Engine cleaning - after wire wheel?

1sttimer

1sttimer

Over 1,000 Posts
Hey guys, I know there's a thread going on about this kind of stuff but mine's a little more specific. I have cleaned some engine parts with a wire wheel and it did a freaking fantastic job of cleaning, as well as leaving some pretty deep scuff marks. I only cleaned the small parts that could be returned to a polish before I went any further without asking.

What do you guys do after wire wheeling to smooth out the swirls (besides going to polish)?
 
It's almost like the wheel is pitting it.

ytygavab.jpg
 
It's a little late I guess but I don't wire wheel aluminum parts. You get exactly what you see. Its better to use paint stripper and sand paper. Wire wheels are considerably stronger than aluminum and will eat it rather quickly.

Now to fix your problem, start with 80 grit paper and work the pits out. Follow in steps with finer grade paper to around 400-600 until things are smooth again. Then either paint or polish.
 
yeah the only thing you can do with that now is semi-hard pad wet sand it in stages
once you get it smooth you could start power buffing/polishing in stages
on my bikes i will blast and paint the head/cylinders with something durable like gunkote, but for cases i leave em natural,patina, they are going to get dirty and are impossible to keep clean if you actually ride
once you start polishing it only leads to more endless polishing if you want it to keep on lookin' all polishy ,bare polished aluminum starts coroding the second you stop polishing,and shows scratches extremely well
way too much work for a bike that gets ridden in my ho
 
+1 with wot "H" says softly softly makey shiney 8) we've both had bleedin finger ends wiv endless polishin :'( but our rides show the results :pwot u say H ;)
 

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Thanks for the insight guys. Luckily I only did a little test spot knowing I could sand it out. I only did it on one cover plus this is just a spare engine I have to experiment with. Assuming I can make it look better than the one I have in my bike now, I was going to change it out because I don't like the painted look I have going on anymore.

Can someone elaborate on the paint stripper method? Did Honda clear coat the engine or something from the factory?
 
this is what comes to mind when i think of engine polishers ;D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpOBgvHmqf4
 
yorkie350 said:
+1 with wot "H" says softly softly makey shiney 8) we've both had bleedin finger ends wiv endless polishin :'( but our rides show the results :pwot u say H ;)
Click to expand...

Now that's the deep glow of polished aluminum that I love!! Good wrk Yorkie.
 
xb33bsa said:
yeah the only thing you can do with that now is semi-hard pad wet sand it in stages
once you get it smooth you could start power buffing/polishing in stages
on my bikes i will blast and paint the head/cylinders with something durable like gunkote, but for cases i leave em natural,patina, they are going to get dirty and are impossible to keep clean if you actually ride
once you start polishing it only leads to more endless polishing if you want it to keep on lookin' all polishy ,bare polished aluminum starts coroding the second you stop polishing,and shows scratches extremely well
way too much work for a bike that gets ridden in my ho
Click to expand...

I'm trying to do something similar. I want to leave the cases assembled because everything works. The kickstart seems like it intermittently gets hung up or something but as long as I don't see any gear teeth when I change the oil I'm going to just clean the cases and leave as is.

The only problem is that it looks like there was some sort of crustacean growing on it haha. I can get the crustys off but it looks like something has seeped into the pores of the aluminum. There are some spots that are dark and some that are light. Looks like a cow.
 
I'm not trying to get out of hand sanding, but have any of you guys used these? They are 3M bristle discs and come in grits between 80-120 grit. They say the 120 grit is safe for gasket surfaces and leaves almost a polished look. They are expensive as crap though.

e7edy6ug.jpg
 
you will only make that pitted case worse :-[ with that
unless you have magical control

wet sand it(dawn dish soap and warm water) with a decently firm hard foam rubber backup pad using hi quality wet dry paper, start out course 120 will really remove some material
 
1sttimer said:
Can someone elaborate on the paint stripper method? Did Honda clear coat the engine or something from the factory?
Click to expand...


Yeah they polished some parts and then clear coated them. Some they just painted. Clear coat will turn yellow or white with age and sun exposure so fastest thing to do is remove it with aircraft paint stripper you can get at the auto parts store comes in spray can or liquid you can apply with a brush.

Stuff is caustic as hell though wear long sleeves and gloves maybe a face mask when you use it. It can cause chemical burns faster than you can wash it off.
 
frogman said:
Yeah they polished some parts and then clear coated them. Some they just painted. Clear coat will turn yellow or white with age and sun exposure so fastest thing to do is remove it with aircraft paint stripper you can get at the auto parts store comes in spray can or liquid you can apply with a brush.

Stuff is caustic as hell though wear long sleeves and gloves maybe a face mask when you use it. It can cause chemical burns faster than you can wash it off.
Click to expand...

Yea I've used it. I just had no idea they applied clear at the factory. Maybe I should send it back to them to re clear when I get done rebuilding ;)

I'll do the aircraft stripper first. Thanks man.
 
1sttimer said:
Can someone elaborate on the paint stripper method? Did Honda clear coat the engine or something from the factory?
Click to expand...

Yes, Mother Honda did clear coat the polished aluminum bits... problem is once the clear-coat is compomised the aluminum starts to oxidize under neath it, white chalk is the results.
To strip off the rock hard clear-coat, the best I have found is Aircraft Stripper available at any local Auto parts store...

aircraft-stripper.jpg



That being said, next is good ol elbow grease in the form of hand sanding as mentioned.


Thanks Yorkie... we do know our way around the block eh-what? ;)
I am away from home for work and on the laptop so most of my pics are unavailable at the moment. But here's a taster.

covers_zps156b5a89.jpg


2013-01-27_15-38-53_669_zps129d8a62.jpg
 
Thanks guys. I think I found a guy that locally soda blasts. So I'm gonna give that a shot too. I think I'm going to strip the thing with aircraft stripper, then hand it to him to blast away on the thing. I'll probably end up polishing the side covers, because I have to sand that one side anyway :( haha

As I said, this one is all experimental. I know as a fall back I can always tear it down and blast my mistakes off and start fresh.

Boy do I want some of that nice polished work on a bike of mine in the future :)
 
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