I just had my CMI's media blasted (walnut shells)
they were painted when I bought them now I want to polish them.
Has anyone done this ? Is this going to be a terrible project ? I called a couple of local polishing places and was quoted around $600. If that is any idea how bad this is going to be would I be better off to Alumakote them ?

You've got all winter to do it. Put a tv in your garage and get ready to go. It will be messy, and you will need to buy a set of disposable breathing filter masks.

Use a speedbuffer and a 10" rag wheel. Get three grades of rouge (coarse, med, finish). Find a few cheap forks to use to clean the rag wheel from time to time.

I've got a set of CMIs with polished elbows and unpolished primaries. I'm going to be brightening them up myself this winter.

I'll keep you on my mind.



It will be TIME CONSUMING.

Chuck, send me a pic of what needs to be polished. I 'll get you a quote from a buddy in South Haven who did my gaffrig flame arrestors. they look like chrome.

chuck, did you get my last two emails? buick and other stuff?

The first step will be to start with a 3m deburring wheel. These come in different shapes for those tough spots. Grainger carries a good supply of them. You'll want one for light debburring. This wheel will remove material and leave the surface with a light swirl finish. From here you can hit it with a emery compound and then finish with the stainless compound. The stainless compound will leave a pretty good finish that I havn't been able to improve on.

Rob,
yes I did get your last couple of emails. I wasn't able to open the one. I have Aohell and it said a 58 minute download time. Give me a call at the office (248-824-3339) .
What I need polished is a standard set of CMI's with straight tailpipes , maybe 36" long.

Cord,
Thanks for the heads up on the deburring wheel , I was actually thinking of hand sanding
They actually came out pretty good from the media blasting.

26 you need to tailpipes or you need to have them polished???? If you need teh tailpies i haev an extra pair i could part with. I bought 2 pairs off of ebay (got both pairs cheaper than CMI wanted for a single set) I was goign to convert one to dries and see if i got any gains out of it but if somone has a need for them as they are i'd sell them.

e-mail me if your interested.

Puder,
thanks , but I have the tailpipes . JUst need everything polished.
Hey maybe I could borrow your shrink ray , make them small , polish them and then make them big again !!!

Mr Scarab,
Before you break your ass polishing the manifold pressure test them or at least run water through them, how do you know they are not leakers. Cmi's do crack at the connection between the elbow and the tail pipe.
Cmi offers a satin finish manifold and also the polished deal for more money.
good luck with them

BBT,
Thanks for the heads up but I have over a 100 hours on these.

I'm just now getting around to polishing , I've been having too much fun with the boat oh, and a couple of broken lifters too

www.eastwoodcompany.com
this company has all kinds of buffing and polishing stuff