Mag/Alum polish and a little elbow grease does wonders!

[Mr Detailer]

Here's the result of 6-8 minutes of polishing by hand with a terry cloth towel and Mothers Mag/Aluminum Polish...
Also notice the removed front intake resonator box. That thing was getting in the way of my engine bay cleaning, so I took it off.

http://autopia.org/gallery/data/500/Engine1.JPG
http://autopia.org/gallery/data/500/Engine2.JPG

Enjoy!

[wicked]

you got a long way to go.

[justanotheradikt]

very long time...but looks like its workin its magic

[jbiird317]

wow thats a pretty big difference....post some pictures once ur all finished, id like to see if its really worth the effort...

[Mr Detailer]

Yeah there's a long way to go, but it'll be worth it in the end. Besides, the car is just sitting in the yard until I get it registered and everything, so I can't do much else in the bright sunshine. At least this way the engine compartment is shaded by the hood.

I'll probably try using a cordless drill with a small polishing pad for the rest. Some spots can only be reached by hand though.

I'll definitely post pics when I finish. You can see the results I had on the Maxima's engine in my sig with the Mothers polish.

[t3ase]

You may want to look in to a product called 'Never Dull'. It's sold in a small can and works great on engines/wheels, without rubbing your arm off.

[Mr Detailer]

I've heard of Nevr Dull before (I'm pretty sure it's spelled that way). The Mothers polish has always worked very well for me. It made the metal pretty shiny on the first application, but each subsequent application made it look a little better. So I kept doing it over and over, because that's just the way I am I guess. :)

[NegatiZE]

That's pretty impressive. I may do that to mine, but I'll need to get the existing crappy paint job I did to my valve cover sanded off first.

[ChopstickHero]

nice job. taking off the valve cover might save your back....

[Mr Detailer]

Yeah I thought of that. How hard is it to take it off? Do I need to buy a new gasket or anything to reinstall it?

[NegatiZE]

Yeah I thought of that. How hard is it to take it off? Do I need to buy a new gasket or anything to reinstall it?

Not very hard. You'll probably need a new gasket considering your car is a '99. They run about 20 bucks from Mazda.

[Shane5425]

hmm, i have off from wed. to sunday, i might get the polisher out and go buck wild on my engine bay..

[Mr Detailer]

OK I'm about finished with it now. I'll probably go over it a couple more times just for the hell of it, but for the time being, I'm done.

http://autopia.org/gallery/data/500/ValveCover2.jpg
http://autopia.org/gallery/data/500/ValveCover.jpg

[anarchistchiken]

Wow that's a big difference! Looks good.

[Shane5425]

purty , reminds me, i need to repaint mine.. , has anyone tried, sanding the intake manifold and polishing that? wonder if it would come out alright..

[NegatiZE]

Impressive!

[Mr Detailer]

I put some thought into sanding down the intake manifold, but that seems like it would take a LOT of effort...even too much for me! I mean, I spent 6hrs polishing aluminum by hand (valve cover and exhaust manifold) but the intake manifold would have to be removed, sanded, polished, reinstalled...sounds like too much work. I'll just scrub mine with a toothbrush and some all-purpose cleaner like I did on the Maxima. That'll be good enough.

[Shane5425]

i can get mine smooth in about 20 min with a buffer i have at work, its just i dunno if it will come out good or not..

[jbiird317]

do you think i can use this to clean up my calipers and drums before painting?

[Mr Detailer]

do you think i can use this to clean up my calipers and drums before painting?

I have no idea. I guess there's only one way to find out...

I'd keep it off the contact area though just to be safe.

[DeadGeneration]

do you think i can use this to clean up my calipers and drums before painting?

use an emmery cloth

[jbiird317]

use an emmery cloth

not to sound like a moron, but i dont know what that is....details please...

[Shane5425]

its a metal grade sandpaper, use it for metal, not wood.. its not as course and sands finely on metal..

[jbiird317]

its a metal grade sandpaper, use it for metal, not wood.. its not as course and sands finely on metal..

ah ok, thats what i figured, just needed to know for sure... oh and where can i get a good high heat paint?

[Shane5425]

autozone

[jbiird317]

autozone

ok thats always a good bet i guess...thanks

[Shane5425]

lol, yeah, i get mine from there and we get there paint to paint engine jobs we do at work, the high temp paint really holds up, 500degree is fine on ur engine/valve cover, 1200 on ur heat shield...

[jbiird317]

500 or 1200 for the calipers you think? my instinct says 500 would be plenty

[Shane5425]

yea plenty, the 1200 is aimed towards stuff that touches ur exhaust

[DeadGeneration]

I got 900 degree VHT brake caliper, drum, and rotor paint. I really like it. You don't need to sand your calipers before you paint them, but I am going to use an emery cloth on the rotors to get off the rust before I paint them, which might be tomorrow, or soon. You might want to use Brakleen to remove some of the grease and dirt, but don't use it once you get things painted.

[jbiird317]

yeah im not touching that yet, i just want to clean up the rotors then paint them around the same color as my wheels so that they dont stand out...or maybe dark green to match the exterior paint...

[DeadGeneration]

Yep. My calipers are dark blue, I am using the same paint to do the rotors and the edge of the discs.

[jbiird317]

yeah i think i would like the dark green, mine are so dirty right now that it looks horrible, so if im gonna clean it, im gonna clean it right and just do the whole job all at once

[Shane5425]

my drums are black, front calapers are still dirty factory .. dont feel like takin them off and painting them the right way.. bleeding brakes takes to long.. , this weekend or sometime in the NEAR future, i am takin my intake manifold off sanding it a bit to smooth it out, and painting it, dunno what color though, i dont want to go with black, i want a brighter color that would go with my exterior?
Any Suggestions?

[jbiird317]

do you have any other color accented parts on your car or in your engine bay?

[Shane5425]

black valve cover, but black is to boring...
never really touched under the engine bay till now..

[jbiird317]

black valve cover, but black is to boring...

i agree... i had a friend who's civic was silver with white painted engine...looked horrible...

the black would go nicely with red or orange...maybe even yellow, dont know how well that would match your exterior though...

[Shane5425]

the valve cover needs to be repainted, so when i paint the Intake mani its gettin painted too..

[jbiird317]

hmm, your exterior paint is definately tough to match...the black probably matches best, but you're right, kinda boring....i guess it depends on whether you want it to be fast and the furious look or a classy look... yellow would stand out...or a dull orange (spicy?)

[Shane5425]

http://www.msprotege.com/forum/showthread.php?t=116326

enough thread jacking, jbird, made a new thread just for that..

[jbiird317]

sorry mr detailer, definately jacked ur thread, hopefully no negative rep, just got a lil carried away lol...

[Mr Detailer]

No problem. :)

[steve_protege]

How long did it take you to polish the valve cover and exhaust mani with the buffer? Did you use any kind of degreaser, like Simple Green, before using the Mother's Mag wheel polish?

Cover looks good though. Nice and clean. Ive seen more clean, polished valve covers in the last couple days than I had the whole time I've had my Protege. I can't decide though whether I want to polish or paint everything. Good job though!!!

[Mr Detailer]

How long did it take you to polish the valve cover and exhaust mani with the buffer? Did you use any kind of degreaser, like Simple Green, before using the Mother's Mag wheel polish?

Cover looks good though. Nice and clean. Ive seen more clean, polished valve covers in the last couple days than I had the whole time I've had my Protege. I can't decide though whether I want to polish or paint everything. Good job though!!!

Sorry I was on a kayaking trip on Lake Superior for the last 5 days.

I did all the polishing by hand, no buffer. I cleaned my entire engine bay with a light mist of Simple Green and then a light rinse with the hose. I never use much more than a mist to rinse engines. Then I dried everything with a dry towel, and let it sit for several hours to dry.

Here's what the engine bay looked like when I first got the Protege:
http://autopia.org/gallery/data/500/medium/DirtyEngine.JPG

And here's what it looks like after the cleaning and polishing:
http://autopia.org/gallery/data/500/medium/Engine11.jpg

It took a lot of hard work to clean and polish the engine by hand, but as you can see from the pics, it sure looks a hell of a lot better! Not to mention it's a ton easier to work on stuff in the engine bay. :)

[Shane5425]

daym, wanna do mine?

[Mr Detailer]

daym, wanna do mine?

If you lived nearby, I'd gladly say yes. :)