Best way to polish old engine sidecovers any ideas??????

[gs650gman]

copy of thread

[Agemax]

with a lot of elbow grease mate. first clean them spotless. then, depending on condition, rub them down with wet and dry, using it wet. the rougher the finish depends on what grit you use. 800 is a good start then work up to 1200. once you are happy then its time to polish! use a good quality ali polish like mothers and sit there and rub like hell. a quicker way would be to use a polishing mop on a drill or a bench grinder.
a word of advice though is if you want show finish any slight scratch or blemish will show up like a sore thumb when you start polishing. same as spraying really,the final result is all sown to preperation. good luck

[oldsport]

copy of thread

I used this kit from good old harbor freight. $20.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=94962

I've only polished the easy parts to remove - ignition cover and drive sprocket cover. I plan to do the others when the next oil change is due.

It actually was pretty easy following their directions. I did both after work and before bedtime.

--- some additional info that should help

Before polishing, I stripped off the old clear coating with Jasco paint stripper. Be sure to wear some gloves when using this stuff. I brushed it on, waited 5 minutes and washed it off. I believe I applied it twice to get all the coating off.

To protect the black on the ignition cover, I taped over it with masking tape and trimed around the edge with an exacto knife. I was careful not to get the stripper on the tape.

Buffing worked best if I used gentle pressure. Also, I used my old plug-in drill rather than the new rechargable. It turns faster.

At first, it didn't seem like much of the compound was getting on the buffers but it must have because it seemed to work fairly quickly.

That's about it.