Paint and Polish!

[mcgovern61]

They do look nice!

 

[mcgovern61]

Ansimp » Thu May 22, 2014 11:36 pm[/url]":98c249vg]
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)

Thanks Tony!

 

[mcgovern61]

Pics of the carb intakes. This process was done a little different...I may have cheated a little? After the clear coat was stripped, I took my Dremmel with some polishing/buffing pads dry and stripped the surface of the aluminium to clean and then wet sand with only 1500 (saved a lot of time and easier on my hands). Then I hit them with the Flitz. I am happy with the result:

 

[Steve83]

Nice!

 

[joedrum]

me too im happy ...it nice looking

 

[Ansimp]

:good:
Except for the fact that you keep making the Rats Nest look even shabbier by all your good work!! :wave: :smilie_happy:

 

[dan filipi]

mcgovern61 » Thu May 15, 2014 9:00 pm[/url]":32s371lm]
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:

No.

 

[charles franz]

They look great!! Nice job.

 

[mcgovern61]

I hope that I don't get labeled LAZY, but I decided that the easiest way for me to clean and polish the carb tops was right on the engine. :hihihi:

Here is step #1, mask off the area and hit the clear coat with paint stripper.

 

[joedrum]

hmmmmmmm ...well seems like it wont fly out of hand for sure

 

[mcgovern61]

joedrum » Fri May 30, 2014 8:14 am[/url]":2x746dx5]
hmmmmmmm ...well seems like it wont fly out of hand for sure

I hope not Joe.......but it might be hard for me to hold the buffing machine over the engine for very long! :smilie_happy:

 

[brianinpa]

I actaully polished the "Japan" right off of mine. :shock:

 

[mcgovern61]

Step by step, the carb tops are coming clean! As mentioned before, my Dremmel is becoming my new best friend! Here are the carb tops after the clear has been removed:

These are the left side after using the Dremmel with a brass wire wheel and then the scouring wheel:

Flitz:

And THEN....a unique discovery!!!! I saw a spot of black in the aluminium that I missed with the Dremmel when I turned the engine around and I decided that since it was already "Flitzed", I hit it with 0000 steel wool. To my shock and surprise.....the 0000 steel wool created a mirror finish!! :shock: :yahoo:

I am tickled pink!! I had to see if this was a fluke and try it on the right side.

 

[mcgovern61]

Right side.....after cleaning with the Dremmel:

Right side after only cleaning with 0000 steel wool:

I was thrilled! (And only about 15 minutes invested between the Dremmel and the steel wool!)

Decided to finish with Mothers to see how it compared to Flitz and found out the Mothers is equally if not more effective than Flitz!

Took the steel wool to all of the polished surfaces and I can see my face!! arty:

(Of course, once again the camera is not doing the finish any justice! But if you look at the last picture at the carb tops, you can see the reflection of my house!)

 

[joedrum]

keep this up were going to have to hang it on the wall

 

[mcgovern61]

Scrub a dub dub....time for the tub....... :smilie_happy:

 

[dan filipi]

The polishing is looking great!

 

[mcgovern61]

Radiator finished......

 

[Steve83]

It's lookin' awesome!

 

[mcgovern61]

Started polishing the forks. Decided now was a good time to experiment since there are two of them side by side and I can get good comparisons. Started using the same process, paint stripper to remove the clear, wipe down with paint thinner and start working on the aluminium. The forks are really gray and dull. So this time, I started by using a fine paint removal wheel. Good easy start to get rid of gray, but the wheel leaves scratches.

Switch to a small 2" scouring wheel on the drill and it cleans up the scratches and removes the dark gray pretty well (and easy). Tried Fltiz at this point without wet sanding. Not happy with the result. Tried Mother's Aluminium polish using the Flitz ball and liking the results a little better, but still pretty dull.

Switching out the Flitz ball from the drill, I notice in my tool box the balance of the sanding discs and pad from when I polished my headlight lenses (3M Headlight restoration kit). I figure, why not! Attach the course disc dry (still about 600 grit) and it cleans up the scratches real easy but leaves tiny swirls. Switch to the second fine disc and it is looking much better. Switch to the polishing pad with a little Mother's and suddenly THERE IS CHROME UNDER ALL OF THAT GRAY!!

I was shocked at how fast it went from dull aluminium to a mirror finish with the pad! (5 minutes at best with very little effort). Ran the steel wool over for one last pass and you cannot tell the difference from where the fork ends and the real chrome parts begin! I will get the bike outside on Friday to get some pics. It has to be seen to believe!

SO......for the comparison, on the other fork I am only going to use the 3M headlight restoration discs and a little Mother's at the end and see if I can duplicate this result without any of the other steps. If so, it might be the fastest and easiest dull to chrome method going! (And all done with the forks installed and the wheel on.)