Polished intercooler pipes...

[Grand_87_national]

Hello, all. Just polished my intercooler pipes yesterday and thought I'd share the results. I still need to run some compound over them with a buffer to take out some of the swirl marks, but the hard part is done. I'm not sure who makes these, but they had a chalky, dull coating on them, and the p.o. didn't remove the (packaging?) stickers or whatever incredibly adhered plastic tape was on them in 3 spots. Tried chemicals to remove them and the stickers ate the chemicals like a low calorie snack. So, I pulled them off and decided to remove them with a die grinder and a fine spin on pad (like a round scotch-brite, but very fine). Upon removing them, it also took off the chalky coating and left a pretty nice finish, so I did both pipes, top to bottom. Here are some pics.

 

[Turbo Keith]

WOW those look really good

 

[Grand_87_national]

WOW those look really good

Thank you, I thought so too.

 

[Turbo Keith]

What did you use on them ?

 

[Grand_87_national]

What did you use on them ?

I'll have to look at exactly what they're called, but they are a small spin-on pad that fits a die grinder... we have them at work. Absolutely no compound at all, just the pads. I plan on hitting them with an aluminum polish in the near future.

 

[Dhos1]

Good job bro....a little elbow grease and there you go.

 

[eagleguy]

Nice job. I was considering to going all black to avoid having to polish. How did you get the couplers off?

 

[Grand_87_national]

Nice job. I was considering to going all black to avoid having to polish. How did you get the couplers off?

I was also going to do the black look, but, once I hit the first one with a fine grit wheel to remove the stickers, it left a nice finish. I left the couplers on the car, simply unclamped all 4 from the pipe side, and muscled the pipes out of there.

 

[eagleguy]

Mine (the up pipe) seem to be frozen and they will not twist off. I was trying to avoid slicing them with a razor. Any ideas?

 

[Grand_87_national]

Mine (the up pipe) seem to be frozen and they will not twist off. I was trying to avoid slicing them with a razor. Any ideas?

You may be able to slide a small screwdriver in there and work it around the radius. Since you're refinishing them anyway, small scratches won't be a problem. Just start with about an inch, if possible, and work it around the radius. Then another, and so on. Hope that helps.