Help Polishing

[James70214]

Ok I have read the old posts about polishing, but they did not help that much. I want to polish my side cases and my oil tank. Do I have to strip the metal first or can I just sand it? If i just strip it do I have to sand at all? What kind of stripper should I use? After I strip/sand the metal do I just use polishing compound and a buffing wheel?Any advice?

[CBW]

this is what works best for me.......stripping or sanding........it does not matter b/c sooner of later it all has to be smooth to get the best finish.....but if you want to strip it first to speed it up use kwik strip aircraft coating rimover which is availavle at wal mart or your local auto shop......then use 400 grit wet or dry .......wet works best to keep the paper from cloging up........then once the entire piece is smooth with no pits and stuff...(only thing left is the light scuffs from the sandpaper).....i take my buffing wheel with the tripoli compound, which has a light cutting action, and polish out the piece....of course some areas will be hard to get to....then to finish it out i change sides and use white rouge compound to get the final buff......the smoother the piece the better the finish so that any pits or left over schatces will not scatter the light in different directions.....here is my oil filter cover for my 400 it is not the greatest pic but the reflection of my webbing shows how good it shines....and it is even a little tarnished....... i also did my motor mounts which has to be smoothed quite a bit to get all the casting pits out............good luck....i have tried metal polishes but prefer the buffing wheel.......the key is to get it as smooth as possible:)


just bring your pieces on over..............i'll help ya.........(if you lived closer:) :) )

[CBW]

forks i polished for a guy..................

[James70214]

Thanks alot for the help. Do you have to sand the oil filter cover even if it does not ave any scratches? What is Tripoli compuond and where did you get it?

[CBW]

go to eastwoodcompany.com and they have all the compounds........and no if your oil filter cover has no scratches....just strip it and start polishing.........:)

[Poncho]

My little polishing job.Or I guess I would call it that.I just sanded the paint off and took aluminum polish and rubbed it on with a terry cloth.haha:D

Well I just finished doing mine and let me say it takes forever. The stock paint is very hard to get off. I ended up using stripper and lots of sand paper. I didn't get them as perfect as I wanted to but they look good enough. I probably put about 15 hours into them. I'm not sure where in Jersey you are from but if you want to check mine out, I live right near the Atco Motocross track. Let me know.

Jeremey
extreme440ex@aol.com

[400exRacerX]

Heres some of my parts, by they are alot shinier than polish. Its chrome!

[CBW]

the oil tank, motor mounts, and oil filter cover are polished and are every bit as bright as the nerfs which are chorme.........

[CBW]

this side case is not chrome either...........send me your stuff i will polish it up for minimal cost.......:p

[James70214]

Chris
Thanks for all the help. Today I did my motor mounts and oil filter cocer. Did you do the other small thing on the engine on the other side? By the Stator. Got any pics

[Chef]

Hey Chris, just out of curiosity, What exaust are you running? And have you tried polishing your Pingry's oil tank, or is it chrome? I want to try doing mine, but I cant get the exhaust off with the oil tank in the frame. I unbolted the oil tank, and it wont move far enough to get the exhaust off...any ideas?

[400exRacerX]

It looks like hes running stock head pipes that were just ceramic coated.

[CBW]

400exRacerX is correct...........they are the stock headpipes that i ceramic coated.....man that is hard to do!!!..........and i polished my pingry tank but in the pics it is a little tarnished..........it is pretty hard to get on and off no matter how you do it.......keep working at it that is what i had to do.


james70214.........no i havent polished the cover for the starter gears yet..........i was actually thinking of powdercoating all my side cases but havent decided on a color yet............