oxidized engine side covers

cosack54 · Posted: June 12, 2009, 7:45 am Post subject: oxidized engine side covers

Hey everybody! 1981 XS650SH with the engine side covers badly oxidized. They have lost any gloss they once had. Were these covers coated with anything from the factory or were they just polished? Looking for a way to bring back the luster. Seems some areas still have like a shiney coating while the rest looks dull and rough.If I can't restore, I was thinking of painting them black. A high gloss will be better to clean than a matte or flat black, I suppose. What should I try for, appearence or orignality? Can you reccomend a polish or aluminum restorer? Or maybe a good choice of paint for this project?

impala4speed · New Member Joined: Jul 06, 2007 Posts: 7 Location: NE Ohio

The covers were clear-coated from the factory which starts to look fairly nasty after all these years. What I did to mine was to first strip the clear off; I used Jasco stripper. Once the clear was completely cleaned off I started the sanding process. Begin with 240 grit then 320, 400, 600, 1000 and finally 1500. You can finish with 2000 if you have it. By this time the aluminum is very smooth so you can begin polishing. I used Never-Dull wadding with Mother's Aluminum Polish. Then polished with Simichrome. To help protect it use a good polish or wax. I used Mother's automotive polish. Yeah, it's a lot of work but well worth the effort. If you were to paint them black, you'd have a fair amount of work involved just to prep them properly for paint so why not invest a little more time and effort to get the aluminum looking good again? Just my opinion.

Denny

nudude53 · Posted: June 12, 2009, 10:54 pm Post subject: Re: oxidized engine side covers

Impala is correct, the work is well worth the effort.
Additional notes:

Clear can also removed using acetone and a scotchbrite pad

ake sure to use wet-or-dry sandpaper and plenty of clean water, clean polished cases really make the bike.

If it works out for you polish the lower fork tubes too.

cosack54 · Last edited by cosack54 on June 14, 2009, 8:31 pm; edited 1 time in total

Sorry for the delay to your responses.....some things tend to get in the way. Once you get THEM out of the way, you can get back to the interesting things! Anyway, thanks for your tips Impala4speed and nudude53. Sounds like you guys would rather go with the ploished aluminum. To tell you the truth, I wanted to stay with the aluminum myself. Just needed some tips on how to go about getting the finish back. Hey Impala..gorgeous work there on your bike. Saw pictures of your bike here earlier, made me want to stay with original look when I saw it! Thanks so much!!

nudude53 · Posted: June 14, 2009, 8:30 pm Post subject: Re: oxidized engine side covers

No prob, that's why we're here. Post some pics when done please.

cosack54 · Posted: June 14, 2009, 8:34 pm Post subject: Re: oxidized engine side covers

You bet nudude! going to try to send only good picture I have with me on the bike here soon.

cosack54 · Posted: June 14, 2009, 9:14 pm Post subject: Re: oxidized engine side covers

Here she is ...I hope!. First time trying to post a picture. Wish I knew how to get a bigger picture here. I guess this will have to do for now!

nudude53 · Posted: June 14, 2009, 9:22 pm Post subject: Re: oxidized engine side covers

Those covers on your bike will be a snap to polish, the one in the pic that I posted had been sitting outdoors for 18 years and was very pitted from corrosion. Elbow grease is cheap.

650skull · Support Staff Joined: Jul 19, 2007 Posts: 1186

Here is an old post on the subject, and yea it really dosen't take a lot once it is finished........... Laughing

. The end product is worth the time and the satisfaction is better. Web Page Name Looking at your photo your cases won't take much at all............Start with 600-800 wet and dry 1000, 1200, then polish, will give a good shine go to 2000 if you want to blind yourself, and use water on the sandpaper

cosack54 · Posted: June 15, 2009, 3:07 pm Post subject: Re: oxidized engine side covers

Have some irons in the fire that need tending, so I will get to these soon but never soon enough. Tips and information= desired results.

Thanks everybody!!

Joseph · Full Member Joined: May 22, 2007 Posts: 767 Location: NY

cosaxck54, do you know what that 2 into 1 exhaust is? What make? There is another post right now trying to identify the same ones. Or, now i'm looking at the pic again maybee those are 2 into 2.

impala4speed · New Member Joined: Jul 06, 2007 Posts: 7 Location: NE Ohio

That's a nice looking bike. I see that the cylinders barrels are black; polished side covers would look really nice against them.

Denny

Xumi · Posted: June 16, 2009, 10:47 am Post subject: Re: oxidized engine side covers

Nice. I have only a few tips from polishing as I just finished my forks:

Start with fine emmary paper instead of wet/dry. It will take the clear coat off pretty quick, and will remove pits with less effort.

#000 steel wool works wonders for the first stage polishing (after sanding), and is super cheap.

cretin75xs650 · Full Member Joined: Dec 24, 2008 Posts: 99

I did the wet sanding first, then used fine steel wool, then finished them by polishing by hand.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

cosack54 · Posted: June 16, 2009, 3:21 pm Post subject: Re: oxidized engine side covers

To Joseph: The exhaust on my bike are from Dennis Kirk. The make is called "Mac" they are two into one. I think they look pretty good on this bike and they give you a little extra power...probably less than 5hp. The chrome looks good but mine have blued up a bit before I rejetted the carbs. You know how lean this year bike can be(plugged air/fuel screws). www.denniskirk.com

To cretin75xs650: Nice job on those side covers man! Hope mine turn out like that. Mine are'nt that pitted but if I wait another couple of years they will be.

I can't thank you guys enough for the info I've recieved and nobody has grilled me for any of my questions! I like that! Sooo many good ideas!!!

nudude53 · Posted: June 16, 2009, 11:22 pm Post subject: Re: oxidized engine side covers

I got a little carried away with the sandpaper, now all I need to do is polish it up and even I won't know what I'm riding anymore.

cosack54 · Posted: June 17, 2009, 7:24 am Post subject: Re: oxidized engine side covers

Well nudude! I guess your well on your way with these covers. Bet you can't wait to get into all those nooks and crannies with all that polishing! Thats one of the things I'm not really looking forward to. My fingers are not as young as they used to be...if you know what I mean? I will put forth serious effort to get these looking good. Pit bull tenacity you know!
To be continued......

nudude53 · Posted: June 17, 2009, 11:56 am Post subject: Re: oxidized engine side covers

Yea cosak, that is another experiment I tried that came out rather well. Sometimes I felt like I was riding around on a billboard.
The only problem that I ran into was cutting that deep into the cover starts to reveal small casting pits and flaws in the aluminum, they will be visible when it's polished, but not noticable unless you're really looking for them. 650central offers a cover plate to hide that Yamaha logo as well, but it requires drilling through the cover and I'm not sure about doing that on the side that holds oil, that seems to invite trouble. As far as polishing goes, that's what my brother is for, he loves to make things shiny.

Here are the links with the how-to on it.
www.650motorcycles.com...imary.html
www.650motorcycles.com/dial.html

cosack54 · Posted: June 17, 2009, 1:35 pm Post subject: Re: oxidized engine side covers

Hey nudude! I'm sure, being aluminum, it did'nt take to long to take it down to that point but I bet it things around the shop were a mess with all that aluminum dust! WOW! Looks like the sufface is really smooth. No uneven areas or dips. How do you get into those tight areas and polish them so well?. Seems if you use a buffing wheel, it will not get in the tiny corners or crevices. Are you using a smaller dremel type tool with some sort of polishing tip? Sure is a one of a kind side cover but I think I'll keep the "YAMAHA" logo on mine. You have more tenacity than I do! Beatiful job man!!

nudude53 · Posted: June 17, 2009, 2:13 pm Post subject: Re: oxidized engine side covers

Yep, a dremel is one way to get into the really tight spots, and a foam ball polisher sold at autoparts stores works good on the places that are too large for the dremel and too small for the buffing wheel. As far as tenacity goes, I'm not so sure about that, some projects are just perfect for rainy days and the time you spend waiting for parts to come in.

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