60s Refugee
Well-known member
Has anyone out there ever tried to polish up the aluminum timing chain cover on a 200? Did it work? how did you do it?
Harry
Harry
Polishing a timing chain cover
- Thread starter 60s Refugee
- Start date
Eric Rose
Famous Member
Interested in this one too, I'm planning on doing it to my timing cover.
Ive seen people on the VW forums polish cast aluminum by sanding it starting with a medium paper and gradually getting finer untill they are at 2500 grit. Using wd-40 as a lubricant on the paper is supposed to speed up the process and help the sandpaper last longer. Once you get to the finest paper you can find, then you buff it to a shine.
I started doing this to my shift socket, and got it nearly to a mirror shine with sandpaper but then I gave up because they are just pot metal and you can't really get them completely smooth because they will just start pitting.
The results look pretty good on aluminum but I'd be worried about it oxidizing so you'd probably want to apply a high-temp clearcoat to it or something.
The aluminum on the timing covers is pretty smooth from what I have seen, so I'm going to start with a 1500 grit and see how that does. If that scratches it more than it polishes I will go up to 2k or 2500.
I think polishing is probably the way to go as its pretty hard to get paint to stick to aluminum in my experience.
I am tempted to have the thing chromed... along with the shift lever (why Ford chose not to chrome the shift handles is a mystery to me :roll: ) and some other pieces.
Ive seen people on the VW forums polish cast aluminum by sanding it starting with a medium paper and gradually getting finer untill they are at 2500 grit. Using wd-40 as a lubricant on the paper is supposed to speed up the process and help the sandpaper last longer. Once you get to the finest paper you can find, then you buff it to a shine.
I started doing this to my shift socket, and got it nearly to a mirror shine with sandpaper but then I gave up because they are just pot metal and you can't really get them completely smooth because they will just start pitting.
The results look pretty good on aluminum but I'd be worried about it oxidizing so you'd probably want to apply a high-temp clearcoat to it or something.
The aluminum on the timing covers is pretty smooth from what I have seen, so I'm going to start with a 1500 grit and see how that does. If that scratches it more than it polishes I will go up to 2k or 2500.
I think polishing is probably the way to go as its pretty hard to get paint to stick to aluminum in my experience.
I am tempted to have the thing chromed... along with the shift lever (why Ford chose not to chrome the shift handles is a mystery to me :roll: ) and some other pieces.
Patrick66
Famous Member
why not take it further, polish the cast iron block and head too. then get a chrome valve cover, oil pan, ceramic coated header and air cleaner. it would be very shiny. i had that idea a couple weeks ago, but i had already painted and assembled everything (i had the idea when i noticed how shiny the log got when i used the grinder to clean it for welding). i would probably have bought some of this: http://www.por15.com/prodinfo.asp?grp=GPC&dept=6. if it would hold up to the heat, if not im sure there is something that will.
60s Refugee
Well-known member
I could get the same look by spray painting it silver. We've got all sorts of polishing tools at the shop. I think I'm just gonna try a rouge stick and a foam pad on a mini buffer.
Harry
Harry
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