cleaning engine casing

[Guest]

Hello everyone,
Ive been seeing restored bikes that have the engine casings cylinders and heads nice and bright like they just came out of the factory,does anyone know how there doing this ? Ive seen plenty of stuff including oven cleaner,not sure about useing that though.As always any suggestions would be great.

Thanks

[Pb9717]

regarding aluminum side casing polishing, heres a thread thats very helpful...you'll need to remove the original clear coat. Aircraft paint remover spray available from autozone works fine.


http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?240084-How-to-clean-up-the-aluminum-cases&highlight=polishing+aluminum


If you're cylinder color is silver, and you want to find a matching paint, everything you need to know is right here......

You will need to completely degrease the engine casing before painting,

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?243254-Engine-Casing-Paint-info-any-help-appreciated&highlight=

[Pb9717]

Your post this morning inspired me to give polishing the rear drum hub on my Yamaha DT400C Enduro a go. A friend of mine lent me his buffing wheel, and I had a Harbor freight headlight repair kit in the shed. So with some water, a handheld power drill, the headlight kit, then finally the cotton buffing wheel with some white polish....here's the before and after..

Before...


After



The whole job didn't take an hour, and the headlight kit is a whopping 13 bucks, and I only used 2 of the pads in the kit. The buffing wheel, that was a loaner, but can be had for, I think around $100 bucks at harbor freight.

Hope this inspires you.....

[Big T]

Casings, cylinders and heads get that clean from media blasting when the engine is completely disassembled

[Kiwi Canuck]

I am in the process of restoring a GS650E and am about to start on the engine cleanup. You can see my previous attempt here on a GS1000S.

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum...-Rebuild/page3 Post #98

First off, to remove the majority of the road grim and oil off the engine I use some form of Simple Green or an Orange Citrus cleaner degreaser in a spray bottle, after application, I power wash it with an electric pressure washer, usually around 1500 PSI max and try not to spray too close to the exhaust or inlet ports even though I've installed caps inside them and sealed them, water still finds it way in there.

Gas powered pressure washers are usually too powerful and will force water past the seals and gaskets, unless you are going to tear the motor down right away I'd steer clear of those.

Easier to do if you remove the engine and it only takes another hour or so once the Fuel tank, carbs etc. are off.

Use a fine stainless or steel wire brush to get into the fins to loosen any corrosion or debris, also a stiff nylon bristle brush can work as well.

As far as painting, it's better to disassemble the engine to do it properly or should I say thoroughly and another vote for VHT SP127 Universal Aluminum as it's about as close as you can get.

As far as polishing engine cases which you need to do something with them after repainting the engine here is a good overview from Caswells.

http://www.caswellcanada.ca/shop/userfiles/buffing%20booklet(1).pdf

Good luck and post some pictures to show us how it turned out.

David

[limeex2]

The process your probably seeing is called vapor blasting. Its amazing. Check this one out, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqHcSVLB9fw then search a couple more. Big, flat surfaces are fairly easy to do but when you see this process and you want perfection this is the way to go. Its not cheap but in my opinion, it looks better than new.

[bobgroger]

If you do media blast it be SURE to thoroughly clean it, the media is incredibly abrasive. Run the parts through the dishwasher a few times while the spouse is out....

[rustybronco]

Small wire brushes, a wire wheel chucked in a drill motor and quite a few Scotchbrite pads.

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?179245-De-stinking-Penelope&p=2101836#post2101836

Eastwood engine paint...

http://s32.photobucket.com/user/rustybronco/media/P_20140824_174849.jpg.html

[Denman2112]

Wow ! Beautiful job,yes im inspired !

[Denman2112]

Thank you all ! some great ideas !!!