No more Ugly Intake!!!

[Archive]

I had a extra few mins tonight. . so I decided to take off my intake horn and polish it out. . It turned out great!!! I know other have done this too... My question is... How long is it going to last??? Anyone??? Got to keep the too look under the hood now. .

Bryan



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Truck pics



Could someone post this pic for me... I'm having Operator Error??

 

[FCrawford]

Explain how you did this. It looks great.

 

[Alan Reagan]

Good job, Dude. How did you do it? One thing I've done on mine (no pictures) is polished the top of the radiator with Fitz. You know, all that solder flux and stuff in front of the cowling. That baby shines like your intake. Tell us more.

 

[Steve Campbell]

WOW!!! that looks awsome.

 

[SLittle]

Yah, a "few" extra minutes, right!!



That looks awesome, how did you do it, we must know. Thanks.



Scott

 

[Mopar-muscle]

i'm sure it involved a few different grits of paper to get it smooth , then a hit on the buffing wheel ... paint it with a hi temp clear engine paint ...

 

[Archive]

Yea. . an extra few mins... with a few extra hrs. . hehee. .

I started with 180 grit sand paper on an orbital sander and a die grinder with a grasket removing pad, for the smaller areas. 180 paper starts good, and you start to good results at the begining, but after a while it gets slow when you still have some deeper pits left. . ( I put it down and went and worked on something else for a while)

Once I got most of the pits out I Wet Sanded with 400 grit, 600grit, 1000 grit, 2000grit. I spend more time with the 400 until it starts looking uniformed... then just quickly hit it with the others. .

I used a very light buffing compound on a buffing wheel... this makes smooth, and leaves a shine. . but not like chrome. .

The special stuff to make shine is call Blue Magic. . I used it on the buffing wheel too... it leaves very shiny finish...

I did cheat a little and didn't do the bottom and a few of the very small grooves where the bolts go. . if you want to do those. . U'll have to get out the dremil... .

Good Luck

Bryan

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

Did mine too

Looks great TractorNut



I also took mine off and smoothed it out, but I painted it jet black to match the engine. I even removed my grid heater block, APPS assy, and even the intake cover plate and smoothed everything out and painted them black. I need to get some pictures and post. Turned out great, gave it the blackout treatment.



Vaughn

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

Grrrrr- I tried to post a pic of your intake but photopoint won't allow it. I uploaded it to the GLTDR site and here it is:



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Now, honestly how long did it take? I was planning (and still am) on doing mine as well. I did my valve cover last spring and what I thought was going to be a 10-20 hour job turned into a 65 hour job !! After that experience I've just been too lazy to attack the intake horn. The thing that took me the longest was getting around all the letter and the raised ribs on it, plus the size of the piece. I did mine with eastwood products ( http://www.eastwoodcompany.com) 80 grit greaseless compound on a loose buff to smooth the surface (works like a grinding wheel, but not as aggresive) - that took about 55 hours. Then I polished it with Tripoli and then White Rouge (that was the last 10 hours). I discovered blue magic earlier this year and have been using that to clean it up before shows - works awesome! Here's a pic of my valve cover:



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Your picture has probably given me the drive to attack the intake horn! Curse you !!

 

[rono]

TractorNut would you do mine if I sent it to you?. . . . . .

HA! HA!

Ron









Just kidding!



Looks Great though!!!

 

[Archive]

Steve, Thanks for posting the pic... When I got the truck I knew I had to change the horn... I actual got the idea from you, when I heard that you had polished your valve cover. . This is the first pic of your valve cover that I have seen. . looks great. .

I think that I had about 4hr. . I think I could do it again in less time. . (2-2 1/2) I wasted alot of time finding a compound that I liked. . but the 2000 grit get the surface pretty nice... and did cheat a little, and didn't do the bottom, and a few of the bolt indentions. Steve, I spent most of time on the sander. . I just didnt have any rougher paper to start with. . this probably would save some time... let me know how it turns out...



Rono... I dont know where Hawkins is. . but U bring the supplys... U know... sand paper, compound... and some cold refreshments... anything is possible. . hahaa...



Bryan

 

[EMDDIESEL]

Beautiful!, you should offer a swap system, you send a polished one out, we send you a stock one back. Really nice job.