Paint and Polish!

[backlander]

Lot of shine for the money invested, that might fit my budget also, ordered the Flitz from whom Gerry ?

 

[Steve83]

Polished and/or chrome is always good! I do like the iron engine color - kinda gives it a restored antique look...cool!

 

[mcgovern61]

backlander » Mon May 12, 2014 11:26 pm[/url]":1cbgfcop]
Lot of shine for the money invested, that might fit my budget also, ordered the Flitz from whom Gerry ?

Got a Flitz kit from Amazon.com.

 

[mcgovern61]

I am more impressed than I thought!! :shock: Took the parts outside in the (almost) daylight and it really is shined up!! :Egyptian: :clapping:

Compared to the valve cover currently on the bike, I'd say it is POLISHED!! :yahoo:

Now to do the other one and add the black paint behind the GL 1100.

 

[Steve83]

You should wait and do the '83 covers - the ones without the "Made In Japan" molded into them.

 

[mcgovern61]

Steve83 » Tue May 13, 2014 11:51 am[/url]":34yn9h9b]
You should wait and do the '83 covers - the ones without the "Made In Japan" molded into them.

Unfortunately, I don't have any '83 covers. The '83 came with junk aftermarket covers and the ones on there now were the original '82 covers. They were in pretty bad shape from the bike sitting outside for 12 years...no clear coat left and badly corroded. I hit them with my wire wheel to remove the corrosion but there are scratched pretty bad now. I'm sure with time and a lot of sanding I could get them smooth again.

Pic of them in original condition:

 

[zman]

Outside they look great..
Thats the thing about polish vs chrome , some like the flash and others like the understated beauty of polished aluminum. Back in the day there were those that swore by Flitz and other that swore by Semichrome polish, If you run into semichrome it doesn't cost much and you can do a comparison..There is also a finer grit polish, made for chrome and aluminum maybe that would be a next step. I have a jar from Eagle products, some kind of micro or nano polish.
Me I always get some Mothers from a neighbor that gets it free at car shows so I have a pretty good supply for now, cant wait to run out though.

 

[Omega Man]

Impressive work!

 

[mcgovern61]

I have some Mother's too!

I'd like to experiment on the other cover with Mother's compared to Flitz, but time is time and I hesitate to lose any more time in this process, I am still going to be polishing the fork lowers and carb intakes, so maybe I can try the Mother's on them!

 

[mcgovern61]

FYI...it is my intent that after the engine is pulled I am going to throw the mocked up engine half with the polished cover and carb intakes on to see if I really like the Iron engine color.

 

[Ansimp]

I think that iron colour should make your polishing efforts stand out more Gerry, but good idea to trial sample while you can :good:

 

[mcgovern61]

The other side is done and it turned out the same. I did hit it with 400, 1000, 1500 wets sanding first this time which made the polishing go easier. The Flitz ball was getting real black and dirty. The instructions say it is washable. Guess what........IT IS!! Soaked it in hot water and dish soap and an hour later it was looking almost new again!

Now, I kinda cheated by polishing the valve covers while attached to the half block so the front and bottoms didn't get any real work. But HEY, you can't see in there anyway! :whip: :hihihi:

That being the case, would it be dishonest if I only polish the front and sides of the carb intakes? Can't see the back side unless you take the carbs off right? (Just trying to cut down the time to make them look good.) :ahem: :yes:

 

[mcgovern61]

Before I do anything else, can someone tell me what paint to use for the black in the GL 1100? I am a bit confused since that now the covers are polished, do I need to rough up the aluminium and prime it before the black is applied?

 

[Omega Man]

:0fftopic: Nice avatar!

~O~

 

[mcgovern61]

Omega Man » Thu May 22, 2014 9:28 pm[/url]":1l4lov2x]
:0fftopic: Nice avatar!

~O~

Thanks! It is my bike from this pic:

I just opened the picture up in Microsoft Paint and erased all the background.

 

[Steve83]

I used brush-on enamel for model painting, semi-gloss.

 

[mcgovern61]

Steve83 » Thu May 22, 2014 10:00 pm[/url]":2kaejy5n]
I used brush-on enamel for model painting, semi-gloss.

Any prep of the surface? (Or primer?)

 

[Steve83]

I didn't, but probably should have. Time will tell...

 

[Ansimp]

I would just use metho (denatured alcohol) or prepsol to clean the polishing compound off. If you have a blast cabinet I find paint sticks to that finish really well (tape up what you don't want to paint)

 

[pidjones]

You discovered what I also did back in 2004, when I polished my '77 1000 covers. Sequential grades of silicon carbide paper (I used up through 2000) wet sanding and the most important ingredient - elbow grease - do most of the work. Final polish, be it Flitz or a compound on cotton, is just finish work. I then clear lacquered over mine. Lacquer is easier to remove when the inevitable re-polish is needed.

I didn't do the intake runners.

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