Unless you're trying to purposely hide the fact you have aluminum heads, I'd leave them. Besides, it's considered sacrilegious to paint aluminum goody parts.

 

No not trying to hide anything and "almost half-tempted" equates to a little less than a quarter tempted. I'm not about to start taking things back apart at this stage anyway. Need to keep the forward momentum going in a big way. Still a lot of stuff to get installed and I realize that most of that would be concealed when all is said and done. I am however giving more serious thought to putting a better polish on the intake (not fully mounted yet) as that thing just isn't up to it's potential. It was rough enough when I first took it out of the box that I actually called the manufacturer, sent pictures and requested a different one. The guy checked and called me back telling me that all of them that were left in stock looked the same. Ended up glad that I called though as I was offered my next part (stall converter) at cost as a "buffer." Apparently he agreed that they didn't look that good.

 

I'm not implying the same thing happened to you but if you dig back to the very beginning of my thread you could learn some of my hard learned lessons. My balancer went on HARD.

I learned to NOT thread the installer tool adapter all the way into the crank. Thats a good way to break them, I broke two including the one I borrowed from Autozone.

I learned not to assume the the timing gear is on all the way because it seamed to stop.

I learned that to NEVER assume the keyway will stay in its place as you crank the installer down.

I learned you will find out all this is wrong when you try to put pulleys on.

For what its worth Tim polishing a intake is a pain in the rear. Not to mention the 7yr old girl that did it was probably on her third day after being promoted from valve covers.

 

Wont take long for all that shiny stuff to get dirty anyway! Unless you don't drive much, or spend all your time cleaning things up!

 

Believe it or not Damon, the first thing I thought of as I was preparing to install the balancer was the old conversation we had about the tool not being threaded all the way in. Heeding your advice, I threaded it all the way in, then backed it out a couple of turns. However, as I began to tighten the large nut to press the balancer on, the first thing it did was spin the threaded rod into the balancer until it bottomed out. I've thought about putting the installer back on and using another wrench to hold the tool from the back while I try to put some a** into tightening it more. I've already tried twice to see if it would tighten anymore, and it doesn't budge from where it's at now. I'm petrified that i'm going to mess up the new threads and that's what I DON'T want! Wish I would've shot a video clip of how easy it went on the crank. Unfortunately, while I always try to be optimistic and keep a positive attitude towards this build, past experience has taught me to "expect the worst but hope for the best." With that said, I'm pretty much at a point where I'll have to deal with it if there's a problem when I go to install the pulleys. The Gilmer kit will be here end of the week and I'll go from there. Still have to get a new PS pump anyway. What I don't want is to realize there's a problem after the engine is back in the car. I wasn't going to install all the accessories until after it was in the car but I need to rethink that choice now.

I've really had my fill of sanding/polishing after doing the heads but I just can't get myself to torque this intake down looking the way it does. I won't get too crazy, just going to do the runners. That's really all you can get at anyway and they're pretty flat. I noticed there's still some compound left in some places that I missed when I took it out of the box and noticed it all. It can't hurt to take a little more time and try to get some shine back where it's supposed to be.

 

I understand your point Vall, but I'm far too much of a neat freak when it comes to my ride to let things stay dirty/messy. I'll certainly be driving this car when it's done but it'll be clean before it pulls out of the driveway!

Forgot to mention you're probably right about the "polisher" of this intake Damon, LOL! Sure hope she did a better job on the valve covers! She's gonna mess around and get her $.13 docked for the month!

 

LOL Actually the only way I'll ever have a polished intake is if its a Endurashine from Eddy. That is some kind of coating that keeps it shiny. I see every flaw when I look a polished aluminum and I dont like the way it looks after a year or so of polishing. Its still shiny but flat to me. Too long looking at polished chair bases I guess. I have seen this stuff called Zoop's but never tried it. The show I was watching said that a wheel could go a year looking new. I would like to try it though.

 

I can respect that, knowing so much about how to do it right, I would probably be over critical if I was that well versed like you are. I'm definitely not looking for perfection, just some shine/sheen to be there seeing as the parts cost extra to get the polished. After getting the new polished water pump out and on the block, suddenly the intake doesn't look so bad! Tell you what, most of you probably already know this, but don't waste your money buying ANYTHING polished from Summit. As much as I like that company, they sure as heck don't sell a polished part that looks even remotely decent. Of the 4/5 alternators that I got from them over the last year, every one looked like garbage. But, this water pump takes the prize for shoddiest job ever. I like Never Dull for cleaning stainless and aluminum but it's definitely not a polish. I have a whole lot of left over polishing compound that I got to finish the heads and quite a few left over polishing wheels for the Dremel that I might spend an hour or two seeing if I can get that shine! Never heard of Zoops, except for the billet parts they sell?

 

From what I understand, some items that Summit sells (Summit brand) are factory seconds. That could explain the (ahem) less than perfect finishes you've seen.
For polishing raw surfaces, I like using Flitz. Have you heard of that one?

 

Flitz the Flitz wheel. Yup. They cant hold a candle to a 18" x 3" poly cotton buff on a 10hp motor spinning 1800 rpm. The compound is all about the same its the sanding that is the trick. Just like body work. The trick is in the prep. The finer you go with grit the easier it will buff. I may do a set of wheels for thew truck so I'll document it.

Flitz does work on already polished metal that needs a touch up. the power cone works too. Anything you can hook up to a drill should produce a decent shine. But if there is still 180g from the polish step all you will wind up with is shiny grit. 320g or better will clean up with compound.