Polishing/Restoring carbs & distributor?

I'm looking to polish some old Holley 94's and a Vintage Mallory dual point. I may even polish my intake but not really sure?

I've got a Dremel and 2 good hands so can anyone give some advice as to the best way to go about it and what is best/easiest way of going about it?

Any polishing compounds to use etc.
thanks

 

Send Chrome Plater Josh a PM.

Elwood

 

I polished the 94's on my 40 (the motor in my avatar). wasn't too bad of a job. I know a lot of guys say don't do it but I glass beaded them after dissemble and cleaning. The glass beads are super fine, don't pit the metal at all, just leave a smooth, clean surface. The only place I sanded (600 grit) was were someone had beat on the top of a couple, probably trying to unstick the needle & seat. Mostly I went strait to buffing from the glass beading. I did use a small grinder mounted buff wheel to get all I could with it then finished with various size felt bobs in the dremal to get all the corners and edges the wheel missed. I used normal black buff compounds to start, then white to finish followed with some Wenal to clean and shine. Came out good, took maybe an hour a carb and the worked fine after reassembly.
The intake and heads were another thing, after a couple hours of working on them they got boxed and shipped to a pro!

 

I got the PM, but I figured I might as well answer here.

There are many many different polishing compounds, buffing wheels, and abrasives. The dremel will be good for the really tight areas using the little buffs that come in the dremel kits, but it will be lacking in power. For detail work, I prefer pneumatic straight and 90 deg. angle grinders. I use scotch brite 2 and 3" roloc discs on the angle grinders. On the straight grinder, I use cartridge rolls.

For large areas, sandpaper works great. I have 3" X 132" belts on poweful machines, but they are just big versions of ordinary sandpaper.

The whole idea is to best match the contour of the abrasive with the contour of the surface to be polished. The more detail, the more tools you may need, especially if you don't want to jack up the details. The nicer you get the part in the sanding stages, the easier and nicer the buffing process will be.

For a good all around buffing wheel on aluminum, I'd get a sewn cotton buff. Even with a white coloring compound, you can get a lot done on soft aluminum, and have a dep shine. A loose linen wheel will give slightly nicer shine, but unless its a large area, I wouldn't bother unless you already have one.

Thats about all I got; much depends on condition, detail, expectations, ability, and so on. Good Luck!

 

A Dremel won't do it. You need a high speed die grinder.