Hand polished throttle body (PICS)

[st2b]

To start off, when I was 13, my neighbor and good friend of my parents, who owned a 95 2jzge Supra ended up giving in to my everyday beg and plead to work on his car. He was planning to swap anyway, so he let me polish valve covers.

Long story short, I've been polishing for only about 2 years to date. So I don't have much experience and I'm young.

UPDATE!!!
Polished parts were installed on the Supra yesterday, and it runs fine, I still plan to do an oil change, but here's what it looks like. Note it is slightly foggy from handling it, All it needs is another coat of polish (5 minute job). And I apologize for the picture quality, camera was on macro mode...

Okay, lets get to the point..


I was giving my engine bay weird looks and not noticing it, well, I decided to clean that super nasty looking throttle body and polishing it. Here's what I used, and the specs of the work.

Items used:
1. 200 Grit sandpaper
2. 400 Grit sandpaper
3. 800 Grit sandpaper
4. 1,000 Grit sandpaper
5. Mothers "Mag and aluminum" Polish compound (not liquid)
6. A couple rags
7. Canned air (Compressed)
8. Microfiber towel

Time used: 2 days

How I did it: Good ol' fashioned HAND polished

Okay, well starting off, here's what I had to begin with:

Some nice looking RTV gasket sealer, oil, crap, and shit.
SO I GOT TO WORK


The first day:
I started with the 200 grit, and went through about 4 sheets, using it sparingly. This took the entire first day, along with cleaning it up with the rags before and in between sanding.

The second day: Finished with the finer, finer, and more finer sandpaper. After finishing with the 1,000, I used the canned air to get all the micro-scratch leftovers after using the microfiber towel to get all the shaving out. This works great through the lines and cracks.


Well, because I feel like my back is going to explode, I'll go ahead and upload the near-finished product. And I note, if you are going to polish for the first time, PLEASE do it on something that isn't needed to keep your car running. Just advice and common sense.

Now note that the light in the bathroom is reflecting horribly, but actually it is like looking in the mirror, check the last picture.

ALSO, this was all done by hand, no painting, no dremel, and I still have yet to get in the ass cracks.

ENJOY

On the Supra

If you have noticed, I have the PCV line and exhaust heat shield off the engine. I'm going to polish those, then the Y-pipe and intake mani.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
UPDATE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here is a slight update , follow the pictures in order.

Got the PCV line halfway finished, and the 3000 cover halfway finished, the "Twin-Cam" cover sanded completely and the Y-pipe completely sanded.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
UPDATED AGAIN
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Polished the other valve cover down to 1,000 grit. I think I'm going to paint the Stripes and letters black, and then clear coat it.

Here it is everyone

~~~~
UPDATED AGAIN
~~~~


Sanded only 1 valve cover to 2,000 grit, planning to do the rest like this. Pic and video below!!!

Sorry for the sound in the background, I had something random on TV apparently..

 

[Zumtizzle]

You're 15!? Damn Kid.

 

[st2b]

Thank you very very much. This is what keeps me tickin, and my gears going.

I would like to note that I'm nowhere near done, about 30% done in the last pics. I'm going to go over it with 2,000 grit.

You should see my welds

 

[Rennat]

Im kind of confused... why not just take a wire wheel to it, the brass one, and then start to polish by hand? polish by "machine" or polish by hand, its just a polish job... and are you going to clear coat that to keep that shine?

 

[st2b]

I have never clear coated anything I have ever polished, but I might as well, because I took my time. I just don't want to mess up on the coats, and have to redo it again. Although in the end, if I don't clear I'm going to have to do it again to keep it shiny.

The reason I didn't use a machine is because I have none, I don't have anything other than basic tools because as my dad says "If I want something, even if it's a tool, YOU work for the money to buy it."

I don't even have a drill

 

[Rennat]

That blows... my dad has tools from when he was my age and earlier, and im 18. We now have a mini-shop, and a TON more tools compared to all of my otehr friends, Drill press, mig welder, vices, and not to mention we have so many extra "things" just laying around... and i barely paid for any of the tools... i always pay for parts.

But its a good thing your young so you can save money, and buy craftsman tools so that way you get a lifetime warranty... because it will save you SOOOO much money in the long run.

 

[jugodegolf]

Don't like shiney!:3d_frown:

















JK. will be doing this soon. good stuff btw.

 

[tsuper92]

i ended up pulling my tb appart to buff it.all the linkage get's in the way.the 2j tb is much bigger with less little tight area's then the 7m.thats one teadous job to take on,good job.

 

[suprahero]

Looking very good sir. You must be a yonger version of jdub.............:biglaugh:

 

[dbsupra90]

good job matt!

even the damn return spring is shiny!

btw, clear coat likes to yellow under the hood. to keep things shiny zoop seal is the way to go.

 

[st2b]

Thank you everyone, I got over 100 views. I will be updating on the progress, and I think I'm going to take it to my schools shop Monday, and use a wire brush on a dremel, and then somehow sand it to 1000 then polish.

I wish I would have started sanding it with a higher grit then 200, but if I would have, it would have been harder to get the bigger scratches.

It was worth it, THANKS EVERYONE!

 

[suprakid24]

very cool

 

[AW11inVa]

Nice work! I had a job at a machine shop several years ago polishing metal. Mostly stainless and aluminum parts they fabricated polished to a mirror finish. So I know you worked hard on that one!

 

[st2b]

Yeah it took a crapload of time and patience, definatly when it comes to the cracks and stuff. I got it on my car and I'm headed out there now to take pics. They'll be on asap

 

[st2b]

New pics up on front page,

Throttle response is INSANE. Although I borrowed my grandpas ohmmeter and re-calibrated the TPS

 

[fiyota]

Now, having a clean throttle body, and the all the linkages clean should quicken the throttle plate, I'm willing to bet the big change is from your tps haha

Good job on polishing that tb... wanna do mine?

 

[st2b]

I'm willing to polish parts now. Sean Truax (Supramania member) is sending me some hopefully 2jz parts and 7m parts, I charged him 10$ for sandpaper.


Anybody else want a polished tb, or other parts? I don't know how it will go, but I will post up on the "General Supra discussions.

 

[Justin727]

good stuff man! I bet you'll like using the rouge instead of the hand polish

 

[Doward]

LOL - 15, types out responses correctly, and is capable of clear, concise thoughts?

I'm amazed - excellent work, as well!

 

[st2b]

The rouge?

And thanks for the responses guys, I'm just a guy out there trying to learn as much as he can about Supras. Not a guy trying to make money, a fast car, or a reputation for that matter.

I love... Doing what I love to do. Working on Supras, simple.