Polished -vs- Chrome (NSX engine parts...please HELP!!)

[Meeyatch1]

Okay...I decided to start modification of the '94 NSX and bought the following parts:

RM Racing polished billet aluminum door sills
RM Racing polished billet aluminum belt cover
RM Racing polished billet aluminum fuse cover
RM Racing polished billet aluminum manifold cover
RM Racing polished billet aluminum strut bar

Well, as most of you know this is both good and bad. Good, because they look nice. Bad, because now everything else in the engine bay looks terrible and dull.

So now what I am faced with is getting the rest of the stuff to be 'shiny' as well. I did a search and did not find what I was looking for, so I come to you guys and gals.

As far as polishing or chroming parts like the alternator, and other various metal engine pieces, is there a big advantage or disadvantage one way or the other? I am looking for pluses and minuses of each process.

With the polished RM pieces, will chroming the others look really bad or obviously different than the polished pieces? Any experience or input on this is appreciated.

Here is what it looks like now. Is there anything in there that I should NOT polish or chrome for one reason or another?

 

[MarkB]

Mitch you definitely need to get the polished aluminum coolant tank from SOS. As far as chrome is concerned, see this thread.

 

[Cantrell Concepts]

I would advise against chroming the alternator since it will inhibit heat dissipation which could possibly lead to early failure. This is why we sell ours polished instead of chrome.

 

[Nsex1991]

were can i get the RM racing stuff? Thanks

 

[Meeyatch1]

were can i get the RM racing stuff? Thanks

Here is the web link:

http://www.rmrace.com/rmnsx/home.htm

I might be selling the billet aluminum door sills. They look great, but I am doing something different with my interior, so I do not need them now. I just took them out of the box yesterday, so they are obviously new. If you want to buy them from me, I can save you some money. Let me know.

 

[Meeyatch1]

I would advise against chroming the alternator since it will inhibit heat dissipation which could possibly lead to early failure. This is why we sell ours polished instead of chrome.

Does the finish of yours require constant repolishing, or is it coated? Also, do you have a picture of the high polished one installed in an NSX? On Science of Speed's site I cannot tell what finish the one in the engine bay is. Thank you.

 

[Meeyatch1]

Mitch you definitely need to get the polished aluminum coolant tank from SOS. As far as chrome is concerned, see this thread.

Thank you for the help. I appreciate it. Have a great day!

 

[Cantrell Concepts]

Does the finish of yours require constant repolishing, or is it coated? Also, do you have a picture of the high polished one installed in an NSX? On Science of Speed's site I cannot tell what finish the one in the engine bay is. Thank you.

As long as you don't clean it with harsh products like degreasers the finish lasts very well. It can easily be cleaned with polished wheel cleaner and occasionally touched up with Simichrome. Here is the only installed picture I could find. We did the rest of the parts to match.

 

[Nsex1991]

Thanks Meeyatch1 but i just want to do the engine thanks again
Andre

 

[Meeyatch1]

As long as you don't clean it with harsh products like degreasers the finish lasts very well. It can easily be cleaned with polished wheel cleaner and occasionally touched up with Simichrome. Here is the only installed picture I could find. We did the rest of the parts to match.

Cool...thank you. Is that Alex's car?

 

[Meeyatch1]

Thanks Meeyatch1 but i just want to do the engine thanks again
Andre

You are very welcome.

 

[prova4re]

Meeyatch1
That is Devilside's car from Toronto, here is a link.

http://www.nsxprime.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=28605

 

[Vytas]

Here are some more ideas

This is my engine bay with both polished and chromed parts.

From left to right:

Fuse Box: polished cover from Dali Racing
Coolant Bottle: polished from RM Racing
Throttle Body Cover: polished aluminum plate
Strut Bar & Strut Bar Bolts: chromed
Fuel Injector Rail Covers: custom made, polished
Intake Manifold Cover: polished
Intake Manifold Cover plate: chromed with raised letters & logo painted blue
Alternator: polished
Alternator Belt Cover: chromed
Two pieces forward of alternator: chromed
Engine Bay Electric Fan (not seen): polished

I plan to have the upper portion of the airbox chromed as well as the brass colored engine lift bracket in the next month or so.

 

[Cantrell Concepts]

Meeyatch1
That is Devilside's car from Toronto, here is a link.

http://www.nsxprime.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=28605

Hi Brian and Meeyatch1,
I believe this one is Devilside's car. Here is a pic of the only other polished one I know of belonging to Mike Escanlar in California. We actually did the custom polished parts for both cars. Alex's Gruppe M supercharger has a painted finish.
Regards, Will

 

[Tantheman]

Pristine!

Tan

 

[Devilside]

That's not my car...

Hey guys,

The car above is not my car. The pic on top with the red Gruppe M emblem on the supercharge is my car.

Prova4re was right. Brian and Meeyatch1, my car is on the link below.

http://www.nsxprime.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=28605

 

[robr]

well, i started on polishing the alternator yesterday, im glad i took it off the car because this is going to take forever with the tools i have. im using a dremmel tool with the red jewelers rouge, but all the polishing kit came with for wheels were emory and felt. the felt doesnt seem to be doing much and i imagine the emory is too abrasive. any national chain carry anything else that will work more quickly? i couldnt find anything on the home depot website and i bought the polishing kit at sears. i have a new found respect looking at the polished alternator pic on this thread. i cant imagine ever getting mine to look like that.

 

[Meeyatch1]

Right now I am throwing the idea around of getting a local place to polish my original one for $40 or buy a new one from Cantrell for, well, more than that.

The alternator is the original one on my '94 with 71,349 miles. Any idea how long these things last?

 

[robr]

$40?!?!? i called a whole bunch of metal and polishing places and they all told me it was a several hour job and they charge by the hour. if i could have this done for $40, i would actually have saved money by not buying all these stupid dremmel thingies .

i'm just taking a break right now from this job, and i still haven't figured out the correct method to making this work right. the last step, using the felt with the red rouge (i couldn't find white), actually darkens the finish from the previous step A LOT! the metal still isnt smooth either, there are still pits (shiny pits), but it looks like it's going to take starting with something really coarse to take them all out. now im starting with a medium grit sandpaper (on the dremel), then moving to a brown polishing thing (came in a polishing kit), then the grey polishing thing, then the cloth (looks pretty shiny here, but pitted), then the felt (at which point it darkens right back up). im also having problems getting into all the bends without making swirl marks and such. this job is a nightmare.

 

[robr]

ahhhhhhhhhhhHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just can't see how Brent Cobb's instructions could possibly work see: http://www.nsxsc.com/ubb/Forum17/HTML/000024.html

Just a cloth and felt wheel? The metal is just too pitted, using those wheels with the rouge just darkens everything up (even if I use a clean felt wheel to try to polish the rouge off afterwards - I'm assuming that's what's making the metal darker). Is the alternator getting shiny? Sure! Does it look ANYTHING like the ones in the pics here?? Not even close. Chrome dipping is starting to sound good.

 

[Cantrell Concepts]

I feel I should caution against polishing the assembled alternator. The abrasives (polish) that you are using will enter the assemble and could drastically reduce it's lifespan. This is why the alternators we sell are completely disassembled before polishing and rebuilt using original Nippon Denso parts. We also give a one year warranty. If polished correctly, it should take hours to finish. There is a big difference between a show quality polish and a quick buff. The alternator cases are very rough and to achieve a mirror polish need quite a bit of smoothing before the actual polishing can be done, otherwise you will end up with something resembling a shiny orange peel. The right finish compound must also be used to insure that the aluminum doesn’t dull quickly. More than once I’ve gotten a core back from a customer (we require a core when purchasing the polished alternators) that had been polished inadequately and the internals were full of polishing compound. If done right you should be very happy with the results. Good luck with the project.
Will

 

[ScienceofSpeed]

As mentioned, polishing the alternator on the car can likely lead to failure. Keep in mind that what you get in the price of the polished alternator is not only a show-polish casing, but a complete rebuild using factory parts.

Cheers,
-- Chris

 

[Meeyatch1]

...I may just have to get the one from Cantrell and S.O.S....just feel odd about fixing something that is not broken...wanna make me a deal?

 

[robr]

Looks like my bad luck is also my good luck. I had some problems with an amp I had installed a while back and narrowed it down to the battery, my installation or the alternator. I figured it was my installation since I had never had any other sort of electrical problem with the car.

I decided before I put any more hours into polishing it that I'd take it down to Autozone for the hell of it and have them bench test it. What do you know, the output looked fine for a few seconds, but then the diode light would kick on. So.... I suppose I could rebuild it, but it's the perfect excuse to buy a nice shiny alternator from SoS. I'll be in touch with you shortly Chris . The wife is praising that the dremel tools can finally be put away and the metal shrapnel being sprayed all over her kitchen will cease.