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Tips
Tips

polishing carbs

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Don_R

Don_R

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I am looking for tips on polishing the outside of my SU carbs.

After a good soak to get rid of the old gas residue and crud I wanted to polish the works before I finish the rebuild.


Don R
 
I use Mothers Metal Polish on mine. Just a little at a time and all of the oxidation comes off.
 
I imagine this is pretty close to what Paul uses. Mothers Aluminum and Magnesium Polish, then it says for all metals.
I saw a show on the Speed Channel where a "professional" was polishing Aluminum and he said that when the polishing cloth turned black, to continue using it because the black substance was enhancing the polishing action.
Since there's no printing on the SU's cover to wear down, I bet final buffing with a buffing wheel would shine it like chrome
 
Tomster said:
How do you stop future oxidation?
Any before and after pics?
Click to expand...
Periodic polishing...
 
Mother's Billet polish. You will throw rocks at all other aluminum polishes. Trust me. The advice about the when the rag turns black is right on.

Simichrome works too, but harder to use.
 
Now, if you have the polish parts separated from the rest of the carb and don't want to work so hard, go get you a lamb's wool buffing wheel that will fit into your drill, clamp the drill into your bench vice, lock it in the on position and with a little Mother's you will be amazed. You might want to wear sunglasses because of the glare.
 
Bill is right. I had the name wrong. It is the Mother's Billet Polish.
 
Mothers is easier to use than Simichrome? I'll have to try some.

On parts that have never been polished before I start with Nylox brushes of coarse then finer and finer grits in my drill press. Once the metal is smoothed out by the brushes I switch to Simichrome.
 
This how I did it

I cheated
Then Mothers with a dremel and polishing wheel.

Paul
 
Thanks for the tips. I have mothers but not the billet polish. I thought about aluminum acid wash but don't like having to use a neutralizing rinse after the dip. (Don't really trust it with carbs, intakes o.k.)

Will try and get a pic or 2 up today to show what I am up against.

Don R
 
If you decide to do any polishing with a buffer, may sure you have a pair of heavy gloves to wear, you'll be surprised how quickly alloy can heat up and become too hot to hold with bare hands. And, rig up a catch area behind the buffer, like an old blanket or something since it's just about 100% that at some point it'll grab it out of your hands.
 
Don_R said:
I thought about aluminum acid wash but don't like having to use a neutralizing rinse after the dip.
Click to expand...


Be careful using acid wash on aluminum (Alumabrite). It will leave a texture that will take a tremendous amount of work to buff out. Literally eats the aluminum. Great if you want to paint aluminum, bad if you want to buff it.

And as far as keeping them bright after polishing, if they are really well buffed you just have to touch up with the "black rag."
 
I have to verify this. But I seem to recall one of my carb books cautions you not to overheat the dome, bell or whatever is the proper name, while polishing. I believe the concern was about warping the part. I'll try to confirm this tonite.

As for retaining the polished surface. This is a link to a product I read about in street rod magazines. The reviews spoke favorably, but then again ther were reviewing a product from one of their advertisers. As I recall the kit is kind of pricy. It's been around for 3 or 4 years so their may be opinions posted on the internet from real world users.

https://www.zoops.com/zoopseal.asp

BOBH
 
Whew, I went to the local chain store and they had the Mothers Billet product, but it was sixteen clams, I decided I could use elbow grease and the cheaper Mothers mag and aluminum product.
 
Polishing aluminum on your old car is definitely a labor of love. A nicely polished piece of aluminum is really something to be proud of. Anybody can shine a slab of chrome with a rag and some Windex, but to me, aluminum rewards you with a soft glow and warmth you just don't get from 'blingish' chrome.

When I brought my TR4 home, I was very happy with the level of detail the previous owner had brought the bright work to, all except the rear cockpit surround molding. The surround is okay, but it has some pitting, a couple of small holes and a few small dents. It wasn't particularly shiny either. You can't just call up Moss, or anyone else for that matter and order this trim. I searched high and low for this trim looking for an easy way out, but so far, I'm batting goose egg.

My only option was to try and restore it myself. I knew I could probably get it to shine more brightly again and even remove some of the small dents, but repairing the pitting and a couple of small holes is a different story.

My first approach was to polish it with Mothers, a fantastic product that did make it look much better, but still not good enough. I decided to hit it with some sand paper. I started sanding with some 400 lubed up with a light transmission oil, then went to 800, 1000 and finally 2000. These pieces are flimsy and have a lot of twists and turns, so I had to sand by hand. Using a buffer on them could have turned them into junk real fast. After the sanding, I started with the Mothers and kept changing rags. Finally, it was looking great again, not as good as new, but almost better in a way because of the patina it has developed after 45 years of life. I found a new Mother's product similar to their aluminum polish, but with a finer abrasive in it. After applying a few rubbings of this, it really looked outstanding. I've only done one piece so far and it took me about half a day to complete it, but it was well worth it.

Unfortunately, keeping it shiny means you have to keep up with it and polish it on a regular basis. I guess you could coat it with a clear coat, but that would spoil all the fun.

Don't be afraid to sand your aluminum, it's really the way to go if you want it to be brought back to life.

Tab
 
I used a cheap buffer wheel on a grinder sold at Sears.

00005.jpg


I started with #3 polish, then finished with #6.

I did the body with a dremel (the parts you see anyway). They sell these little rubber polish nubs that work great for getting gunk out of the corners and it makes a big difference.
 
One thing if you're going to use a buffer, have several parts ready to go so that as one starts to feel warm from the friction you can set it aside and do another. Then just work you way back and forth through the line of parts, less time wasted waiting for something to cool back down.
 
Nice job, so shiny can't even see em.
They reflect all the light away from them
 
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