My sort-of restoration

[SUMO MK1]

looks great nice work, great colour hey save yourself a lot of time and use a dremmel for polishing metal, perfect for getting into those hard to reach places

[Preen59]

It's not easy at all for something like a gearbox. Ahhh so many little corners... The way I go about polishing metal is using sandpaper and gradually going up to finer grades. After using a fine enough sandpaper i then use steel wool. Then Autosol (metal polish) gets it gleaming. Other people might have better and more efficient ways of doing it though.

Doing it by hand, yes that's the easiest way to do it. However, i wouldn't use steel wool.

There are special tools you can get, but they are expensive.

If i were you, i'd mask up your GB, get it sand blasted and clear coat it with a two part bare metal epoxy clear like we used on the Dragster manifold etc. You mix it up and apply it with a brush. Sounds dodgy but it flows out and goes really smooth. I'll get the brand name etc for you tomorrow if you like.

Polishing something as intricate as a gearbox will take you forever dude.

[Henri]

i wouldn't use steel wool.

Why is that? The only reason I would do it would be to get it slightly shinier. Just wondering out of interest as I've seen you've got good metalwork knowledge and can guarantee you would know more than me.

[jayjay]

you need some seriously fine steel wool to get a polish-like finish. all the webbing in the gearbox means that high grit sand paper wont conform. i'd go for sand blasting.

but george, if you're on a budget, this kinda stuff doesn't come cheaply, show finishes etc. if you just rock up to a machine shop with a gearbox and say make it shiny, they wont charge you nothing.

keep the work coming buddy!!

[Preen59]

Why is that? The only reason I would do it would be to get it slightly shinier. Just wondering out of interest as I've seen you've got good metalwork knowledge and can guarantee you would know more than me.

I would use a scouring pad ("scotch brite" pad) over steel wool. Easier to control and you can get them in various grades.

Another tip is to polish in a uniform direction once you eliminate the cast marks/machine marks or what ever you are trying to remove. "Deeply scratched, highly polished" is the term we use for it at work. Technically the surface finish is not very good, but you blend all the scratches in together and it's much faster and easier.

Try it on some aluminium sheet one time. Get some emery paper and rub it in one direction, go up a few grades till you get to say 320, then rub it with a scouring pad. It will look pretty good. Then give it a quick hit with the scouring pad an an angle 90 degrees to what you have been rubbing at and take a look. You'll be able to see all the scratches in it.

[Jace]

Steel wool comes in various grades too. IIRC 0 (coarsest), 00 (finer), 000 (finer again) and so on.
I opt for steel wool, but Preen, sounds like you work at a metal place and therefore I'll assume you know what's best!

[16v_kid]

This Gb is polished..

spent a few cleaning up the gearbox

[GeorgeMK1]

In the way it is described, i guess the cheapest and probably best way for me would be to do it by hand. It would look pretty good if the box was polished up. Like i said earlier, i have gone over pretty much the whole gearbox with a wire brush and a drill and it looks pretty shiny at the moment. I think if i keep at it, it will eventually be shiny all round.

Although as mentioned, alot of work. I already have a chrome/metal like paint that comes out very nice. I was thinking to save some time just spray it instead, although the paint i have isnt heat proof, would that matter on the gearbox as that doesnt really heat up as much??

Im thinking of spraying the rocker cover with that same paint, except a very thin coat as its not heat proof paint. would this Non heat proof paint still stick to the rocker cover and gearbox?

Also thanks for all the good comments, been working on this pretty much everyday after school for the past 1-2 months. I think the engine will be starting to go in this week.

[Henri]

I would use a scouring pad ("scotch brite" pad) over steel wool. Easier to control and you can get them in various grades.

Another tip is to polish in a uniform direction once you eliminate the cast marks/machine marks or what ever you are trying to remove. "Deeply scratched, highly polished" is the term we use for it at work. Technically the surface finish is not very good, but you blend all the scratches in together and it's much faster and easier.

Try it on some aluminium sheet one time. Get some emery paper and rub it in one direction, go up a few grades till you get to say 320, then rub it with a scouring pad. It will look pretty good. Then give it a quick hit with the scouring pad an an angle 90 degrees to what you have been rubbing at and take a look. You'll be able to see all the scratches in it.

Cheers for that info Preen. I know exactly what you mean by the scratches when going from a different angle. Experienced that today when I was trying to polish up my pianted fuel cap. Grrrr

[Preen59]

Steel wool comes in various grades too. IIRC 0 (coarsest), 00 (finer), 000 (finer again) and so on.
I opt for steel wool, but Preen, sounds like you work at a metal place and therefore I'll assume you know what's best!

Steel wool is OK, i just find it harder to work with. And yes, i'm a Toolmaker/machinist etc. I polish and blend (among a lot of other things) for a living.

This Gb is polished..

That's not actually "Polished" as such, It has just been brightened up. In saying "just", Alex has done a good job of it though.

In the way it is described, i guess the cheapest and probably best way for me would be to do it by hand. It would look pretty good if the box was polished up. Like i said earlier, i have gone over pretty much the whole gearbox with a wire brush and a drill and it looks pretty shiny at the moment. I think if i keep at it, it will eventually be shiny all round.

Although as mentioned, alot of work. I already have a chrome/metal like paint that comes out very nice. I was thinking to save some time just spray it instead, although the paint i have isnt heat proof, would that matter on the gearbox as that doesnt really heat up as much??

Im thinking of spraying the rocker cover with that same paint, except a very thin coat as its not heat proof paint. would this Non heat proof paint still stick to the rocker cover and gearbox?

Also thanks for all the good comments, been working on this pretty much everyday after school for the past 1-2 months. I think the engine will be starting to go in this week.

Doing it yourself (properly) will take forever. Believe me. Take it to a sandblaster/powder coater and they'll blast that for like 50 bucks or maybe less, which might seem like a fair bit to you being a student but it will be worth it. It will be a uniform finish and with some clear coat over it will look a million bucks. A mate of mine did that with the gearbox he put in his Mini (show quality) a few years ago and it really looked the business. (He put a Toyota 1.3 16v turbo engine and GB in it..)

But.. At the end of the day the decision is yours to make, it's your car after all.