400ex motor polishing

[JOHNDOE83]

Since the motor is on a stand I decided to try and polish it up a lil bit, I wanted more of a brushed look so I used some small wire wheel's on a drill in a inconspicuous spot on the motor to see how it would turn out. I also bought some different polishing compound's and some small rag wheel's to achieve different level's of polish until I find the one I want.

The small inconspicuous spot turned out good so I decided to go to town with the wire wheel. All the old grit and corrosion from 12 year's of ATVing is coming off fast and easily and not looking to bad either. Once I get the bulk of the old stuf off the motor Im going to start using the buff compound's.

My only issue now is something that fit's inbetween the fin's to polish them, inside the fin's can be only wire wheeled and not polished. I guess Im going to have to find a wire wheel for a dremel or a small stone polisher.

Here is some pic's of what the beginning looks like.

http://i953.photobucket.com/albums/ae15/johndoe83_2010/CAM00049.jpg
http://i953.photobucket.com/albums/ae15/johndoe83_2010/CAM00050.jpg
http://i953.photobucket.com/albums/ae15/johndoe83_2010/CAM00045-1.jpg
http://i953.photobucket.com/albums/ae15/johndoe83_2010/CAM00046-1.jpg
http://i953.photobucket.com/albums/ae15/johndoe83_2010/CAM00047.jpg
http://i953.photobucket.com/albums/ae15/johndoe83_2010/CAM00048.jpg

[DnB_racing]

from the looks of the pics, the lines caused by the wire wheel are pretty deep, you might want to do some hand sanding to save a BUNCH of time polishing out all those deep scratches from the wire wheel...

maybe the pics look deeper then they actually are, but any surface that doesnt need the wire wheel the better, use some 400 grit paper or steel wool instead of the wheel any place possible,

the wire wheel sometimes causes more damage then good, it adds hundreds of tiny scratches that hold dirt and grease and looks worse then if you never even buffed it

ive had a little better luck using a small hand wire brush, but a soft one I think its brass, but the softer the better, this way no deep gouges that the steel wire causes,

ive tried the soft wire wheels also and it left more marks then doing by hand

[Thumpin440ex]

A wire wheel is not the best to be used. It will cause scratches like you have, it makes polishing even more of a pita. Most of it needs to be done with wet sanding. I can not tell ya how many hours I have polishing diff parts of my bike. It is very time consuming but worth it if thats what your after..



John

[CJM]

Brass wire wheel. I used wire wheel to clean up my swingarm, worked really wheel and didnt scratch it.

[DnB_racing]

Originally posted by CJM
Brass wire wheel. I used wire wheel to clean up my swingarm, worked really wheel and didnt scratch it. im thinking the swing arm is harder then the cases, Ive used a brass on cases and it did leave some deep scratches, but like i said the small brass wire brush didnt work too bad, but you still had to be careful,

on cases wet sanding and steel wool always worked best for me