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Polished my firewall

cjensen

cjensen

Well Known Member
There have been several threads about polishing the firewall, and the best deal out there to get this done has to be the Caswell kit, that was suggested by Randy Pflanzer.

I started with some buffing cotton called Nevr Dull, then used the Caswell kit. The kit comes with three rouges and a liquid final polish. It also comes with polishing wheels for your air drill.

My firewall went from this-
1-20-08-001w.jpg


To this shiny piece!
2-24-08-008w.jpg


Turned out great!!
:cool:

Here's the link to the Caswell kit-
http://www.caswellplating.com/buffs/sspolkit.html
 
Maintaining the shine?

That looks great! Is there a way to keep it looking like that? :confused: Any idea how long it is going to stay looking like that? Something tells me with everything hanging off of it and an engine in the way, this isn't going to be done again any time soon.


Stewart
 
7pilot said:
That looks great! Is there a way to keep it looking like that? :confused: Any idea how long it is going to stay looking like that? Something tells me with everything hanging off of it and an engine in the way, this isn't going to be done again any time soon.
Stewart
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Stainless will stay polished as long as you don't scuff it.:eek:
 
Looks great Chad. I've been thinking about doing the same thing when I get to that point, but I've been wondering whether or not it would be easier to polish it on a bench before installation. What do you think?
 
Chad, it looks great. When I finally get to my fuse, I really want to look in to having the firewall "engine turned" - I saw a picture somewhere of someone's RV firewall that was engine turned - it looked so good. Anyone have any pictures of an engine turned RV firewall?
 
Man, I hate to tell you what my firewall looks like now!:(

It's still polished but covered with a light film of oil. Man, I've got to clean that thing up at my next annual.
 
Engine turned firewall picture

Matt,

This is my firewall I did last summer. I copied a technique from W&C Aircraft in Boone Iowa. I used a dremel tool with 1" circular disks cut from scotchbright pads glued to a 1" cutoff wheel. The RV9-A stencil was cut from plain contact paper or shelf liner and provides enough protection for the SS to prevent it from getting buffed. Whole process took about 4 hours. It's hard to get a good picture of it, my camera had trouble focusing on it.

p1010012mediumts3.jpg
 
8CW said:
Looks great Chad. I've been thinking about doing the same thing when I get to that point, but I've been wondering whether or not it would be easier to polish it on a bench before installation. What do you think?
Click to expand...

Thanks all!

I would think it's probably gonna be about the same. I didn't do it on the bench because I wasn't even thinking about doing this at that time.

The benefit I see in waiting until it's on, it that it won't get handled as much at this point...less to worry about scratching.
 
lcnmrv8r said:
But--- That brake reservoir looks like **** now. :rolleyes: Looks great. Keep it up. How/s the Finish kit going?

Got my fuse and finish kits friday. Inventoried last night. Start on Firewall tonight.. Unpolished:)
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HA!:D Funny you mention that! That reservoir is *clean* compared to how it came! I scuffed it up with maroon scotchbrite to get that satin look...but I may need to polish that now too...:rolleyes:

I'm just getting started on the finish kit stuff...tonight will be the beginning of the canopy release mechanism, then on to the fun filled T/U frame...:eek:
 
Chad,

Did the same thing on mine using Nuvite at about the same progress point and I sure don't regret it.

I polished out my Boredom Fighter f/w as well and I find that getting the oil off it doesn't take too much effort to clean.

My theory is that polishing levels the surface somewhat, actually making it easier to clean, in that reducing the microscopic hills and valleys on the surface give less places for oil to hide and thus, easier to remove.

Any how, that's my theory and I'm sticking with it. But hey, if that's not the case, it looks cool.

Jim
 
Cool idea

Wow what a cool idea! I never thought of doing that!

I am just starting on my firewall so the timing is perfect for me.

Looks great gentlemen!
 
Bring your stuff!

Hey Chad, if you come out here for Reno, guess what you'll be doing? Wax on, wax off! :D
 
Good eyes!

A 1954 TF, did a frame off restoration in 1998. Last summer it morphed into a BMW Z4, wanted something a bit more practical (windows, heater and doesn't leak oil).

mg1zz9.jpg
 
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Polishing fiasco complete. :-/

When Chad posted this thread I thought, "Wow. That looks really cool. I think I'll do that, too!"

Little did I know what a tremendous amount of work it would be. About 40 or so hours later, this is what I ended up with:



(click on the image for the full resolution version)

It's not quite a mirror finish, but it's reasonably close.

Gah. The mess created by the polishing process is truly extraordinary. I went through two rolls of paper towels and three bottles of Windex in the process. The entire shop is covered with polishing dust and cotton fibers from the polishing wheels.

If anyone else is crazy enough to go to this effort, I'd recommend getting the black, green, and blue bars from Caswell. I found I could pretty much skip the white bar and the liquid that come with their stainless polishing kit. I also learned along the way that I needed a wheel rake to keep the buildup from scratching the surface.

So I've learned my lesson...no way am I going to try to keep up with Chad's quality of work anymore. ;)
 
Great job Mike!! I think yours looks better than mine! If I include the time I spent using Nevrdull to start the process, I probably had 35-40 hours in mine too.

So I've learned my lesson...no way am I going to try to keep up with Chad's quality of work anymore.
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Thanks for the nice compliment...it probably all looks better on the 'net than it does in person...:eek::)

:cool:
 
Scott Chastain said:
I know what you mean about the mess, Mike. We could easily hire Mike Rowe from the show, "Dirty Jobs" to film a segment of the process. It's a messier job than working with fiberglass BY FAR!!
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It is dirty...no getting around that. I'd love to meet Mike Rowe...

Scott Chastain said:
And were I do build another airplane, I would definitely NOT polish my firewall. Although it looks pretty, I have no intention of removing the cowling at fly-ins, maintaining the polished appearance will be a big waste of time in my opinion, and the heat generated from the polishing process actually work-hardens the stainless steel somewhat so that it is now more prone to oilcanning in certain areas. I had to stiffen it in places because of the polishing. NEVER AGAIN!!
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Two things...and I'm not trying to make an argument...SS doesn't require maintaining the polished appearance. Once it's polished, it's polished...not like aluminum which we all know requires repolishing once a year or so.

The other thing is...polishing does generate heat, but if done right (not staying in one spot too long), it won't work harden, and won't oil can. It's an art that I certainly HAVE NOT perfected, but it can be done with minimal heat build up, and zero oil canning problems.
:)
 
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