Polished tensioners - *pics

[tbird88]

Polishing service for your belt tensioners available.

Cost is:
25 each or
65 for a full set of three
+ 10 return shipping anywhere in the lower 48.

endorsed by AF in Minnesota:
"I just got my tensioners back , and WOW ! I love them ! ! ! Thanks again for helping me out, I will definitely be sending more."

thanks!

'bird

http://www.texasthunderbirds.com/img/pol/tens1979.jpg
http://www.texasthunderbirds.com/img/pol/tens2549.jpg

[SCMakeiv]

sexy, last thing i expected to be polished. Good work wynn, as usual.

[LostDreamer]

how can i get mine polished?

[David Neibert]

Nice job Wynn....I'm interested in a set. Do you have any cores so I won't have to pull my car apart until installing the polished ones ? PM or e-mail me at dkneibert@charter.net

David

[z90sc]

..Wynn,remember me? Same question.....got any on hand for a swap?
z

[tbird88]

sexy, last thing i expected to be polished. Good work wynn, as usual.Thanks, appreciate the compliment. Top pic almost does 'em justice but since it was taken I wound up smoothing down the mold line along the beam. Looks even better now with it removed.
Besides keeping it waxed, haven't come up with the perfect way to recoat the centers yet, they're still bare steel. They come black powdercoated but that gets removed in the polishing process, sort've a neccessary evil.

'bird

[tbird88]

how can i get mine polished?You can call me at KoKo's during the day or email for details on shipping yours in for polishing. Also some info on my website.

'bird

[tbird88]

Sorry, no plans on cores for these. Just my opinion but we might be lookin' at a finite supply of useable tensioners some day. Seems like everytime I look for a decent one all I find are worn out ones. They're either cocked at an angle or cracked or have a chunk of the housing missing around the spring tip :mad: .
Sure would like to do a set for ya though, keep me in mind.

'bird

[David Neibert]

Wynn,

I know what you mean about the worn out tensioners, one of mine is new so now that you mention it, I would feel better keeping the ones I have. What's the turn around time on a set ?

Is there anything you can do to make the tensioner mounting bolt, pulley mounting bolt and dust sheild look better or should I just repaint them ?

David

[Kurt K]

Wynn,

I know what you mean about the worn out tensioners, one of mine is new so now that you mention it, I would feel better keeping the ones I have. What's the turn around time on a set ?

Is there anything you can do to make the tensioner mounting bolt, pulley mounting bolt and dust sheild look better or should I just repaint them ?

David
Dave,

You could have the dust sheilds chrome plated (If you do, I'll give you a set to do at the same time). As for the bolts, you could probably have the heads of the bolts chrome plated (will probably affect the size), or possibly replace with stainless hardware.

[David Neibert]

Dave,

You could have the dust sheilds chrome plated (If you do, I'll give you a set to do at the same time). As for the bolts, you could probably have the heads of the bolts chrome plated (will probably affect the size), or possibly replace with stainless hardware.

Kurt,

My local hookup for chrome plating (Musick Plating) is out of business and apparently in trouble with the EPA for leaking chromium into the ground. Now everyone local wants to nickel plate instead using of chrome. I guess I'll have to find one of the little shops that chrome bike fenders.

David

[DamonSlowpokeBaumann]

Wynn I just have a few comments (as always)

#1 As much as I try I cant get anything I polish to look anything like that

#2..Use a dremel and get rid of the casting flash before polishing...Really cleans it up!

And powdercoating clear..>COOMONE!!!

[tbird88]

Wynn,

I know what you mean about the worn out tensioners, one of mine is new so now that you mention it, I would feel better keeping the ones I have. What's the turn around time on a set ?

Is there anything you can do to make the tensioner mounting bolt, pulley mounting bolt and dust sheild look better or should I just repaint them ?

DavidTurnaround is a day or three depending on just what's goin' on when they show up. As far as the bolts etc, I got lucky on mine in that the factory coating was still in great shape so I simply gave them a very light buffing. Came out with a sorta stain sheen.
Kurt K has a good idea. Around here it's a heavily industrialized araea with refineries etc, I'm always hittin' the local bolt suppliers for nifty bolts etc for projects. Except for finding an exact duplicate for the dust shield, stainless should be a piece of cake.

'bird

[tbird88]

Wynn I just have a few comments (as always)

#1 As much as I try I cant get anything I polish to look anything like that

#2..Use a dremel and get rid of the casting flash before polishing...Really cleans it up!

And powdercoating clear..>COOMONE!!!
#1 - Keep developing your technique, it'll happen. I'm tryin' to work up some additional info/tech to add to the blower polishing thread, hopefully it'll help.

#2 - That pic was the first one taken, I take a zillion reference pics when I can of just about everything possible. I've since removed the casting lines, the tensioners look great now. They make that nasty old chair that they're sittin' on look pretty good huh LOL!

As far as powdercoating, I'm not sure the nylon (or whatever it is) "bearing/shim" inside the late-model tensioners would live through the process. Might wind up in a puddle on the floor of the oven.
The earlies look like they have a graphite shim in them, might do okay but I'd rather not be the one to ruin a tensioner tryin' to find out. :D

'bird

[Gregthespy]

Hey Wynn,
Powdercoat away on thoes tensioners, I've done a few sets and have had no problem with the nylon spacer/shim. I took that risk for the good of SC innovations ;) I thought I'd be cleaning up tensioner guts out of my powdercoating oven as well, but there's no problem with doing so.
Looks good as usual Wynn! :cool:

[Pablo94SC]

If I ever get off my butt and really clean up my engine bay, I'm getting a set of those from you.

[tbird88]

Hey Wynn,
Powdercoat away on thoes tensioners, I've done a few sets and have had no problem with the nylon spacer/shim. I took that risk for the good of SC innovations ;) I thought I'd be cleaning up tensioner guts out of my powdercoating oven as well, but there's no problem with doing so.
Looks good as usual Wynn! :cool:
Like I mentioned somewhere else, I'm pretty much hooked on the feel of bare polished aluminum, just sumthin' about it :p . Kinda tryin' to slack off on powdercoating anything, they got several shops in this area doin' it full time now and all of their prices are hellacheap.
Thanks for the compliment on my work, hope to see your car someday in person. Birmingham is 585 or so from here, if the V6 thing happens outside Gasden I might drive the extra 100 miles. You thought about goin'?

'bird

[tbird88]

If I ever get off my butt and really clean up my engine bay, I'm getting a set of those from you.Thanks for the interest. With all the stuff I'm polishing at the shop I'm bound to come up with sumthin' ya cain't resist sooner or later :D

'bird

[Grims95SC]

How did you get into the tight areas so well? Other than doing it by hand which then wouldn't make it worth it.

[tbird88]

How did you get into the tight areas so well? Other than doing it by hand which then wouldn't make it worth it.Learned most of what I know from a dude that had a chrome shop back in the late 70's. Technique, a little bit of skill, and good tools goes a long way.
I didn't mention it but keep in mind that I don't polish down in the little pockets on the backside of the beam. Not that you can't see them very well anyway when installed but actually because it would be a major pain to do them. I do highlight the ribs surrounding the pockets though.

thanks for checkin' out my work,

'bird

ps: seen the polishing work so far on the blower?

[Grims95SC]

Learned most of what I know from a dude that had a chrome shop back in the late 70's. Technique, a little bit of skill, and good tools goes a long way.
I didn't mention it but keep in mind that I don't polish down in the little pockets on the backside of the beam. Not that you can't see them very well anyway when installed but actually because it would be a major pain to do them. I do highlight the ribs surrounding the pockets though.

thanks for checkin' out my work,

'bird

ps: seen the polishing work so far on the blower?
Yeah I've seen the blower as well and it looks damn nice! I did some polishing but considering how long it took I'm guessing I did it the hard way. What tools did you use if ya don't mind sharing a potential shop secret?
That's some very fine work that you're doing! :D

[tbird88]

Yeah I've seen the blower as well and it looks damn nice! I did some polishing but considering how long it took I'm guessing I did it the hard way. What tools did you use if ya don't mind sharing a potential shop secret?
That's some very fine work that you're doing! :DPrep before polishing can get pretty involved, I use power tools with lots (LOTS) of bells an' whistles for the sanding. For the polishing, Koko has a 2hp grinder on a pedestal that I equipped with a variety of wheels. Main roughing-in is done with a sisal wheel with Tripoli, then I finish with cotton or muslin wheels of various diameters with white rouge. I'm goin' to attempt to add info/tips on polishing to the blower thread in the near future. I'm no expert, just know what I'm after in the final product so some of it will seem/sound ghetto but it works.

Got a good tip for ya on polishing anything with store-bought stuff such as Blue Magic or Simichrome or any of that other stuff. Ever notice how metal polishes make things look great but when you look closely and the truth is told they still have that tiny bit of haze to 'em? Notice how the "tone" just isn't quite "right", sometimes actually sorta dark lookin'? That's the residual in the pores, same residual that has your hands/fingers lookin' funky & dirty. NeverDull even does it. The wadding turns black, your fingers turn black, the pores of the aluminum are black...but you can fix all of that.
Grab a nice clean piece of flannel (must be flannel, not cotton or shop rags or anything else) and a box of cornstarch . Yeah, the stuff ya cook with. Sprinkle some on the metal and then rub with the flannel. It'll get rid of that "foggy" look and really bring out the shine.

'bird

[Gregthespy]

Thanks for the compliment on my work, hope to see your car someday in person. Birmingham is 585 or so from here, if the V6 thing happens outside Gasden I might drive the extra 100 miles. You thought about goin'?
Hey Wynn,
Haven't planned on doing any out of state shows or meets yet but would definately go to one if I had the time or extra money. Would be nice to see your SC as well. That's a good tip on the final polishing, haven't tried that one yet, I'll have to pick up a box of cornstarch and try it out. :cool: