I am not an expert or a pro, I am not telling you this is the way it is done or has to be done.

This is what I did and used to polish my plenum, I made this thread to help others.

If you know a better or faster way to do this by all means post how, we are all here just to help each other.

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This job took me 25 hours over 4-5 days. If I had done it over 2 days and had a larger compressor I think I could have done it in much less time, around 16 hours possibly.

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Before:


after:


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before:


after:


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before:


after:

 

I have seen a few zeds online here with a polished oem upper plenum and liked it so I decided to do mine. Some have done them themselves others have paid around $300 to get them done professionally.

Here is some of the equipment I needed to complete this project
-Safety glasses
-respirator
-ear protection
-gloves


I bought an extra plenum to polish that way my car would still be drivable. What it looked like when I stared, rough and dirty.








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After 4 hours of using an air grinder with a 40 grit flap disk and a Rotary tool with a grinding stone. (should have took less time but even with 2 compressors I still had to wait for them to keep up)

Here is some of the equipment I needed to complete this project
-Air grinder
-40 grit flap disk
-Rotary tool with and assortment of grinding stones






On a small part of the plenum you can see I did a few more steps to see some shine, (I wanted some motivation lol)







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After another 4 hours of using an air grinder with a 80 grit flap disk and a Rotary tool with a grinding stone and 80 grit flap wheel. (should have took less time but even with 2 compressors I still had to wait for them to keep up)

Here is some of the equipment I needed to complete this project
-Air grinder
-80 grit flap disk
-Rotary tool with and assortment of grinding stones, sanding wheels and flap wheels.






On a small part of the plenum you can see I did a few more steps to see some shine, (I wanted some motivation lol)

 

After another 6 hours of using an electric orbital sander with 80 grit sand paper, 120 grit sand paper and 220 grit sand paper. A Rotary tool with a 80 grit flap wheel and wire wheel. (should have took less time but even with 2 compressors I still had to wait for them to keep up)

Here is some of the equipment I needed to complete this project
-5 inch electric orbital sander
-80 grit sand paper
-120 grit sand paper
-220 grit sand paper
-Rotary tool with and assortment sanding wheels, flap wheels and wire wheels.









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After another 3 hours of wet sanding by hand with 400 grit and 800 grit. A Rotary tool with a 80 grit flap wheel, wire wheel and sanding wheel.

Here is some of the equipment I needed to complete this project
-400 grit wet sand paper
-800 grit wet sand paper
-Rotary tool with and assortment sanding wheels, flap wheels and wire wheels.

 

After another 2 hours of using an air die grinder with a felt/cloth wheel and a black compound/bar.

Here is some of the equipment I needed to complete this project
-Air grinder
-an assortment of felt/cloth wheels
-black compound/bar

 

After another 2 hours of using an air die grinder with a felt/cloth wheel and a White compound/bar.

After another 2 hours of using an air die grinder with a felt/cloth wheel and a Red compound/bar.

After another 2 hours of using an air die grinder with a felt/cloth wheel and Metal polish

--- another 6 Hours total---

Here is some of the equipment I needed to complete this project
-Air grinder
-an assortment of felt/cloth wheels
-White compound/bar
-Red compound/bar
-Metal polish



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--HERE ARE THE PICS AFTER 25 HOURS OF WORK---

 

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I hope that helps
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Looks great. I wish I had the motivation to do all that work.

 

Nice job. Good idea you bought an extra. That way one can take it easy and see it as some fun job that can be done over a period of time.

 

Dam...that looks amazing

 

Looks good ! I just did one for a buddy but I dont have air tools so i did it mostly by hand took me all winter!! I do more sanding with finer grits and less buffing (due to the lack of tools) I finish mine off with a big electric buffer they are a ton of work but the finished product makes it well worth it IMO.

 

hand sanding, oh god. This was enough work with air tool. By hand would have been a killer, no wonder why you spread it out over the winter. Its worth it n the end though

 

I also polished my strut bar. The bar is made of steel not aluminum so it can rust. The bar is not on the bar and was finished 4 weeks ago. It has been stored in the garage since then and shows no signs of rust. I am thinking/hoping that if I keep a protective coating of polish on the car it will not rust. If it does rust I will sand it again and clear coat it, or just reinstall my other oem bar.


Here is some of the equipment I needed to complete this project

-5 inch electric orbital sander
-Rotary tool with and assortment sanding wheels, flap wheels and wire wheels.
-Air grinder
-an assortment of felt/cloth wheels

-220 grit sand paper
-400 grit wet sand paper
-800 grit wet sand paper
-1000 grit wet sand paper
-black compound/bar
-Red compound/bar
-Metal polish

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i am not sure how long this took me, maybe 2-4 hours total.

before and after pics

 

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spot saved for pics once installed
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Oh sugar that is very pretty.

 

my hat off to you for having lots of patience and providing such a well detailed thread with superior results

 

Good work man.

 

that's just impressive. Great job. It looks outstanding.

 

looks awesome just too much work