I wanted to learn how to polish different types of metal, and this is a tale of my two cities. This may not be in the right forum, but I'm still considered a newbbb on here and can't start threads in other forums.

History: The piston is from a 16 cylinder quad turbo diesel compressor which produces about 4500ftlbs of torque. I found it in a gas field junkyard about an hour from where I live while working. I took a total of 7 of them, and am willing to hear ideas as to what to do with them all. Each of these things weight about 35-40lbs and are solid cast aluminium. They are a touch more the 9 inchs in diameter, with a 1.5" dish for compression, and 22" tall.

These first 3 pictures are of the top of the piston looking down. This is the original shape of it minus the rings that I took off. The rings were some sort of steel and this explains the rusting.

http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/5633/piston0012ca.jpg
http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/5...ston0027gc.jpg
http://img67.imageshack.us/img67/8084/piston0038of.jpg

These next few pictures is what it looked like after I sandblasted it at work. It ate through the oxidation like nothing at all but you can really start to see the large pitting from its years of abuse. The black stuff in these pics is me trying to shortcut and directly buff after the sandblast. It was worth a shot. I later sandblasted again (more thoroughly) and went to work on sanding.

http://img67.imageshack.us/img67/5558/piston0049qv.jpg
http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/1...ston0054zj.jpg
http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/5...ston0060vf.jpg

These next pictures are of the finished product. After sandblasting I used an orbital sander and hit it with 80, 120, 220, 400, wet 400, wet 600, wet 1000. The 2 first steps will determine how error-free your final look is. There is some pitting left but they were very deep and I was worried about messing with the shape of it if I took too much material off. Finally I bought a Mother's Powerball and Mother's PowerMetal. An absolute incredible amount of black **** came out while trying to polish it. I'd really like to know where it came from. But I'm happy with it, and may hit it with a layer of clearcoat depending on what I find out about it. This is my first experience buffing or polishing any metal, any criticism is more then welcomed.

http://img47.imageshack.us/img47/3927/piston0070fc.jpg
http://img47.imageshack.us/img47/57/piston0084do.jpg
http://img119.imageshack.us/img119/8205/dscn04352ew.jpg

 

oh damnit. I must suck at the internet. I was trying to get the pictures directly into the post. Links aren't as groovey. Sorry folks.

 

that's one huge piston.

 

you might not be able to post attachments yet. just post some more so you dont suck anymore

 

Like this?

 

just put a [img] [/img] before and after each image url.

 

like this:

 

Dr.Nick- you really need to start you're turbo project!

 

Or you need to sandblast something worthwhile.. like my spare valve cover....

 

or your installed valve cover (I can make a valve cover comment in this thread)

 

Damn....set my own damn self up.

 

 

what car is that piston out of?

 

Send me one!

 

Voila.

 

I thought for sure it was your new forged overbore piston that would take your Miata from a 1.6 to a 16.6. I bet you could fetch some good turbo project money for that piece on ebay now that it's all shiney. Then again, you probably don't want to let go.

 

Yeah there was probably 12 hours of work put into that one piston. I doubt I'd be able to sell it for anything that would cover my time. So far its a fun project. I've just done another one in a matte finish, looks good too.

 

Pics of matte?