Hey, everyone. I was just thinking about my options. I'd looked at prices for a set of polished bolts for the intake on my 283, and then I thought, well, I'll probably want to have more polished stuff on this engine. My intake bolts were shiny when I got the motor, but I didn't mask them too well when I resprayed to cover the crossover burn I had. Would it make more sense to go to say, Harbor Freight and buy a bench buffer/polisher and the compounds and just take them off and do them myself or just buy newer shiny stuff as I'm doing each part, like the intake bolts here, pulley bolts there. I know some bolt kits can get kinda expensive, but I make regular trips to swap meets where there are plenty of vendors with tables of stuff. Just trying to figure out which would be more economical. Thanks!
Easy enough to polish stainless bolts at home but if you want to do a decent job of it you"ll also need a lathe to machine the bolt grade details off the heads before polishing them.
It's doesn't take too long to polish your own bolts,especially if they are stainless. Results vary but it just takes a little time and have a few extra bolts,the buffing wheel has been known to jerk a bolt outta my hands. HRP
Polish them yourself! It only takes a minute to bring a stainless bolt to mirror-like shine. I use the "mint-green" Harbor Freight compound. I even polish aluminum with a little more effort. (Check out the rockers on my Fairlane - that's Home Depot flat stock!). So, you'll get a lifetime of use from your investment. Use 1-wheel for compounding, and the other wheel for polishing. You can also buy a wire wheel for cleaning parts. I use mine daily!
Thanks, guys! At some point I HAD a Big Lots brand grinder I picked up for, like, $25, but I haven't been able to find it! I'm going to another swapmeet this weekend. Maybe I'll pick one up with some compound while I'm there. Thanks!
For anyone w/o a lathe, chuck the bolts in a 1/4" or larger drill and use it to remove the bolt grade details on the head with various grades of sandpaper.....finishing up with #400 or finer grit. Then use any type of polish, like mag polish or rubbing compound, and a rag to bring up the shine with the help of the drill. For the well equipped out there, use a lathe, and when using a buffer to polish the bolts, just hold or spin the bolts with a hand drill.....it's better than trying to hold the hot bolt with just your hands!
https://alloyboltz.com/catalog/index.php has the best prices I've seen on stainless bolt kits for all sorts of engines. Like 36 bucks for a SBC hex SS bolt kit (unpolished). When you go to the typical nut and bolt house and start buying 4 of this and 6 of that and 3 of the other, you end up with small quantity pricing that adds up most times to 2 or 3 times what alloy boltz will charge for the same thing in kit form. Plus, most fastener houses aren't going to have SS bolts in a full range of lengths and diameters. They stock only what moves, so if you need 6 of a 5/16 x 2-3/4 fine thread and they don't stock it, you'll have to buy a full box of 50 or 100 to get the few you need.
When I need to hold small parts to polish then or use in the belt sander or grinder I use an old Jacobs drill chuck. I got it from the scrap bin at work one day after someone crashed it and bent the taper end.
I polished all mine myself using 120g 3" wheel then 360g wheel then polish with white fine compound with drill motor. Put 4 self locking nuts in vise to hold them while I did the work...I did all under hood bolts an bed bolts on my old 53...
Try some AutoSol polish creme when you're done. Using the drill/chuck method, you can put a mirror shine on the bolt heads.
That is why I drill & tap a 3" piece of 3/4" dia aluminum for a handle. Got tired of throwing bolts across the garage!
Yup just bought a buffing motor and wheels from Eastwood. Used to put the bolts in my drill and buff them to a great shine using Never Dull but this method works well also.
If you want to reduce the polishing time to a minimum, here's what I do.... Pick up some 'rod couplers' in various sizes for 'bolt holders'. Most 'better' hardware stores will have these in 1/4" through 1/2" sizes with NC threads. NF and metric threads will be tougher to find; I ended up buying some hex rod and made my own using my lathe for the NF/metric stuff. Chuck the coupler up in your electric drill, screw the bolt into that. Spinning the bolts, use a fine file/sandpaper to remove any lettering/marks. Still using the drill and spinning them, buff them. If you use a reversible drill, swapping bolts is quick and easy. The drillmotor makes a great 'handle', spinning them ensures an even polish. With a little practice, you can get the total prep/polishing time down to under 2 minutes each or less. I've gotten the best results using a sewn cotton buff with Tripoli (red/brown) compound as the first step, then a loose cotton buff with white compound for the 'color' buff. Use plenty of compound; apply some to the buff every 1-2 bolts. Remember that when using stainless bolts, they are quite a bit softer and have a lower maximum torque spec being roughly equal to a grade two steel bolt so be careful about using them in any critical application. For standard NC thread bolts made from the typical stainless, these numbers in ft-lbs will be 1/4" - 6.3, 5/16" - 11, 3/8" - 20, 7/16" - 31, 1/2" - 43.
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