BRZN Posted November 23, 2011 Report Posted November 23, 2011 (edited) Well, I guess they do! 17 years of neglect taken care of in about an hour and a half. WD-40 on 0000 Steel Wool, then Mother's Mag and Aluminum Polish finished with Adam's Metal Polishes #'s 1 and 2. Left Tip done, I'll do the right tomorrow. Too cold out and my hands are sore. Damn! Edited November 24, 2011 by BRZN Quote
94 olds vert Posted November 23, 2011 Report Posted November 23, 2011 Very nice!!! They are very easy to keep clean now. Quote
skitchin Posted November 23, 2011 Report Posted November 23, 2011 I started to do mine - almost seemed like I went through a layer of silver and it started looking dull... is that just my mind or can you go too far? Quote
GOT2B GM Posted November 23, 2011 Report Posted November 23, 2011 Nice , you went a step further than most and did the rim of the tip too, not just the rearward facing face. Quote
GOT2B GM Posted November 23, 2011 Report Posted November 23, 2011 Its cast aluminum throughout so I don't think you can polish too far. Quote
BRZN Posted November 23, 2011 Author Report Posted November 23, 2011 Yea, looking at them, it just seemed to make sense to do the entire lip. I taped off the lip so as not to polish any further up the tip. It's really hard to believe these were polished from the factory. There are, what look like, machine marks on the lip and rough cast marks still on the lower portion of the rear facing lip. That being said, they look so much better polished! Also, agreed you can't go too far. What you use to polish has to contiunue to get less and less abrasive as you go to get a mirror like finish. Quote
Crazy K Posted November 23, 2011 Report Posted November 23, 2011 I'm gonna have to do this, too! thnkx~ Quote
tornado_735 Posted November 23, 2011 Report Posted November 23, 2011 Damn, what a difference! Looks great Quote
skitchin Posted November 23, 2011 Report Posted November 23, 2011 Didn't think so, but it definitely seemed like I got through a layer of grime then seemed like I hit some metallic paint or something. Thanks for all the pictures though, great motivators/inspiration! Quote
BRZN Posted November 24, 2011 Author Report Posted November 24, 2011 Finished the right side, they came out just as nice as the left side I did yesterday! Befores and afters: Quote
losh Posted November 27, 2011 Report Posted November 27, 2011 Looks great. Reminds me of when I did this to my old GP... memories... Quote
White93z34 Posted November 27, 2011 Report Posted November 27, 2011 Sooo does anyone wanna "visitpa" all of a sudden? Just curious if that advertising actually works.. Quote
BRZN Posted November 27, 2011 Author Report Posted November 27, 2011 LOL! I actually do, do some detailing "on the side". Stop on by: $12/hour $50 minimum Quote
jeremy Posted November 27, 2011 Report Posted November 27, 2011 looks good.....should have used a grinder though to save some time/effort Quote
GP1138 Posted November 27, 2011 Report Posted November 27, 2011 Sooo does anyone wanna "visitpa" all of a sudden? Just curious if that advertising actually works.. I visit my dad all the time! Quote
BRZN Posted November 28, 2011 Author Report Posted November 28, 2011 looks good.....should have used a grinder though to save some time/effort Na, figured if these actually were polished from the factory I didn't want to loose the texture of OEM finish of the lip/rear edge by removing too much material. Time? It's a hobby, I enjoy it and am willing to spend it on my vehicles. Effort? Wasn't that bad. Thanks for the compliments! Quote
skitchin Posted November 28, 2011 Report Posted November 28, 2011 How are these exhaust tips held on anyhow? I've got my tips polished up and was thinking they'd look REALLY slick if I could paint the inside of them black. I've got replacement mufflers on the car, I looked at where the tips go on and it looked like there was just some sort of clamp around things. Quote
AL Posted November 28, 2011 Report Posted November 28, 2011 For you skitchin, most likely thats the case Quote
Mel87 Posted November 28, 2011 Report Posted November 28, 2011 Let me tell you, Mother mag and aluminum is awesome. I use it all the time. Anything that is the metals able to be cleaned WILL clean with Mothers. Here is a picture of 1 polished and 1 not polished door sill plate from my 87 Cutlass. Thats 24 years worth of shit on it... cleans up like new. BRZN, it looks a lot better! In fact every time you post pictures of that GP it looks better and better Keep it up!! Quote
BRZN Posted November 28, 2011 Author Report Posted November 28, 2011 Let me tell you, Mother mag and aluminum is awesome. I use it all the time. Anything that is the metals able to be cleaned WILL clean with Mothers. BRZN, it looks a lot better! In fact every time you post pictures of that GP it looks better and better Keep it up!! Gotta love the Mother's Mag and Aluminum Polish for sure! Thanks Mel. I worked on more cleaning Friday. I removed the wheels and tried a more thorough job of cleaning them, better but not picture worthy yet: the barrels are nasty, to say the least. I cleaned the inner fenders, brakes, and suspension parts. No pictures, too much rust found on brake and suspension parts. I'm going to have to guess the previous owner parked the car not only outside but over dirt or grass for their 14 years with it where the moisture from the ground made its way up to everything overtop of it. These folks only put 30,000 miles on it in their 14 years of ownership, so it sat there a lot. The under body/chassis really doesn't look bad, however I did find one "hack job" repair of the area just behind the left front wheel just to the outside and beside the frame rail. I coated an awful lot of the rusted parts with a good layer of an oil based Invisible Undercarriage Dressing to try and slow down the cancer through the winter. I probably got another good couple of pounds of dirt and stones out of the plastic rocker panels and the piece just in front of the rear wheels and right rear plastic cladding. Oh, and skitchin, the tips are just clamped on. Be sure to thoroughly clean them and then use a high temp paint so what ever you try has a chance to stick. Quote
Mel87 Posted November 28, 2011 Report Posted November 28, 2011 Parking on grass will for sure do that, sucks that it is like that though, hopefully none of it has got to the point to where it is too bad to fix. I suppose a lot is just surface rust. I have to ask, what did you use to clean the fender wells? On my car the plastic pieces inside the fender wells are stained or discolored somehow, some spots on the plastic are black, and other spots it is like a faint grey. I tried regular soap with a scour pad and I also tried simple green. It still remains. Quote
BRZN Posted November 28, 2011 Author Report Posted November 28, 2011 (edited) Mel, It's all surface rust, but real bad surface rust. Nothing dangerous yet, but I believe I'll be replacing parts as they get worse. As to the plastic inner fender liners, they don't hold up too well to any type of detergent and I've found once they've got that grey appearance to them the only thing you can do is cover it with some type of dressing. My trick when cleaning them is to keep the product from drying while I clean the area (just about any type of All Purpose Cleaner will work), then treat with an Invisible Undercarriage Dressing or, non-silicone based/water resistant Vinyl Rubber Tire Dressing. Al, Actually the rear trailing arm mounts were not real bad. I used them to jack the rear of the car up. The passenger side has hardly any rust at all: The drivers side however, I'll be keeping an eye on: Edited November 28, 2011 by BRZN Quote
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