Want to shine up the engine area.

[syren]

What products should I use to shine up my engine parts? I have my tank / carbs off now so I have good access to the engine. What kind of things should I use to get the engine all nice and shiny like a new bike, is this even possible. What products and tools do you guys use? I have a 79 gs850 but the metal is like gray and dingy looking.

[cp___32]

For cutting grease and grime I like either, Castrol Superclean (it's a purple liquid) but it's hard on the hands sometimes, Simple Green, or a new product I found called "Mean Green" (Comes in a white spray bottle with an orange and white label), that stuff cuts through a lot of stuff. Gunk Engine Degreaser works well too.

Microfiber towels and some mother's mag and aluminum polish works well on bringing the shine back to aluminum.

You can bring shine back to chrome and take some of the pitted rust spots off with a bit of aluminum foil, but with anything shiny you have to be really gentle with it otherwise you'll scratch it.

Most of that should be alright but if you're trying to shine up the hoses and stuff, I'd ask for some other advice because some products might work, but also might cause drying/cracking of the rubber, and you definitely don't want that.

[first timer]

tooth brush, kerosene, scotch brite pad, spray with simple green to break up the kerosene then hose off with water.

And LOTS AND LOTS OF PATIENTS AND ELBOW GREASE!

[syren]

That brings up another dumb question, is the outside of the aluminum or chrome?

[syren]

tooth brush, kerosene, scotch brite pad, spray with simple green to break up the kerosene then hose off with water.

And LOTS AND LOTS OF PATIENTS AND ELBOW GREASE!

Do I apply it then let it set in for an hour or two then clean off?

[first timer]

what the kerosene or the green? The kerosene will break up any oil based grim pretty quick and the brush and scotch brite will help remove any crud and corroision. Spray the green let it sit for a few minutes then hose off, The kerosene does most of the work, the green just removes the lighter weight kerosene.

Grime and oxidation will only be removed by elboe grease no amount of soaking will remove that.

you remove the grease first to see what you have under everything then remove the oxidation

[cp___32]

My GS550 L has quite a few Chrome accessories, but for the most part the engine and components are not chrome. I don't know if they're aluminum or steel, but considering the weight I would assume steel.
I have looked at my share of older cars, and people telling me things are steel when they're clearly not...when in doubt, grab a magnet.

[Big T]

That brings up another dumb question, is the outside of the aluminum or chrome?

It's all aluminum. Some covers will be" polished" and covered by a clear sealer that yellows with age.

Some covers are painted a grayish silver color, as are the main cases. You can carefully clean these, but don't abrade off the paint

There's several good articles on polishing your parts. Just search for them.