish...he's doing a SSIM for me now and I will give feedback
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Old 03-31-2008, 07:08 AM
  #123  
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Originally Posted by !PrjctMax!
yeah...send it to KRRZ350 to get the SSIM and polish, or just the polish...he's doing a SSIM for me now and I will give feedback
yeah, u know i was thinking about that but my max is my daily driver, and i'd rather not have it out of commission while waiting on the manifold... and don't particularly feel like driving all the way up to massachusetts.. can you just take the IM out and spraypaint it with some high temp silver paint and have it look the same as a polished IM?
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Old 04-01-2008, 07:13 PM
  #124  
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Originally Posted by wyche89
can you just take the IM out and spraypaint it with some high temp silver paint and have it look the same as a polished IM?
anybody?
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Old 04-01-2008, 07:23 PM
  #125  
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^
If you want a quick answer. Not really.

Long answer-
It will look more like a dull aluminum. Or you can have it dipped in chrome after you sand at it. But for paint, you always need a nice smooth surface (not dimpled like the IM) so if you are willing to sand it down. You might as well do it all the way

Oh and since you mentioned you couldn't wait to have the IM left off....you can do it little by little on the weekends or days off. That is what I did with mine. Took about 3 weekends to finish. Looks pretty good, and I left it in the engine bay while working on it, since mine is also the DD.
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Old 04-01-2008, 07:33 PM
  #126  
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Originally Posted by Jess
^
If you want a quick answer. Not really.

Long answer-
It will look more like a dull aluminum. Or you can have it dipped in chrome after you sand at it. But for paint, you always need a nice smooth surface (not dimpled like the IM) so if you are willing to sand it down. You might as well do it all the way

Oh and since you mentioned you couldn't wait to have the IM left off....you can do it little by little on the weekends or days off. That is what I did with mine. Took about 3 weekends to finish. Looks pretty good, and I left it in the engine bay while working on it, since mine is also the DD.
really? thats interesting... how does yours look?
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Old 04-01-2008, 07:44 PM
  #127  
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Originally Posted by wyche89
really? thats interesting... how does yours look?
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Old 04-01-2008, 09:17 PM
  #128  
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wow.. not bad... i think i'll do that.. thanx 4 the pic jess
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Old 04-02-2008, 07:11 AM
  #129  
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Originally Posted by ny96max
ok, so you want to polish out your engine to look like a mirror. This is what i have done and would reccomend:

1) remove plastic cover (nissan v6 lid)on the valve cover
2) - sponge with a scrubby side to it
- bottle of palmolive (green one)

*** make sure engine is cold and too cover up the ignition coils with towels to prevent water contacting them***

3) wash down the entire valve cover with small amounts of water and palmolive soap with the scrubby sponge. Palmolive is a degreaser and will remove any contaminents on the valve cover itself.
4) If needed get a brillo pad and rinse out all of the soap in it. Use the palmolive soap again and scrub the $hit out of the valve cover, till somewhat clean.
5) Dry completely
6) get out your aluminum polish
- Mothers: mag/aluminum polish (small can $5)
- Meguiars: rim/aluminum polish (small can $8)
7) use a cotton towel and apply a fair amount of the polish to the valve cover, kinda like your waxing your car
8) let sit for 2min then buff off vigorously!!
9) repeat these steps until a briliant shine appears

***for anyone else who wants a MIRROR LIKE SHINE ***

1) buy wet sand paper (Black) at any hardware store
a) 400 gritt
b) 600 gritt
c) 800 gritt
d) 1000 gritt
e) 1500 gritt
2) use a spray bottle and mist the valve cover in small sections at a time.
3) start off with the 400 gritt paper. go over the area in long-wide strokes, while pressing fairly hard
4) repeat step3 with the 4 other sheets of sand paper goin in order from 400-1500
5) dry off engine
**once dried it will look all scratched up, this will go away once you buff out the cover with polish**
6) use your aluminum polish and polish the crap out of the valve cover again
7) repeat step7 enough times till you see a mirror appear!

so which process gives the best shine... the second one with the sandpaper? the more times i read over it, the easier this seems to be.. i'm gonna do this soon
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Old 04-02-2008, 11:14 AM
  #130  
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For us...

Use a dremel or rotory tool with sanding disk. Sand all the dimples out until fairly smooth.

Use a bucket of water with a bit of soap to keep the sandpaper wet. This is very important.

80 grit
120 grit
220
400
600
800
1000
1500
2000

After 2000 grit use mother mags polish to polish it out to a nice shine.

That's all it takes, you just need patience and a lot of elbow grease.

Here is a link to the thread I made while working on the manifold.
http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=553600
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Old 04-26-2008, 08:39 PM
  #131  
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Hey guys, Quick Question.

Could someone please post a picture or link of what the metal grinding bit that you can put into a screw driver. ive tried many different tools but I cant seem to get the dimples out of the intake manifold
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Old 04-27-2008, 09:28 AM
  #132  
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You need a wire wheel/brush like those at the bottom of this page: http://www.wolfcraft.com/display_pro...cat=3&group=16

Start with a larger coarser one and move to a finer one. They will definitely take out the surface texture, but they will leave behind a grooved or brushed look that you will need to smooth out by sanding.
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Old 12-28-2008, 10:25 AM
  #133  
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bump yet again.....
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Old 12-28-2008, 12:06 PM
  #134  
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has anyone thought of painting their valve cover instead of polishing it. im thinking about sanding it a little bit to clean it up then painting it a gloss black
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Old 12-28-2008, 12:50 PM
  #135  
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yea i painted my wrinkle black will post pics later
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Old 12-28-2008, 01:06 PM
  #136  
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cool. interested in what it looks like
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Old 12-28-2008, 02:24 PM
  #137  
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Nice, Guy! Very appealing....
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Old 12-28-2008, 02:26 PM
  #138  
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Hm I might polish up my stuff. I'll think about it.
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Old 12-28-2008, 02:30 PM
  #139  
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Originally Posted by gregmaxin
has anyone thought of painting their valve cover instead of polishing it. im thinking about sanding it a little bit to clean it up then painting it a gloss black

i never thought abt that, but that polish look...daammm polish looks realll nice and stand out more as well
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Old 12-30-2008, 10:29 PM
  #140  
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bump... for thread awesomeness
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Old 12-31-2008, 08:43 AM
  #141  
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i actually went out today to try and attempt this and ran back inside thanks to the wind, snow flurries and cuz of how cold it is,i live in NYC, so i guess this is going to have to wait till May or so for me
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Old 12-31-2008, 10:05 PM
  #142  
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i attempted the valve cover before i read up on it. now im gonna try and do it right. if it works im gonna do the IM
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Old 01-01-2009, 08:35 AM
  #143  
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I will have a polished upper intake manifold for sale from a 4th gen soon when I install my MEVI. Its pretty much fully polished, but only in the areas that are visible upon installation. For example, the back and bottom aren't shined up. Here are some pics:
on my old 95 SE:



in comparison to a non polished IM:

PM me with interests.
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Old 01-01-2009, 12:42 PM
  #144  
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arnd how much would u be asking for it?
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Old 01-02-2009, 10:04 AM
  #145  
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$90 shipped within the 48 states.
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Old 01-02-2009, 12:32 PM
  #146  
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Originally Posted by maximabebe
$90 shipped within the 48 states.
good price I sold mine for 80bucks and I only went up to 800grit

the stock intake is a real pain due to all the curves, I would never do another one
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Old 01-02-2009, 05:25 PM
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this will take me a while, my dremel tool is getting hot trying to get the dimples out.
what RPM should I use, I'm on 8K and it taking forever
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Old 01-02-2009, 10:37 PM
  #148  
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Originally Posted by tigersharkdude
this will take me a while, my dremel tool is getting hot trying to get the dimples out.
what RPM should I use, I'm on 8K and it taking forever
I think it's normal for it to take forever...
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Old 01-03-2009, 06:58 AM
  #149  
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Originally Posted by Coolsaber57
I think it's normal for it to take forever...
It will take forever. Mine has about 60 hours into it using a rotary sander with various grits up to 600, then by hand up to 200 grit as well as steel wool then finally hand polishing it with a 3 step abrasive (Tripoli).
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Old 01-03-2009, 07:14 AM
  #150  
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with the dremel im just putting like 1 hour a day into it. Im thinking about going to the J.Y. and getting one so I can work inside, its kinda cold here
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Old 01-03-2009, 07:28 AM
  #151  
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Originally Posted by tigersharkdude
with the dremel im just putting like 1 hour a day into it. Im thinking about going to the J.Y. and getting one so I can work inside, its kinda cold here
I got a spare for cheap if ur interested. It is the one pictured above behind the polished one.
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