Shiny Things...

Over the holidays, I've been continuing to use products from the http://www.thepolishingshop.co.uk/ to bring Amelia back to life.

I bought the 16 piece Budget Polishing Kit which contains three mops and three grades of polish:

 

The budget kit contains the essential three polishing steps. It removes light marks/scratches and takes you to a bright finish. There is one mop for each compound: A sisal mop for the grey Menzerna heavy cutting compound (the most coarse); a stitched cotton mop for the green Menzerna  medium compound; and an unstitched cotton mop for the blue Menzerna fine compound. This keeps the polishing simple & easy - you load the compound into the mop and you only use that mop with that compound. You work through the compounds one by one, completing each step before moving on to the next.

The products these guys offer are great value and the arrive very quickly.

Here is the coupling gear cover after going through all the steps:

I soon found that to deal with the aged alloy to my satisfaction I also needed the Abrasive Compound Kit, which contains three more mops and three grades of Abrasive, from 80 to 300 grit:

This is the set up I use. The goggles, mask,gloves and an apron are essential, as this process is messy. That mop is loaded with 150 grit and the primary cover has been polished with it.

Here's a shot of the timing cover I did a while ago. It illustrates one of the problems with polishing - it is not as shiny as the coupling gear cover! You have to make an effort to get the parts to the same degree of polish, especially if they are going to be seen out together! Sounds a bit like me & my teenage daughter...

And a 'before' shot. This graphically illustrates why you need the abrasive - the polish will never shift that oxidation:

Here's the primary cover and the number plate:

So there you go. It's easy, if messy, but it saves a lot of money since it is quite time consuming - very satisfying though!