Polishing stock intercooler?

[brittken]

I am thinking of stripping the paint off the stock intercooler and polishing it to dress it up. Has anyone ever done this and can you all give me some tips on how to do it.

 

[HYBRIDT]

Yeah I did it a while back. it wasn't too tough. I just used a 90* die grinder w/roloc wheels starting w/80 grit and then red scotchbrite and then blue scotchbrite. Then I used a bench grinder with a poilshing wheel. I could polish the end tanks really well but had to DA the top of the intercooler in stages as high as I could go and then just hand polish it the rest of the way. Sold it on E-bay after I switched to the front mount.

ADAM

 

[brittken]

any pics of polished intercooler

Hello hybrid t . Thats a nice car you have! Do you have any pics of that polished intercooler? What do you mean when you say you had to da the top portion of it?

 

[HYBRIDT]

a D.A. is a sander otherwise known as a random orbital. Just a different term. I think it means dual action. DA's tend to be a little lower profile than a palm type sander in order to get under the pipes for the end tanks. I will try to get some pics into my webshots pics later and let you know.

Adam

 

[HYBRIDT]

Got a few pics of my polished intercooler on my webshots acct. below. None in car though. I hope that helps.
ADUM

 

[brittken]

Thats nice!!!

Hey Hybrid T that is nice work. Is the stock intercooler made out of aluminum or steel. That is how I want mine to look. Thanks for the pics. Did you use the stock intercooler shroud when you installed it back in your car? What did you use give it that shine.

 

[HYBRIDT]

The stock intercooler is aluminum. I just used the appropriate compounds in order 'till I got the shine I wanted. I did use the stock shroud and it looked great. Happy polishing and once you get it down you can polish anything aluminum. I've polished my turbo compressor housing and alternator among other things. I've gotten it down so I can polish a compressor housing in about 45 min. Good times . Just wear a respirator or you'll get lots of black stuff in your teeth.

ADAM