polishing m20 intake manifold?

[capnamerica]

anybody ever done it? i know of some vw vr6 guys who did it and im wondering if we could just use the same technique? they just sanded it by hand with sandpaper and moved to finer sandpaper everytime? think itd work?

[m42technic]

Most people do it with dremels or simiular rotary tools. I imagine it would be pretty damn time consuming to do it by hand...

[aaron_silva]

I would think some kind of polishing compound would be needed to get the polished look. An yes, I think a rotary tool would be benificial.

[Jordan]

Are you talking about polishing the inside runners? or the outside?

[aaron_silva]

My post was with regards to the outside. Now that I re-ready his post I think he may be talking about the inside.

[capnamerica]

no, i was talking about the outside, as in for cosmetics. i know youd hafta use a dremel or something of the sort for the inside, and for the smaller parts where you couldnt get your hand youd hafta use a dremel too, but i was just going by what some vw guys had told me. so what should i use if im going to polish the outside?

[Rob]

the Intake manifold on the VR6 is shaped a lot simpler than the M20, so it would be easier to hand polish it (the VR6)

[capnamerica]

true, but ive got at least 4 months of down time, and i know ive seen polished intake manifolds

[Jordan]

Ive never seen a polished m20 intake manifold. The texture on the tubular runners and casting lines would be a bitch and a half to grind down smooth.

Paint it, or powdercoat it. There is such a thing as chrome like powdercoat, although I think that would look horrible.

[Digitalwave]

Mike A's M-systems have the powdercoat polish finish on the lips and it looks great, just like a real polish. Can't say whether or not it would look good on an intake manifold.

[OOMPH!]

I read somewhere on vwvortex that aircraft stripper works good as a compound, i think it can be found at Pep Boys or Autozone.....but like Jordan said, I think our manifolds would be a bitch to polish

[ColdAccord]

a guy on the local board here has a nice new modded 330ci, he does powdercoating. a friend of mine got his vr6 inktae manifold powdercoated "almost chrome" and his valve cover powdercoated black, it looks pretty good actually

the guy also did some almost chrome for a supra tt around here, also looks great