Post by Lake on Jan 6, 2010 9:12:58 GMT -5
I'm just started cleaning up the engine casings after a couple of hard winters and too much riding on salty roads. The weather has taken its toll and the casings are badly corroded/pitted. I'm not after a mirror finish, merely something that I can wipe over with an oily rag to keep looking presentable. I was going to document it fully in one shot but found this link by chance that goes into more detail, it has excellent tips on polishing and finishing aluminium. I won't be going that far, I'll stop when I use 2000 grit Wet'n'Dry. I hope this article is of some use to someone. www.imoc.co.uk/forums/kb.php?mode=article&k=113
Anyway, here's a couple of pictures of my corroded clutch side casing, quite bad isn't it. However once the lacquer was off it was easy to see that a lot of the marking was damaged lacquer, damage to the casing wasn't as bad.
...and here's a shot after the first stage of prep using 320 grade Wet and Dry, I've removed the heavy corrosion and evened most of the casing surface - the dark patches are just water stains (I'll be changing the seals as well). With hindsight a finer paper may have been better at this stage but I'lll polish out the marks left by the 320 using 600.
I had intended to get it finished in a couple of days but Carlisle is snowed in almost and Jacobs school is closed, so we've spent polishing time out sledging - Oh happy days!
I'll update this as I go along, but it may take some time.
Anyway, here's a couple of pictures of my corroded clutch side casing, quite bad isn't it. However once the lacquer was off it was easy to see that a lot of the marking was damaged lacquer, damage to the casing wasn't as bad.
...and here's a shot after the first stage of prep using 320 grade Wet and Dry, I've removed the heavy corrosion and evened most of the casing surface - the dark patches are just water stains (I'll be changing the seals as well). With hindsight a finer paper may have been better at this stage but I'lll polish out the marks left by the 320 using 600.
I had intended to get it finished in a couple of days but Carlisle is snowed in almost and Jacobs school is closed, so we've spent polishing time out sledging - Oh happy days!
I'll update this as I go along, but it may take some time.
