Hi, new owner of an old 1963 roadster here. The car is in good shape, but I am starting the daunting task of detailing under the bonnet.

First question: I removed one of the Su Carb's dash pots, and tried to polish it. Nothing. Tried Brasso, Maguire's metal polish, even toothpaste along with one of their rim polishing ***** as recommended somewhere. What finish is on these things, nickel plating? Or are they aluminum like the valve covers? Do I just need to get them refinished, or am I using the wrong materials?

(they look better in the pictures than in person)

Thanks!

 

Hi MyJaguarDream,
The carb dash pots are aluminum, like the cam covers. They shouldn't be plated or chromed. Some people use one of the Mothers powerball with your favorite aluminum polish. The final step is to use a micro fibre cloth and baby power or talcum power to bring the shine out and remove the black polishing residue.

 

They may have been previously polished and then lacquered. Brass door handles for your house are similar. Try some paint stripper on one and see what comes off.

 

After watching quite a few You Tube videos, I now realize that my aluminum parts just need a more aggressive polishing. Almost 60 years of use will do that it seems. I ordered a bench top polishing motor, a few cloth wheels, different grades of polishing compounds, as well as a whole set of incremental



grade sandpaper for my orbital sander. I also have a 3 year old stainless steel exhaust system that I hope to polish up, and since I have a month or so with not much to do, it seems like a wise choice. I'll post some after pics when I'm done.

 

I thought you all might like to see how the polishing is coming along. So I sanded the Carb bells with 220, 320, 400, 600, and 800, followed by Polishing with Tripoli and White Rouge. It took quite a lot of time, but that's the one thing I seem to have a lot of. Obviously, I still have a lot to do.

 

Close ups

 

They've certainly come up very well. Your arms will be falling off by the time you finish !

 

They all ready are!

 

get aluminum oxide flap wheel, for buffer. Fine satin finish at 3200 rpm. that will take off any coating someone might have put on , finish with 3m aluminum and magnesium paste.

 

Thanks Marley, that's what I did. If you look in the pics, I uploaded some of the SU carb's 'Bells' finished in that manner. I've since sent the entire system out to Classic Jaguar in Austin Texas to rebuild/restore the rest of the system. Juts too many little parts to polish up, and I want the car running right when I'm done. I do plan on polishing the valve covers that way. Tahnks again.


Brian

 

Looking so much more brilliant after your hard elbow grease. Word of caution...be sure when you send your pots out for refurbishing that you make note of their original order...front/center/back...so you can return them to their proper position. Be aware that they were originally specifically machined to precisely fit each individual carburetor. Usually you'll find someone has dimpled them with some sort of identifying mark. Note too that over aggressive polishing generates a lot of heat which can easily warp dash pots and valve covers.