Help me with my addiction

Got a wild hair and pulled my "Yics" panels off and polished them up. Very happy with the results but as mentioned above it has become an addiction. I want to pull the left side cover off - the one that is penetrated by the shifter rod and has the oil breather line out the top. My question is will there be oil behind that cover? I assume there will be since the breather is right there??


Also, has anyone had any luck spraying their polished aluminum work with some clear laquer? Or is it best to just plan on a weekly light polishing


What are the chances I'll stop after that cover???

 

Yup there be oil behind the panel. I removed the shift lever and polished in place.

It is an addiction. I have not clear coated

 

It's much easier to remove the cover and polish it when it's off. It's hard to get to the crevises and do a good job when it's on the bike.
I polished mine with a buffing wheel in the drill press and they turned out like chrome! You don't need to clear coat them if you get them shiny as I did. Just polish them once in awhile with some Mothers and they stay looking better than new.

 

I use a coat of automotive wax like Mothers. Helps prolong the shine that we all worked so hard to get.

 

Your addiction is compulsive reminecent of many here but you seem to recognise your problem and I am here to help you .

first off you have to get rid of the bike and you can't sell it because you will have cash in your hand and who knows what other addictions you may develope with all that cash.

so I propose that you go COLD TURKEY and dump that monkey on your back brother. I can stop by in the morning and if its too hard to watch you can leave the key and title under the seat and push it to the curb and go back to bed. when you wake up you will be free of the menacing addiction forever.

it won't hurt I promise.

:twisted:

 

Yeah, it's not good at all. I keep running out to the garage just to take a peek.

I do have a bad case of PMS.... I am shooting that Groundhog next year

 

LOL

 

I'm looking at buying a kit to start shining mine up.Have any of you guys tried this or something like it?

http://www.caswellplating.com/buffs/alpolkit.htm

 

Yup that should work just fine. That one has everything you should need to get the job done.
I bought all my stuff at Sears in the tool dept. I use my drill press to polish parts off the bike and my hand drill for parts on the bike. You won't believe how the dull parts can be transformed into a chrome finish with that stuff.
When I got my buffing pad and polishing compounds, I experimented with an old piece of aluminum I found in the trash pile. It took about 5 minutes to turn it into a chrome finish I could see myelf in.
If your parts are tarnished or scraped up too bad, you will first need to sand them with 600-1000 grit wet sand paper to get them smooth enough, before you start to polish them. I just makes the job easier and will take less time to polish. If they still have the factory clear coat on, sanding them will need to be the first thing you do. If you need to clean the parts first, I boil the parts in lemon juice first which cleans them off pretty good.

 

+1 on the kit. looks like the stuff I am using - I bought mine in pieces but amounts to the same thing.

 

My wife bought me a Dremel bit set for X-mas that had some small polishing wheels and a very small block of red rouge.I did some testing on my left YICS cover and it turned out pretty good,I just needed to find something that will work on a larger scale.

 

The dremel tool works good for hard to reach places, but seems to give too many swirls on larger projects. I burned mine up from working on fabricated parts, so they don't last when used repeatedly for hard cutting/polishing pojects. Infact, Im throwing another one in the trash with a burned up motor.That make two in a year! I gotta find something that can take the abuse.

 

Look at shaft driven tools like this kind of tool.

http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?FamilyID=5912

There are many brands. I have one for my woodcarving hobby but folks woh make dental appliances etc use similar device.

 

There ya go! By the looks of the price, it must be built pretty good. It looks like a good option. Thanks!!

 

I bought a $10 Ryobi kit from Home depot that has an arbor and three different size mini buffing wheels. I chunk my drill into my workmate and create a CBE (crude but effective) buffing stand.

HOWEVER; that being said--- depending on the part I do a lot of it by hand. There isn't a whole lot of polishing necessary to get from 2000 wet to the proper shine. What I DON'T want to do is to get the polished metal as shiny as chrome; it needs to be just a bit less shiny so it has that rich polished look. In many cases I find this easier to accomplish by hand.

There are areas on my Norton that need to be bright and clean but aren't SUPPOSED to be highly polished. For that I use Scotchbrite then stop.

 

if you decide not to take a cover off but are having a bad time getting the recess around the screws nice, i found you can take out one screw at a time
polish the recess and put the screw back and not get a leak
any scrapes you try to get out, use a block of wood behind the wet-dry
there won't be as much to buff back out
get some cheap cloth gloves, your fingers won't get tired trying to hold little corners of rags
if you try to buff up the screws, go easy, the plating's easy to buff right off
then they rust

 

I used 1500 grit and 2000 grit on mine and then I used a cordless drill and a powerball and mothers aluminum polish to shine but I am thinking of going back to original satin finish and using clear coat on it. it could save me a ton of time keeping it shiny.

time I could spend doing the mecanical work like valve adjusting , clutch plate replacing, new chain , New bearings for steering head and wheels. and a paint job.

I think thats what I 'll do as soon as the weather permits.

 

Geez.... Held my Yics covers up to the motor....set them back on the workbench.....Ordered shaft cover and alternator gaskets from Chacal....The insanity of it all....Has anyone ever polished their valve stems.....I need help

 

Almost there with the side cover

 

aww seca we almost got a face shot of u in the cover... darn

 

Hey Rob are you an alchemist, you have turned silver into pure gold :?

 

Here's what I use.
My little works of art are in my gallery.

 

Ya know. I have a lot of envy for you guys that can spend hours polishing and shining and rubbing, but my God. I have too much fun riding when the weather is nice to spend this time creating BLINGGGGG. If I was to shine it pretty like it would take about 20 minutes on the gravel to screw it all up again.

While you guys are spit shining, I'll be ridin'

After I pull hy helmet off I'l comb my hair in your aluminum. K?

The Buff

 

When the snow is piled-up half-way up the garage door; there's not much to do but watch the tube, play some tunes and pimp the bike.

I sometimes go-down and light the heater ... let the garage get warm enough to do some work ... and, just go over every single Rubber Part on the Bike with a quarter-inch of Armoral in the bottom of a Yogurt Cup and an Artists Paint Brush.

I just Paint the Armoral on and leave it.

Sometimes I get real Old School.
That's when you something like adding Crushed Velvet to the Battery Box.
Or, ... eliminate one or two Plug-in connections on the Wiring Harness with
some nice splices and Heat Shrink.

 

I know when you addicts run out of stuff to polish you're gonna feel REAL bad, so I'd like to help out! You're more than welcome to stop my my garage and "get you're polish on"! Seriously you're shine does look great! Leave the gravel roads for the dirt bikes.

 

wow that looks great!! i am about 40% done on mine and its making all the difference in the world as far as the way the bike looks. i think my buddy said it best when he saw it "i wouldnt say it looks like bling it just looks like you give a $#!t"

 

I like my bike to look good and still get plenty of riding time in. Besides Like Rob says is is an addiction (or sickness ). Its a bit of therapy too.

 

Yes. It is therapy.
Sometimes, just going down and taking care of something you've been wanting to do ... forever ... makes you feel better.

I want to change the Handle Bars on my Maxim.
But, I cant seem to find just the right replacements for the stockers.

 

Definately therapy..... Guys you can do it too - I have only about 1 1/2" hours in that side panel my YICS covers took about 30 minutes each. Alternator is next followed by the clutch cover

 

Very theraputic; not just polishing but wrenching, restoring, upgrading, servicing... In a clean, warm garage when there's two feet of snow outside. It doesn't cut into riding time, believe me.

I did a lot of this one by hand, it was very enjoyable, especially the part around the top where it has "2200cm3" cast into it.

 

Rick; Take a look at the "LTD" and "Nightwalk" bends, you might be interested. http://www.streetbikerider.com/h-bodypa ... master.htm This is NOT the cheapest place to get them, just the only one I could find with all of them listed for quick comparison. They usually run about $12-$20. I'm running the "European" on my Secas.

 

Fitz, that's where I am headed after the alternator. Your cases look great and are actually what inspired me!.

For those tight spots I found the dremmel works best.

Did you replace your bolts with stainless or just clean up the old one?

 

I had to get rid of my stock bars too, you might be interested in what I went to?

I put some bars on my bike that look closest to the "European" bars on that site.

 

Those look more like "Daytona" or "Superbike" bend. The "Euros" come back more and fall more at the ends. These are both Euro:

Those are the original bolts soaked in lime juice then scrubbed and polished. I chucked a q-tip in my cordless drill to clean out the heads. The cover was done off the bike (it was a replacement for the poorly repaired one that was on there.)

 

Fitz you must need lots of therapy time! Good attention to detail. I have ignored my bolts but the details make a huge difference.

 

Q-tips in the drill? Like the guinness beer commercial, BRILLIANT!

 

More "bling"

This is killing me..They are predicting 72 degrees here in Cincinnati and my 82 is in about 82 pieces

 

Thanks for the inspiration SecaRob.

I was going to spend my Sunday catching up on the stuff I'm "supposed" to be doing around the house but now it looks like I'm up for a bit of polishing!

My darling wife thanks you (not)!

 

Could not wait around on installation of the YICS emblems - too darn warm in Cincinnati today. Pretty happy with the results - sorta chrome with a touch of satin. Clutch cover is in the bullseye now

 

Those raised letters on the YICS Badge can be restored very easily.
Pick a Color at the Hobby shop.
Body Shop disposable Latex Gloves
3X5 Cards

Use double sided tape to secure YICS Badge to Bench
Pull-on Latex Glove -- Tight on Fingers -- NO wrinkles.
Place one or two drops of Color on 3X5 Card.
Drag razor blade over drop to spread paint thin on card
Roll your gloved finger in the Paint ... Fingerprint-style!
Roll Painted Fingertip on Badge ... Fingerprint-style.
Cover Badge with first coat.
DO - NOT - TOUCHUP
If you don't get the desired results the first time ...
Do a second application.
AFTER -- After >> After ... The FIRST Coat is COMPLETELY Dry!

 

Cool tip Rick. I tried a finger paint job but not as described and it didn't work out. I'm going to give that a try.

Rob VERY cool looking great.

 

Rick, thanks for the tip. My emblems are actually in great shape I just need to determine the best method to re-attach them. Any ideas?

Bill, thanks for the compliment

 

Automotive / AutoBody Supply Store
3M Automotive Trim Adhesive (Black - Double Sided)

Cut a rectangle slightly smaller than the Badge ...
Then, ... cut-out a rectangle from the inside of the Large piece ... leaving a Box Frame of Adhesive that will hold-on the Badge, ... but allow you to remove the Badge for repainting or touching-up in the future.

 

That motor looks fantastic, Rob, well done.

 

Wow,nice work.Now I just need to make mine look like that.

 

After doing all the cases on my two bikes; I know how you worked to bring-out the shine in those.
Exceptionally fine work!
I hope you had Mechanical help ... because, your arm socket would be in pain without it!!!

 

Thanks all, I'll post pictures of the right side as soon as I get around to the clutch cover

Rick, it's funny you mention the help. My youngest helped me the first night but when he came in from the garage the wife asked him what the black dots were all over his face..... Well needless to say she banned him from polishing duty....Women, they dont undestand that your not a man until you have eaten a pound of grease and grit

 

I just looked at the caswell kit and it is quite similar to the kit at Harbor Freight set for $14.99. Can't vouch for the quality but the Harbor Freight kit has more buffing wheels, especially the smaller ones but it does not contain the liquid white rouge. Hmmmmmmmm. Probably better look into some of that white rouge stuff! I'll bet it makes things REALLY shiny!

Looking for something to polish next. I think I will focus on any engine covers that come off easily.

I can really see how this polishing thing could become an addiction.


Chacal, looks like I will need to order some gaskets pretty soon.

 

Next Victim

 

SecaRob, you need to slow down a bit on this polishing thing or at least spread it over a few different bikes! The citizens in your community will go blind everytime you ride by! This will be a nice piece to polish. Nice fat areas without deep crevices and tight spaces.

Do you have a bench grinder with buffing wheels on it? This is the one single tool that saved me the most time.

I would be interested to know how much time you put into getting this piece polished!