[anitasanger]

Hey after seeing a lot of beautiful motors on here, I have a few question. When doing all your sanding, buffing, polishing etc, what all do you actually polish? Obviously the main items at hand are the removable covers. But what about the actual cases? Do you guys do anything to them other than clean them? Also what about the heads? Are those sanded polished as well?

Thanks.

 

[nglshbiker]

I only had my cases bead blasted to clean them- my primary cover, timing cover, and rocker covers were polished

 

[anitasanger]

Oh okay thanks, does the bead blasting make everything look a lot better? I don't necessarily want everything super shiny, just clean and relatively new looking.

 

[nglshbiker]

My cases look like clean cast aluminum

kind of hard to see here

after

 

[Loffer]

Wire wheels ,sandpaper and scothbrite works pretty good too. I get mine to a satin or semi gloss by hand and do the covers with polishing wheels and lambs wool buffers.

 

[CURSED GEARS]

I had a buddy that polished his cases, and it looked great. As far as I know he never had any problems. But, I remember reading a old article in Iron Horse quite a few years ago that warned not to polish your cases because of over heating. The writers point was the little bumps in the aluminum helped disperse the heat faster.
P.S. The bead blasting makes your cases look new, like they had just been cast.

 

[tat2edfuk]

I was going to tell you to check out Mods & Rockers Vapor blasting, but it looks like he closed up shop. His stuff looked good.

 

[Zeeman]

Water blasting/vapour blasting will give you the best looking result, then polish the fins on the head and barrel. Covers can be chromed or polished, although the result depends on the quality of the cover.

 

[ob1quixote]

I like the look of soda blasting myself. Bought a handheld unit from HF, kinda looks like a sprayer you would use to mix and spread liquids on your lawn.

The soda only cleans, leaving the aluminum just as cast. Wash well with water.

Make sure to get a dust mask and a portable fan to keep the cloud moving!

As far as polishing goes, I start 1000 grit wet and see how it looks, and move to heavier grit if needed, then go lighter in steps until I hit 1500. then its time for 3M Super Duty compound, followed by Evercoat Triple Cut.

 

[Tony the torch]

we have done several full polished motors, pre units and units, the head is the hard part.

 

[HKNY]

I was going to tell you to check out Mods & Rockers Vapor blasting, but it looks like he closed up shop. His stuff looked good.

Damn that's a shame, he did a great job on all my parts I sent to him. I wonder what happened.

 

[j chit]

I just grab up my wd40 and some 150 or 220 grit sandpaper when it's time to address my cases. Takes a hour or so but its cheap and give em a nice satin finish

 

[anitasanger]

Excellent replies everyone! A lot of good advice and pics. Very helpful! To do bead/soda blasting on the actual cases, are they going to have to be removed first? Sorry if this is a moronic question.

 

[Mojomick]

I polished my gearbox. I started with a file and ended with 1200 grit, prior to getting the mop out. I haven't got a proper polishing wheel, so I used a pedestal drill.

This is how it started



And this is how it ended up.





It takes a lot of time and effort doing it by hand, but it beats watching T.V..

 

[hogster]

polishing builds strong finger muscles,which is handy if you ever have to do some polishing

 

[Colin_In_Ottawa]

polishing builds strong finger muscles,which is handy if you ever have to do some polishing

Now that's deep!

 

[anitasanger]

Very nice mojomick! That's a really clean looking trans case man! Guys, can the cases be media blasted without be splitting them?

 

[Duncan of Kent]

That's not a good idea. Media blasting particles (the media with which they blast, such as Garnet, Sand, Glass beads, even ground up nut shells) will find its way into every nook and cranny possible. If it gets inside the engine....goodnight vienna. Take the engine apart, totally. Get the parts blasted, vapour is best, then blow every hole, crevice etc with compressed air, wipe the cases over with thinners, and blow again. You simply DON'T want blasting media in your engine. Much the same with polishing soap, it'll wreck an engine. Even if my media blaster swears on his mothers life that he's cleaned out any crud, I do it again myself. After all, he swore on HIS Mothers life, not mine!

 

[Rotten Egg]

Mojomick Awesome job on the gearbox.

I usually don't have the patience to do the job "correctly" like Mojomick, sometimes taking a piece directly to the buffing wheel after cleaning. The results usually make me happy.
Why don't you describe what result you're looking for, that way the guys can give you more specific advice.

On my '72 I just cleaned the motor as best as I could, removed the cases & polished them. Looked 100 times better than before.
(in the before & after pics, the top end was done, so the pieces were off the motor)

 

[anitasanger]

Wow rotten egg that looks amazing! Great job! The look I'm going for is basically the cases to look like new cast aluminum, then i'd like the covers to be somewhat buffed looking, as well as the heads. While the super shiny mirrored look is amazing, I'm not wanting to go that far.

I bought the bike and the jugs and heads were in a box. The guy said the lower end is good, but some people on here have told me to go through it anyway just to check. I'm thinking that if I do all that, I may as well clean the motor perfectly. I'm just concerned that if I split the cases, I'll get in deeper than I hoped to be. I plan on getting the lowbrow DVDs, but I have a few questions now. If I want to just split the cases to clean the sludge trap and soda blast the cases, is at going to cost me any money other than replacement gaskets? Will I need special tools just to get them apart for cleaning?