# Plenum re-vamp



## x-ray (Jan 8, 2010)

Hi folks, just thought I would share some pics of the work I did on my FTO plenum. It was really grubby & looked as if it was fished out of a pond.









So not having done this before I started with a wire brush tool in my drill, the corrosion soon disappeared but the brush caused deep scratches which became a pain to remove.
I then used various grades of wet n dry from 250grit upto 2000grit before shining with medium & soft cotton buffer pads/compounds

















then I used white spirit & meths to degrease the lettering on the top section using a fiberglass brush to get into the tight areas. This done, I used acid etch primer #8 from Halfords before adding colour. For this I bought engine laquer which I brushed on










This turned out a big disappointment as the paint was like treacle & dried uneven. So I stripped it all back off & started again.
Someone suggested I could use Mr muscle oven spray to clean it so I tried it.
OMG after 5 min it had turned the top black & was dissolving the metal. Quickly I washed & scrubbed it until I got back to the shiny stuff. (lesson learned)
Once again I used the etch primer giving it 3 coats & decided to use the cars body colour to finish with









Next I wanted to highlight the letters so I used P320grit then P1000 & P2000on a flat block to finish.

















Now it looks nice fitted


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## carrera2s (Jun 28, 2009)

Fandabydosy!:thumb:


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## DannagE (May 15, 2008)

Nice work, that looks loads better and really worth all the effort in the end!


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## Andy. (Apr 11, 2010)

Stunning, I would have been well proud if I had produced that outcome.


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## jonny2112 (Apr 6, 2010)

That's a great job pal, well done :thumb:


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## geert dr (Jul 13, 2007)

That looks amazing !! :thumb:


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## Warwickshire Detailer (Oct 11, 2009)

Excellent turn around. I bet that took a while from stat to finish!


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## alexf (May 23, 2009)

that is some fine work


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## x-ray (Jan 8, 2010)

Warwickshire Detailer said:


> Excellent turn around. I bet that took a while from stat to finish!


It did, I sat in my shed from 9pm til early hours using wet n dry on many nights over a three week span but I am proud of the result.:thumb:


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## Bratwurst (Jan 23, 2009)

Looks outstanding!!

Great job man :thumb:


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## Andy300zx (Mar 18, 2010)

That is one stunning plenum, excellent work


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## mk4gtiturbo (Jun 16, 2009)

Fantastic. I have an inlet manifold that I'd like to do (never done any metal polishing before). What grades of paper did you use and in what steps?


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## Guest (May 7, 2010)

Fantastic ! That will take some looking after, have you sealed it with anythinig ?


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## jde126hunter (Apr 26, 2010)

Excellent!! really completes the look of the engine bay. Well done


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## gb270 (Aug 22, 2008)

fine work mate looks great


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## TurbochargedJJ (Dec 10, 2009)

looks superb x-ray! nice work!

fancy doing mine?? haha


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## integrale (Apr 16, 2010)

That looks wicked.. good job.


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## x-ray (Jan 8, 2010)

mk4gtiturbo said:


> Fantastic. I have an inlet manifold that I'd like to do (never done any metal polishing before). What grades of paper did you use and in what steps?


Well first I had to get rid of the scratches caused by the rotary wire brush, for this I used P240, then stepped up to P350 - P500 - P1000 - P1500 - P2000 followed by three grades of rotary buffer/compound which was only a tenner from maplin, then used a dremmel pointed buffer with fine compound for the really tight bits.
Then cleaned with white spirit followed by Autosol showroom polish to seal & protect.


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## x-ray (Jan 8, 2010)

JasonE said:


> Fantastic ! That will take some looking after, have you sealed it with anythinig ?


Used Autosol showroom polish to seal & protect. I was gonna laquer it but I want to buff it to a mirror shine when going to meetings & shows.


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## x-ray (Jan 8, 2010)

TurbochargedJJ said:


> looks superb x-ray! nice work!
> 
> fancy doing mine?? haha


Lol...after the time it took me to do mine....no thanks. I bought this old one off ebay cheep & still have my original one which I may refurb when I fancy it.


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## Auto Detox (Dec 22, 2007)

that looks awesome !!!


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## jenks (Apr 20, 2009)

Great work there, well worth the effort.


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## shaqs77 (Jun 10, 2008)

wow, wanna do mine~???


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## x-ray (Jan 8, 2010)

shaqs77 said:


> wow, wanna do mine~???


LOL. show me a picture


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## craig todd (May 17, 2009)

that looks fantastic:thumb:


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## Herefordquattro (May 31, 2010)

i can't believe you got those inlet runners so shiny from that cast Alu???

have you laquered it all to protect or what you done buddy?:thumb:


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## PIT (Apr 22, 2010)

Stunning turnaround


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## Judas (Jul 3, 2008)

great job - well done m8.


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## andye (Apr 15, 2007)

That`s a great job mate, well done :thumb:


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## scoob666 (Mar 15, 2009)

Reminds me, i really must clean mine up, good work!


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## G style (Nov 14, 2007)

:doublesho Looks miles better mate.:thumb::thumb:


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## rsdan1984 (Jul 31, 2009)

that looks wicked, excellent finnish achieved!


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## bofh (Apr 14, 2009)

Now thats OCD in action right there, a man, a shed and a mission!!

You sir have the respect of many. You might want to look at Belgum Alu polish, it has wax in and certainly does last longer than anything else I know of. You might also want to look at the polishingshop.co.uk as they do some very nice kits for those long winter evenings that you're likely to be stuck in the shed :thumb:


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## JJ08 (Jun 26, 2008)

Now you have to keep it like that lol.
J


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## MHTexPete (Feb 23, 2010)

looks brilliant. well worth the effort


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## gazzi123 (Jul 5, 2010)

What was your step by step on the wet/dry sanding mate if you dont mind me asking?

Awesome results - looks amazing good work


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