CrvtBB

Looking to polish my Z06 manifolds and don't want to reinvent the wheel if possible. How did you do it? Best product(s)?

Thanks!

shutout

Looking to polish mine also, curious as to how its's done.

PCMusicGuy

To have to polished to a shine will take some effort. At a minimum you are looking at lots of sanding from an aggressive grit down to a fine grit and then using some polishing compound with a buffing wheel. If you don't have all of the stuff you need it may be better to have a local place do the work for you.

Turbo6TA

Or ... Just install a set of headers

CrvtBB

So all it really takes to polish the manifolds to a decent level is sandpaper, a wire wheel, dremel, and a good bit of elbow grease. Worked out pretty well. Started with a wire wheel on the tough sections near the welds and flanges and then went over everything with 220, then 400, then 800, and then 1200. Used a dremel and sanding attachment for the tight spaces. Actually went faster than expected. Each manifold took about 1.5 hours. Was not looking to get a mirror finish, but a good shine and got there without too much work.

shutout

They look great!

rybern

Wow, what a difference. I just purchased a set of Z06 exhaust and have started to do the same. I did this in about 5 minutes with what's showed in the photo. I too am not looking for a mirror, just improve the look. Thanks for the advise. The die grinder with scotchbrite pad did a pretty good removing the weld splatter.

sd45t2

So how will these look after they have been on the car for some time? Do they get pitted again or return to the original? Thanks.

They sure do look good after polishing!

rybern

I intend to find out.

TXSTICK

Someone on the forum did this and said they return fairly quickly. I like the looks but after reading that it won't last, not worth the trouble.

We will see if it works out for any of you that do it, please let us know.

CorvetteSparky

How difficult are they to remove and replace?

I guess they could be ceramic coated after cleaning them up so the keep the shine.

rybern

I doubt I'll be interested in pulling them off to do it. But since they are off and I get a bit of enjoyment out of beautifying metal, I'm going to go for it. Hmmmm, I wonder if painting them with high temp VHT might yield more long term results.

rybern

I have not removed mine yet so I cannot help with that aspect. I do like your idea of ceramic. I might clean all the weld spatter off and look into that instead of polishing them.

CorvetteSparky

I noticed mine looked pretty bad last week so I'm glad this topic came up. My car was sold in Houston where it can be very humid so there's more rust on mine than CrvtBB had to deal with. I think I see a winter project shaping up.