Polishing Exhausts

[griffith400]

Anybody tried polishing up the exhausts on a Serpentine based Griff 500? Not the rear end but under the bonnet.

I know its a bit sad but I've spent a lot of time and effort with the good ole AutoSol on most of the shiny, aluminium or stainless steel bits under the bonnet (hence lack of skin on fingers!!!). Not a perfect job yet but it was getting a bit obvious one of the main features under the bonnet was now sticking out and looking kinda grubby....ie, the exhaust.

A stupid voice in my head then shouted "try the AutoSol on it!". In my weary state, I did.... The initial results look promising that it would at least look a lot better although obviously not quite to the 'see your face in it' level.

Anyone admit to trying? Assume you'd have to re-do it regularly?

[heightswitch]

if you have plenty of the folding stuff then the way forward (which also gives more power) is to have the manifolds stripped and ceramic coated. camcoat in warrington do a chromium finish ceramic coating and also coat the internal piping.

Racers use a black ceramic finish which is better for heat retention inside the pipework and reduces surface temps by up to 100 degrees.

The finish looks fabulous, but it costs about £250 - £500 so aint cheap. the benefits are that you never have to buy any solvol again.

Neil.

[mack]

I've polished my manifolds occasionally (there I feel better for that!) - but even stainless ones don't come up that well
Glad to know I'm not alone!

[heightswitch]

mack said:

I've polished my manifolds occasionally (there I feel better for that!) - but even stainless ones don't come up that well Glad to know I'm not alone!

[PatHeald]

griffith400 said:

Anybody tried polishing up the exhausts on a Serpentine based Griff 500?

Don't bother.

They just go rusty straight away.

Get them chrome plated, or, better still, throw them away and get some stainless manifolds.

Cheers

Pat

[stesrg]

griffith400 said:

Anybody tried polishing up the exhausts on a Serpentine based Griff 500? Not the rear end but under the bonnet.

Mate you can polish till your balls fall off, however because of the intence heat they will go brown/yellow, because the material is stainless it will be of the cheaper grade, look at motorcycle chrome downpipes and multiply the heat factor

[Hoover33]

you need to look at mr sheen's v8s then.... now they are shiny... if only i knew how to cross link pic etc

[GreenV8S]

Mr Sheen's exhaust still looks exceptionally shiny, despite being driven from time to time?

[starmist]

PatHeald said:

Get them chrome plated, Pat

Good idea, but you can't chrome stainless steel! You can buy some stuff which removes the brown tarnish, but it will keep coming back. Ceramic coating is the only option, I'm afraid.

[PatHeald]

starmist said:

PatHeald said: Get them chrome plated, Pat Good idea, but you can't chrome stainless steel! You can buy some stuff which removes the brown tarnish, but it will keep coming back. Ceramic coating is the only option, I'm afraid.

So those nasty rusty manifolds on my Griff are stainless?

They need to look at changing the spec...

Cheers

Pat