OK so i polished a V1 inlet manifold and wasn't THAT happy with the results so i thought i'd start again with a V3 STI manifold and see how i got on. I thought I'd put together a little guide of how i did it to help others and maybe get some constructive criticism also. I'm no professional!

OK so here's how it arrived....



And now to take all the extra's off, TB etc...(also took these to help put it back together so may seem a little random).










Now to start with small files for the tight area's and a larger file for the larger welds.







Getting there.....









Now to break out the sandpaper, using 180 grade.


And getting the little pitting out as much as possible...





At this point i gave it a little buff with the polishing wheels but as you can see the wheel itself was giving the manifold its own scratches...






So back to the sandpaper and avoid the harsh polishing wheel. I stuck with 180 and then to wet and dry 600 but this only lasted a few minutes at a time. I left the underside polished by just the wheel, its pitted and not great but not seen at all once on the car.
I wrapped sandpaper around the small files i have to get the grain out as much as possible.





Its very easy to get obsessed and never stop, but I'm drawing a line. Besides there's other things to be done....(like cutting the grass!)





So this will be going on the bay, making room for....

 

Looks very good mate

 

Nice
why don't u do a v5 one then i could have it
how much for 1 m8

 

Nice work.

Polished manifold will look good on the yellow and red 2 door in the background.

 

Thanks mate

I can't even think how a V5 one looks. PM sent.
There's a V5 inlet on Ebay for £150.

Lol, just waiting for the 18's to arrive for that!

 

I must be mad to have started a new one...

 

Looking forward to what your going to do with it

From this




Then cleaned



First coat



Then a bit of colour

 

That looks amazing. How tough is that coating?

It doesn't look like it but I've taken a couple of non-essential lugs off of it....



...and will be mirror polishing it. I'm not 100% yet whether i'll be going parallel fuel rail, if I do then then the lugs underneath that hold the standard fuel rails can also come off.