Engine...Polish or no Polish?

cobrak · #1 (**permalink**) 07-10-2007, 05:17 AM

I am in the process of selecting a new engine and am trying to decide if I should get it polished or not. My concern other then cost is that it may be a lot to maintain the polish. I like low maintanance. Your opinions would be greatly appreciated

CobraK

ENTDOC · #2 (**permalink**) 07-10-2007, 05:41 AM

no, save it for street rods and ricers.

SPF1061 · #3 (**permalink**) 07-10-2007, 07:07 AM

I've got a Roush 427R with the polished option. If you are concerned about keeping the motor looking nice and clean, I would say the polished surfaces are actually easier because they do not absorb gas and oil stains like the regular unpolished surfaces. However, I am with Entdoc. I got the polished option thrown in for free because my dealer had one sitting in his shop that another customer had backed out on and he wanted to move it. I wouldn't have paid for it. I would have spent the extra money on upgraded brakes or an accusump systtem or some other performance enhancment. But that's just me.

RedBarchetta · #4 (**permalink**) 07-10-2007, 09:18 AM

I'm presently in the process of removing a lot of the "polish" from my engine compartment and going more toward a virgin aluminum look. It has involved A LOT of effort so far, from having the polished stainless bolt heads "dulled" to having various parts blasted with "medical grade" (i.e. very, very fine) glass bead. Most of the parts are at the clear coater now (looking to achieve a semi-gloss cover over all this so that I can simply wipe it down). I just finally got tired of polishing stuff (see my gallery for pics and you will see what I mean). I'm sort of going for the military/satin look under the hood. I will post pics in a separate thread when it's all done, but I'll need another month to get it all back together. I guess you can use Zoopseal or other coatings to keep polished aluminum looking good, but I decided I needed a change.

-Dean

Tony Radford · #5 (**permalink**) 07-10-2007, 09:59 AM

CobraK, I've got a polished motor in my Unique. I think it looks great. If it was really a Cobra, I wouldn't consider it. But I like to do car shows occasionally and it makes up for the typical lack-luster of a small block under the hood. After a good coat of Zoopseal, the shine lasted a couple of years with nothing more than some soap and water for cleaning. But just to put my opinion into perspective, I also have a CD player.