Polished trailing arms! The new rage?

[89911]

For those people like myself that can't stand to put a dirty part back on after removal, the trailing arms can clean up nicely with some degreaser followed my a stiff wire brush and an electric drill. Installing rear monoballs since my engine is out. You can tell the weather is crappy around here and I'm bored.

[911pcars]

Since these are aluminum, you can also let Al Reed do his magic on them.

Sherwood

[350HP930]

A wire brush does do wonders with aluminum.

[Jack Olsen]

Clear coat?

[304065]

I plan to do the same thing one of these days, actually got the idea from the Gunnar Racing website, where they polish the bananas on the RSR they are building. By polishing out surface irregularities you reduce stress raisers, making the part stronger. And mine have some pretty big nicks.

Not to bust on you, but aren't you not supposed to use a steel wire brush on aluminum, reason being that pieces of the steel will embed themselves in the softer aluminum and rust?

Nice job, looks very good and inspires me to finish my own.

[350HP930]

Originally posted by john_cramer
Not to bust on you, but aren't you not supposed to use a steel wire brush on aluminum, reason being that pieces of the steel will embed themselves in the softer aluminum and rust?

Its a moot point for those of us that use hard stainless brushes but I can't say I have heard of that warning for normal steel brushes either.

[89911]

Originally posted by john_cramer
I plan to do the same thing one of these days, actually got the idea from the Gunnar Racing website, where they polish the bananas on the RSR they are building. By polishing out surface irregularities you reduce stress raisers, making the part stronger. And mine have some pretty big nicks.

Not to bust on you, but aren't you not supposed to use a steel wire brush on aluminum, reason being that pieces of the steel will embed themselves in the softer aluminum and rust?

Nice job, looks very good and inspires me to finish my own.

I'm sure in about 2 months of driving the will look like they did before. It does give you a chance to inspect them for damage and cracks. When those things are clean, they really are a piece of art. It actually took about 30 min each to clean, not too hard at all.

[gduke]

Bought a jack & jack stands from Sears this week end, got Waynes 101 Proj. book out, and tried my first project out. I jacked up the car and did a day's worth of detailing under the car. Did the bottom of the engine and the trailing arms. Used WD-40 dish liq. , brushes, rags, and fingernails,and etc.

looks great. Next month a friend of mine is going to help me put on Chucks bushings and I'll finish polishing the trailing arms, and replate the radius arms.

BTW, you triling arms look great.

[azasadny]

They look great, I'm with you, I hate to reinstall dirty parts and I try to clean everything up as much as I can.

[89911]

One thing I noticed is there is tons of dried cosmoline on them. It acts just like brown wax. The best way to remove it is to lightly scrape it off with a scraping tool prior to cleaning and polishing. That stuff doesn't come off with any degreasing agents.

[CRNT918]

I've used brass brushes on aluminum with good results.

[Doug E]

Definately look impressive!

The trailing arms were one thing I didn't tackle on my winter rebuild project. Had I known they could have turned out like that ...

[Randy Webb]

yes, brass or SS. They'll be easier to clean tho they will get dirty fast.

If they rust, then use rust reducer and get that great Al flecked with black look....

[KTL]

Originally posted by 89911
One thing I noticed is there is tons of dried cosmoline on them. It acts just like brown wax. The best way to remove it is to lightly scrape it off with a scraping tool prior to cleaning and polishing. That stuff doesn't come off with any degreasing agents.

Citrus degreaser like Wurth or Xenit with an abrasive pad (one of those green or brown plastic 3M pads). But put a clothespin on your nose or mask on your face. That stuff is STRONG smelling stuff.

Mine were shiny for a little while. Now they look like the intake manifolds.

[Jdub]

The hot ticket is to get that cosmoline off first, degrease with Simple Green, then use a standard one-step wheel degreasing agent. I use Bleche White, which absolutely burns the grease off. You can also use a brush-on paint stripper. These will save you huge amounts of time getting the arms back to alum. finish.

But what folks don't know is how useful the new silver caliper paints are for finishing up the surface by spray painting. They resist all kinds of grease and corrosives and clean up very quickly should you decide to keep the arms clean over time. Worth checking into. This is what I did on my arms and they look the business. JohnW had to wear sunglasses when he pressed in the new hubs.

Did I mention how INCREDIBLE my new suspension feels? This is what the car felt like from the factory, but a bit stiffer. Just an amazing planted feel.

John

[vash]

wow, you are going to have to park on a mirror, just so you can look at it when you walk by. that is amazing!

[KTL]

Originally posted by Jdub

Did I mention how INCREDIBLE my new suspension feels? This is what the car felt like from the factory, but a bit stiffer. Just an amazing planted feel.

John

Well worth it, wasn't it? The refreshed suspension is a VERY rewarding job. The car is reborn/transformed.

Here's the obligatory bling shot of the clean banana arms (and the headers). No longer installed, but looked pretty cool.



Top that!

[Randy Webb]

Kevin, I can't see the arms for the brightness of your exhaust!

It will be a real shame to ever run that engine...

[vash]

that is new car clean! nice kev.