Nothing to add to above speakers. Just hurry back to that magnificent V12 Mark! My hat's off for you in The Netherlands... Hans
I am located in Sweden and have been following this thread since September 2008. It is one of my favorite destinations on the web so go do what you have to do but please come back and show us more of your magic
NOooooo.... This is the first F thing I look at in the morning. Get that aluminum housing bead blasted or something and it will look 100% OEM. Cheers, Paul
Ditto on the bead blasting, then treat it with Alodine 1200 (a sort of metal etch for aluminum to stop corrosion) and some high heat clear coat.
Where were all the finish ideas 20 pages ago when we were talking about plans for the finish? This is a tough problem. Blasted finished look nice, but not factory. The scotchbrite finish I did alway looks nice, but not factory for this part...it looks very similar to the 308 cam covers. Both finished have there pluses and minuses, blasting is easier to do but mars easily vs scotchbrite that requires a smoother part, but can be touched up easily. I also though about shot blasting which is nice too, but again different. The finish on the part is much more uniform in person than in the pictures as the flash highlights any scratches that will reflect toward the camera. I could solve than by sanding with a 180 grit or so vs the 60/80 wheels I used. I stoped at the rough grit to try to speed up the process and intentionally leave it a bit rough so all I need to do on the trans parts/areas I didn't work on in a quick hit with the scotbrite wheel/pad and they'll match. You guys are right that it look too shiney vs OEM....I don't know, I can always go back and blast any time up to final assembly if I don't like the way it's looking....this might be too much bling.
Best finish: bead blast 50psi (not sand) then gently Scotchbrite using fine (green?) pad by hand with WD40. This should give it that factory die cast look after it ages a bit. Paul
What I've found in the past trying to cleanup weldments is that I bead blast and it looks good, then as soon as I hit it with the scotchbrite all the defects instandly reappear. That leaves me about where I am right now, which is it's got to be sanded pretty well first, after that I'm not sure that blasting in between the sanding and scotchbrite really adds anything since bead blasting is such a fine finish the scotch brite seems to wipe out all traces of it.....maybe.
Time should oxidise it a bit ... might make it look better I guess. Otherwise I'm for bead blasting, or powdercoating? Pete
Maybe it's time for " 308 V12 conversion continues" Robbie just had his wheels powdercoated in something that looks kinda Rhinolinerish, maybe something textured and high-temp would work?
I'll see if I can gety a pic without the flash.....it's not actually shiny. I'll have to think about it.
Aren't you going to run exhaust pipes over the top of it anyway ... so in the car it will be pretty much hidden (especially by a heat sheld, I imagine)? Pete
yes, but.....I need to do something with all the parts I've welded on or will weld on like the trans, timing cover, cam covers, block, heads, drop gear cover.....hmm what else...are there any other castings? Anyway, I'd like them to look like a set. I need to think about it a bit more I guess.
Arh, nice. Well I guess you could tell us to bugger off as the bellhousing does look good, we are just being picky Pete
Try a media blast with something other than glass or sand, more of a coarse material. I'm curious what walnut shells would do, it's great for removing paint.
I cleaned up a couple areas a little better and reshot the pics without flash and they look a lot closer to the real part. There really isn't any shine and you have to look pretty close to see defects.....I don't know, I like it but I might like soemthing else better. The supercharger project prarts got blasted of painted because I was just never happy with the scotchbrite. I think that was becasue I didn'g sand the parts smooth enough first, or it could just be the reason everyone bead blasts is because that is the best finish.....but I still like the bellhousing the way it is. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Walnut shells are good for cleaning delicate objects and won't do squat on that bell housing. Shot blasting (with stainless steel shot not carbon steel shot which contaminates aluminum) is probably the best if you want to media blast it. Most things I blast I use AC grade glass beads and just paint it or powder coat it afterwards. A freshly glass beaded aluminum surface looks pretty good but it's a dirt magnet and scratches easy and doesn't stay nice looking.
I've thought abpout that on several occations, basically every time I start a new piece. I couple people like to break up the projects into sections and it works well, but it's hard to find all the sections and there is no way to have an index to even let you know there are more sections. Keeping it all together keeps it all together, but finding anything specific is still a real challenge. I guess what I need to do is more work and less talk
I feel the same way about bead blasting, I've done it on a lot of things over the years and always with I had done something else....I just never know what else. I like the clear coat suggestion to keep the dirt out of the texture, but I''ve never had good luck with the stuff staying on for more than a couple year, it alway seems to like at the edges then need to be stripped and re-done. I was thinking of trying fairly large SS shot, but I've never tried it and have no idea if I'd like it or not. this should be 1999, Pizza man, you're up!
