DIY..... Polishing CIA exhaust. - Chevrolet Impala SS Forum : Chevy Impala SS Forums

harriSScutty · #1 03-30-2012, 11:21 PM

So here we go, I placed an order to Dan at clearimageauto, for a 2.5 mandrel bent stainless exhaust with sportman XL mufflers with BK tips.
(Non polished)

Being a tight ass, I told myself I could polish it myself. I talk to 65imp a fellow forum member who has done this successfully on his 96 imp. If you haven't seen it you need to check it out. I went to the library and check for some books and talked to a couple of maintenance coworkers about stainless and compounds and buffer/polishers. They gave me the run down about the motor size and RPM's on the polisher and the different compounds.

I have some pics here to show a the work in detail more to come in the next couple of days.......

Straight out of the box putting the pieces together to see what it looks like.

This polisher I purchased from Sears, that 65imp (Henry) turn me on to.
It comes with two polishing pads, four washer and locknut's.

Of course Sears didn't have the stand, so I had to emphasize using a speaker stand for the time being to get the polisher high enough to get some pipe around the polisher.

These are the only compounds that Sears had at the time. No wonder they are going out of business across the country.

After two days of looking for some bigger compounds I came across these at a brake and wheel auto parts store that sell a lot of compounds and waxes.

Here is another pic I took today with all of the pieces together.

This was a practice piece I started with to get my skills down.

My first piece it took me about 5 hours to do this LOL!!!! Just trying to get it right.

Any of you fellas have input or advice let me know.

illmatic96ss · #2 03-30-2012, 11:37 PM

i would do a light sanding and then polish if you want that SHOW look, would'nt it have been cheaper to have dan's people do it for you ?

harriSScutty · #3 03-31-2012, 12:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by illmatic96ss

i would do a light sanding and then polish if you want that SHOW look, would'nt it have been cheaper to have dan's people do it for you ?

I'm going to on the tails.....

Don't quote me on this but, I think it was a extra 300. I only have about 150.00 in the polisher and the compounds.

GA95DCMSS · #4 03-31-2012, 08:13 AM

Lots of wet and dry sanding before you even get to polishing. I've done about 4-5 03-04 Cobra exhausts, and it is time consuming.

I'd start at 400, depending on how detailed you want to get it (getting tooling marks out, I'd go with a coarser grit or spend ALOT of time with the 400). Then once you're satisfied and it doesn't get any better with the 400, move up to 600-800. You'll be able to see what scratches the 400 didn't get out, and either choose to leave them or go back to 400 to get them out.

Then move to 1000, 1500, 2000. I always go dry first, then wet, add a drop or 2 of dish soap to the water as a lubricant, and wash the paper frequently. Also, try to go sand in both directions (both along the pipe and across the pipe) it'll help get rid of any lines, and make the overall appearance more uniform.

Then you can move on to polishing it. Caswell plating sells a polishing kit that comes with 3 diff grits of tripoli and also the "white diamond" rouge for that final mirror polish. Hope that helps.

Get yourself a few sanding blocks, they'll save your hands, and keep from leaving ridges from your digits in it.