Polishing Original Parts ?

[dandascott]

I am debating polishing an original Ford intake for my 427 side oiler w/ dual carb arrangement that I am building. It has been in a garge for almost 40 years and never been used - any pros or cons ?
Thanks,

[mickmate]

Loss of patina!

[FUNFER2]

Your in for a lot of work !
I don't have the original intake (your lucky) I polished my original type cobra oval air cleaner. The pits in the casting were so bad, I kept on sanding & sanding then gave up. I ended up having it ceramic coated. I
bought a industrial polishing machine (like a bench grinder), burs, various sanding drums, polishes ect....and went to town on most of my alum. parts on my engine. Other than the air cleaner cover, most parts were fine. It just takes a lot of time, tools and sore fingers. Oh,..........and extremely dirty. Your shop/garage,clothes, and entire body will be filthy ! I ended up using my gas leaf blower to clean my shop. The results are rewarding and shinny though. Good aluminum like on our sprint car's suspension were very...easy to polish and looks like chrome but, it's not cast like intakes. I still have the tops of my valve covers to do this winter but they will be easy. The more sand paper grits you use before polishing the better. The intakes are hard to do because theirs so many tight areas to get into. Have any questions, feel free to email me.

[Jon Miller]

Kevin is 110% right about the mess! Polishing looks great, but it can become an addiction. I think they say the first step toward recovery is admitting you have a problem........I did the heads, water pump, original snake valve covers, Edelbrock 2x4 intake, Jag hub carriers, and every other stainlesss, and aluminum part you can think of.

The intake is the only part where I got sick of polishing before I was DONE polishing. I paid a local shop $150 to finish it for me, and still was not happy with the result. I put in another week of evenings to get it to the point where I could bolt it on the motor.



More pics in my gallery.

Good Luck!
Jon

[Michael C Henry]

One alternative is having parts ceramic coated . I had my intake manifold ,timing chain cover , Cobra oil pan, and some coolant pipes. coated in polished alluminum ceramic. I also understand they have powder coatings in polished aluminum.

[Rory428]

One thing to keep in mind is that a polished aluminum intake manifold will get very hot. I have an original Ford Sidewinder intake that has been polished. It looks very nice, but after it`s been running for a while, it gets so hot that it will burn your hand if you touch it.The Holley float bowls also get very hot. Hot enough to cause "heat soak" problems where the fuel percolates in the float bowls after shutting off the engine for a while, which makes restarting the hot engine difficult after a 10-15 minute shut down. Something to consider.