thanks man, much appreciated
well, it was a complicated process... i started out using a steel brush attachment for my drill, and good and scruffed it all up, to remove rust etc etc.
then, i hit it with 80 grit, then 120 grit, then 250 grit, then 320 grit, then 400 grit, then 600 grit wet/dry.
after that was all done, and i was happy that id taken off enough metal to go and polish it, i got out the dremel, and really worked some polishing compound in there. most people would look at me and be like... hes using WAY WAY too much compound, but ive found that the more you get on, the more you work it in, the more clean the metal becomes, even if its nearly 10 x as much work.
after that was done, i buffed off all the compound, using a dremel, then a buffing wheel.
after that, i used a towel to apply the aluminum polish by hand, and worked it on gently, til it started turbning greyish black.
i let it sit just a minute or so, and used a clean towel to wipe off the majority of the polish, then, hit it with a clean buffing wheel, and it became beautiful.
all in all, it takes days of work to get a single part done. when i originally did the compressor housing, i spent possibly 4-5 days just grinding and sanding it down to the bare aluminum in order to get it free of any surface defects. the polishing part is really not that time intensive, its the prep stage that can take days. all together, to do:
turbo housing
wastegate
manifold
bov
charge pipe
bov flange
turbo inlet flange
took me close to a week and a half, about 5-7 hours work a day.
