Aluminum Part Original Finish Questions
 

Doing some Vapor Honing with a local place here....
What is the feeling about original finish / shade for the following Aluminum Parts..
Muncie Trans Case/Tail
Bell Housing
Chevy / Pontiac Aluminum Intake
Alternator
Distributor
All of these must have been cast with possibly different Aluminum compositions....I guess....But would they all have the same "SHEEN".
I feel I have seen nice original Bell Housings that appear more "shiny / polished that the other parts.
I feel I have seen original Alternators and may distributors that are "Darker" than Muncies or Intakes etc...
Many people are moving towards Vapor Honing for Finish and my firsthand experience is very positive with the outcome. Media Size and such can deliver different results. Trying to get some real info...ANY INPUT IS WELCOME...This Thread may serve to help others down the road.....
Thanks SCR Community for any thoughts or examples.....

I have zero experience with vapor honing

I do have experience seeing Aluminum Sand Casted Intakes that were Metal Shot Blasted
as they were when mfg at a Foundry


See my alternator cases that were tumbled/shaken in ceramic media..........

Ive also shot blasted Muncie Case (Sand casting) and Tumbled/Shaken Muncie
Tailhousing, Side Cover

Do some research on vapor blasting. I am not sure if it's the same as vapor honing.

Yes this is Vapor Honing. Meant to restore the surface not so much for cleaning.

It matters if it's a diecast part or a sand cast part, very different finishes.
Most smaller parts are diecast and will have a smoother finish (because they were cast in a steel mold).
The trans maincase was a sand cast part.

yes Kurt, makes a lot of sense. The Bell Housing should be sand cast but many originals look almost polished...

I may be wrong, but I believe bell housings are die cast. Heads, intake manifolds and Muncie main cases are sand cast.

I have my own vapor blaster and I can vary the finish.
Sometimes I get a part the way I want it and later I decide I want it just a little less shiny or it’s too dull and I bring it up w a differnt mix or even different amounts of air pressure.

These pictures are from when I first started and I was playing with parts to get the right sheen.
Gives a good idea of the differences.
Trans case is just cleaned vs vapor blasted.

RAIV intake was dull after being, just cleaned vapor blasted half in first pic and then Finished.

Notice it doesn’t smooth out any of the rough casting, it won’t even remove anything silicone. If I need to remove paint I glass bead it first gently to remove the paint then I bring the finish back up w the vapor (honing) blasting. I don’t think there’s any difference between vapor honing and vapor blasting at least not as far as I know. It’s all media in water. Some people add glycol to the mix.

The whole point of it is to roll the media across the finish which closes the surface vs striking the surface and abrading it with some mixes I could polish it like chrome.

Personally i think the vapor blasting is to shiny