I had one of those 'hey, that worked better than I expected' days (for a change) yesterday. I polished up a couple of Holley 94's for a customer and I at least think they look really nice. Eight hours of vibratory finishing for a 'better than new' look. I think I 'll start collecting cores just to polish up...
MAN, those look AWESOME to me... we still gotta talk about havin you polish up my manifold and carbs, but i gotta get it first, gonna be usin it when bleed makes my roller, to mock up the engine with carbs and all lined up right, then its off to you for a polish job!!!! sharp 3x2 with 3 rochesters, if they come out ANYWHERE near that nice i will shed a tear!
he has a big ol vibratory polishing machine man, NO hand work... plug it in and let it run, but they ARENT cheap!
Hey those look great! I was wondering just the other day what they would look like polished. Did you say you did these the vibratory polishing way? Explain? Pics of the vibratory. Anyone straight up polish there's with the wheels and whole shootin' match? I was thinking of doing this over plating and such. I enjoy polishing and I was concerned about plating because of the heat process associated. Tell us more! Would like to see some mirror polished examples too if anyone has them. This would be a good thread to put them in. Nice work man! Two thumbs up!
OK, here's the vibratory finishing in a nut shell explanation. I have a 5 cubic foot vibratory tub machine (see pics). The first step of media I use for aluminum or brass is a plastic cone shaped media that is 3/8" tall and 1/4" wide at the base impregnated with quartz dust as the abrasive. It weighs about 60 lbs. per cubic foot. The machine holds 5 cubic feet of such said media- 300 lbs. The media is vibrated in a wave pattern that rolls back to front, turning the media and anything place in the media over and over for as many hours as needed to get the desired finish. Vibratory machines are at least twice as efficient as tumblers- the old tech way of doing it. You may have had a rock tumbler as a kid (I did). There also is water with a liquid compound additive that runs to keep everything wet in this cut-down phase- think wet sanding. The water washes away the excess metal that has been removed. The goal is to take off one to two thousandths of an inch of the surface metal. Step two is dumping out the plastic media and cleaning the machine, then adding ground corn cob impregnated with polish for the last step. I like to run the parts in polish for 5 to 6 hours. I can run about as many carb bodies as will fit in the machine for the initial cut-down phase, but I like to keep it down to two for the polish so they don't 'impinge'- fancy metal finishing term for bumping into each other and screwing up the finish. Check my website link if you want to see a few intakes I've done. I really need to add new pictures to that site...
Those are my 94s and i'm Looking forward seeing them in person along with my Intake....Danny has been really helpful and a excelent communicator... The price is right for a vintage look...More to come soon!!!
Here's the final result on Evel's four Holleys sitting on the intake I ran for him also. I'll let Evel get the setup back together before showing the rest- we'll call it a teaser. It does all look really nice, and I think it's exactly what he was looking for in a finish. It ships out this afternoon.
Unfortunately wheels just don't fit. Buick finned brake drums either. Maybe some day I'll be able to afford a really big machine for wheels- and engine blocks!
I've got 6 94s I'd like to get polished, how much? Maybe the intake, too. Should I rebuild 'em first, or after? P.S., can you edit this thread so the pictures are in a row verticaly, so we don't have to scroll back and forth?
I prefer the carbs to be just cores when I get them- wait until after they are polished to rebuild them. I need them stripped to just the bare bodies. For six carbs it would run $110.00 plus your shipping costs. the intake would run another $75.00. The pictures are vertical on my screen- your system may be set below 1024x768 resolution.
Nope, 1280x1024. This only happens once in a blue moon. Unfortunately, on a couple of my favorite threads!
warbozz did a greate job!!! he had it done within a week and a half and emailed me pix as he finished things up..The polishing is cool..its not like buffed polished but it maintains the original casting so it looks old still.. I'm runnig the 4x2 on my caddy motor and the whole car is going to look like a "60's survivor" and these look like old chrome that would of been there at that time... BAD ASS>> I did the once over with some mothers chrome polish and it shined them up pretty nice..I won't have it all done till after xmas when I can take some time to rebuild them...I got one done tho.. 3 more to go!!!
The powder coat would need to come off first. Media blasting aluminum before polishing is a bit tricky though, too aggressive of a media will pit the surface so that the final finish will be duller. If the powder coat could be removed chemically that would be better- but I've never tried to remove powder coat.
Great, I wasn't about to spend $300 on 6 scoops. I will probably make some stacks, too. Those guys have some cool stuff, and good prices. Are they Alliance members?
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