Cleaning/polishing engine case

wantsabike

wantsabike

Well-known member
So I noticed I’ve got the coating coming off the engine case of the bike, I was wondering if I had the case off.

Could I wet sand 600-800-1000-1500-2000, then polish with some chrome polish like mothers ? Will that make it look new again, or are there other ways you guys have done such ?
 

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wantsabike said:
Can’t load up the other pic of the other side says it too big
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Use imgbb to host pics. It's free and doesn't have size restrictions.

Imo, you are spending a lot of time and money on appearance for the S40. That's fine but know that you will get back zero for your effort when you sell. It is for personal gratification only.

As for polishing the case, you can but then you're on the treadmill. Polished unanodized aluminum goes dull quite quickly. That is an annoying shape to polish but obviously possible.
 
I just like a nice clean look, and take pride in my bike and how it looks.
Plus I figured I wanna check the chain cam tensioner so thought I’d try cleaning it up when I have the cover off
 
The areas where the coating has worn or corroded off will never match the areas where it hasn't come off, unless you polish the whole lot of it off, and then it won't match what's on the adjacent parts that haven't been treated ... and polished aluminium doesn't stay looking nice without regularly going after it. Personally ... no patience!

Easy and free option, particularly if the bike is for riding and not for being a showpiece, ignore it. Natural patina. Quite appropriate on an old machine.

If you're okay with it all looking consistent, if not OEM, I've had decent luck with Duplicolor aluminium wheel paint (Canadian Tire). Probably means thoroughly cleaning, scuffing, and masking both sides of the engine. It won't look like chrome, it will look silver metallic.
 
Ah I don’t wanna have to remove all the coating, I just thought maybe I’d get away with sanding and “feathering” the edges and blend it enough that I could polish it and make it shiny and clean looking

Guess I could always just remove em and paint it black to match the motor lol
 

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wantsabike said:
Ah I don’t wanna have to remove all the coating, I just thought maybe I’d get away with sanding and “feathering” the edges and blend it enough that I could polish it and make it shiny and clean looking

Guess I could always just remove em and paint it black to match the motor lol
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I think you'll find that trying to feather the failing clearcoat will cost you time and money and look worse than the current authentic patina. I'd leave it, polish all the way or paint them. Feathering wouldn't be on my list of options.
 
Makes sense, well maybe when I have the covers off when checking the cam chain tensioner I’ll clean it up and polish it about as best and as much as I can and let her ride

Maybe paint it in the future but we see, not sure if I’d care for the cases to be black. But we see over time lol
 
Exactly what Brian P. says.

You can do most of it with the cover on but it's more work. Probably about on par with getting the cover off and back on without it leaking oil. Got a new gasket?

That coating is a bugger to get off. I've heard of but havn't tried using Easy Off oven cleaner -Caution it's corrosive. You can sand it. Starting with 600 will take forever. I start with 320. Then - 400 - 600 - 800 or 1000. I have a buffing wheel on an old electric motor. With that and some jewelers rouge it will look like chrome in no time.

But again as mentioned it will stand out from the rest and will dull over time if you don't stay on it.

Any pride in a ride that ridden enough to wear of the clear coat?
 
Yes I have a new gasket for it just incase, this gasket is a steel gasket so they tend to last awhile, I haven’t checked the cam chain tensioner yet so I gotta take the cover off for it anyway. All got gasket for the exhaust too just incase
not to worried about it standing out as I tend to polish the chrome on rest of the bike when it looks dull or has water marks. Maybe I’ll just leave it though and see what I think near year maybe I’ll paint it black I dunno yet.

I just figured I could polish it with a bit of sanding but sounds like it would be a all day job potentially lol
 
wantsabike said:
It’s a steel core that’s sandwiched between like regular gasket material
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Gotta be careful with those. My buddy set one down on a bench but a little bit was hanging over the edge. He set something else down on top of it, and it bent the gasket slightly. Wouldn't seal properly any more with the small kink in it and no amount of finagling would make it straight again.

Off to the store to buy a new one...
 
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