What do you use to polish cylinders so they look like chrome on the outside

start with 600 grit and wet sand all the imperfections down, then sand with 1000 or 1500 grit, then buff with automotive compound and wool pad or wool disc on a bench grinder or drill. finish off with polish.
 
why couldn't you use some compounds and a bench mounted wheel and start out with something abrasive and work your way up to something finer? i would think that would work and cut the time down. may not be a flat shiny, but shiny indeed. i'm sure 2000srx will chime in on his.
 
It is not a very fast process but the result is very nice. The way I did it was took all the cylinders out on a almost stocth brite pad rotating wheel or a red wheel and it gets the cylinders down to a very smooth finish. Then you must take them out on a buffing wheel to get a great polish out of them. We actually offer this service to some if anyone is interested. Here is what the end result comes down to. Let me know if you have any other questions. Thanks





http://imageshack.us/







 
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whoa. Guess I shoulda wore my sunglasses. That does look awesome. How many hours is a guy looking at to do something like that after the engine is all tore down?
 
The entire engine as I did it will take a very long time even with the right equipment. I think the heads, cylinders, waterrail, water pump cover, coil holder, pull start, Power valves, and all the other things I did for the engine must have taken about right around 12 hours if not more to sand down, polish with tripoli, and then polish with rouge. Very time consuming but I had to make it match the rest of my sled.
 


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