I have four Y block aluminum manifolds; 1 Edelbrock 573, 1 Edelbrock 553, 1 Offy 3x2, and 1 Marine manifold. The Offy and the Marine intakes are painted. I want to restore them; remove the paint, media blast, and possibly polish a couple of them. I tend to like the natural finish of the aluminum but also like the polished look. I will probably use the 573, the original cast finned Tbird valve covers, and I bought a Mummert valley pan and aluminum intake hold downs for my Tbird. The others I will probably use to trade/sell for other stuff. How well does the polish surface hold up under moderate driving use? I was thinking of using Eastwood's polishing kit. Any opinions, suggestions or advice would help.



Thanks,



Mark Hebard


57 Black Tbird 312/auto

Mark;

I polished an Edelbrock 257 dual quad intake and I can tell you it takes a long time and is alot of work. Not to say the end result isn't worth it! The Eastwood polishing kit is a good kit, but it is really for the final stages of polishing. The big problems I found in polishing these intakes is that the castings are rough with alot of angles and tight areas  and the manifolds themselves have alot of surface area. I started out hand polishing the intake with#400 emery. You can try using power tools in this stage such as an angle die grinder, dremmel, etc, with emery cones, cross buffs, flapper wheels, etc, but you run the risk of cutting into the aluminum too fast. I then went to #600 emery and then #800 emery, all by hand before I even started using buffing cones and other buffs from the Eastwood kit. After I got the shine I wanted, I sealed the aluminum with Zoops Seal. Eastwood also sells a clear spray sealer which I bought but haven't used yet. So, my advice would be, have at it, take your time and be patient. I did mine as a winter project. I brought it in the house, sat in front of the fireplace at night, and polished as I watched the tube. GOOD LUCK!

Rono 

  Ron Lane,  Meridian, ID

I've been using Caswell Xtreme Chrome powder coating on a few aluminum and steel items. I think they look pretty darn good! Not chrome or polished aluminum but close to it. And a heck of a lot easier and cheaper. Ted has a bunch of my parts now that are Powder coated maybe he could post a picture of the intake? I'll try to get some pictures later this week. Chuck in NH

Y's guys rule!
Looking for McCullouch VS57 brackets and parts. Also looking for 28 Chrysler series 72 parts. And early Hemi parts.

MoonShadow, 292 w/McCulloch, 28 Chrysler Roadster, 354 Hemi)
Manchester, New Hampshire

I have to agree I would never set out to polish one. They look good BUT wow-zee the time! And money if you have it done.

Actually my favorite is to have them blasted, either soda, pecan hulls or carbide and such. Makes a nice clean aluminum finish.

Moonshadow has a good alternative method that i see a lot of the time as well. It will keep you from having to re-polish.

And I also am a fan of painting them. They still look cool with the carbs linkage and chrome standing out more, But then I'm a rebel-I painted my Blue Thunder intake FORD red!

       A  L  A  N   F  R  A  K  E  S   ~  Tulsa, OK    

These are a few items I've done with the Xtreme chrome powder coat. In the cut off picture of the fan pulley it is next to a polished aluminum air box (needs more polish but you get the idea). I did little to no prep work on the cast front cover prior to coating. Pulley is steel. Items look more grey in the photo than they are. Grenade is close. Chuck in NH

The hand grenade had no prep done. The wheel below is aluminum from my 85 Mercedes.

Y's guys rule!
Looking for McCullouch VS57 brackets and parts. Also looking for 28 Chrysler series 72 parts. And early Hemi parts.

MoonShadow, 292 w/McCulloch, 28 Chrysler Roadster, 354 Hemi)
Manchester, New Hampshire

I have polished an Edelbrock 2 x 4 manifold and then had it chrome plated and 20 years later it still looks good as well as polishing and chroming the timing cover. I did it all with a die grinder and then polished them with rouge and a polishing pad on an old motor. I do plug off the crossover in the manifold with a piece of sheet metal between the manifold and the heads. I would trade a chromed Bird timing cover for an aluminum one if you have one or anyone else out there. It looks just like a polished aluminum one but never needs polishing.

  Vic Correnti

For anyone that hasn't seen it Vic's engine looks great! If you want a polished front cover and don't want to polish that new aluminum one talk to him! Of course if you can stand the extra weight! Chuck in NH

Y's guys rule!
Looking for McCullouch VS57 brackets and parts. Also looking for 28 Chrysler series 72 parts. And early Hemi parts.

MoonShadow, 292 w/McCulloch, 28 Chrysler Roadster, 354 Hemi)
Manchester, New Hampshire

I am sitting here looking at the Edelbrock on my desk. It is intimidating to say the least. Time to take some of the good advice here and do some snooping on Google. The aluminum valley pan and intake hold downs I ordered from Mummert showed up today. Maybe that would be a place for a beginner to start. Nice and flat.



Mark Hebard

57 Black Tbird 312/auto