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Post by Just Plain Bill on Sept 21, 2008 21:42:51 GMT -5
I've been looking at photos of these fantastic SR500's on the forum, wondering how you guys get the cylinder heads and cylinders looking so "like new". Best I could come up with is a product called Kleen Strip Prep & Etch, with phosphoric acid in the formula. It's a definite improvement over 30 year old oxidized castings, but still lacking that new, fresh look. I'm hoping the secret isn't sand blasting, I don't plan on taking the engine apart and don't want to get sand in places it shouldn't be.
Any tips or suggestions would be appreciated.
Bill
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Post by wotavidone on Sept 21, 2008 22:28:53 GMT -5
I reckon you might be out of luck Bill.
I'd say the really sweet lookin jobs are hand polished while in pieces then assembled.
There are some soda blasting processes that apparently are safe to use on an assembled engine, but the articles I've read say they don't get things perfect, and because they don't get things super smooth there is, at the microscopic level, more surface area for oxidation so it does not look good for as long either.
On the other hand, I know this really obsessed guy who polished the cast aluminium frame of his Hyabusa while the bike was assembled. I'm talking from original rough casting to mirror finished, so it can be done. He had all sorts of little polishing mops for his electric drill, wet and dry paper, flash whacko polishing compounds etc..
If you come up with something, let us know.
Mick
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Post by Just Plain Bill on Sept 21, 2008 23:30:50 GMT -5
If the photos of some of these bikes are to be believed, this is certainly the place to "come up" with something Mick. But I'm not looking for polished cast aluminum parts, just super clean cast parts. If they oxidize and get dirty over time, I can live with it. (Though there are products for aluminum that are supposed to preserve and protect a highly polished finish -- I wonder if they would work on rough cast parts too?)
I'll do a search on soda blasting and see what comes up. Thanks.
Bill
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sven
Full Member
Posts: 166
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Post by sven on Sept 22, 2008 15:49:56 GMT -5
... super clean cast parts... ... require sand(rough & grey look) or glassball(smoother, silver look) blasting. Kind regards Sven |
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Post by wotavidone on Sept 22, 2008 17:19:11 GMT -5
Weellll............I would not normally mention this, as I consider the stuff to be very dangerous, and as a working lab technician I always tried to avoid it, but there used to be a product available from auto parts stores that would probably work well. If you are prepared to take a risk with your health and safety, let me know and I'll elaborate.
Mick
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Post by Just Plain Bill on Sept 22, 2008 18:57:06 GMT -5
PM sent Mick. We'll keep this our little secret. Although, I've looked into soda blasting and it's worth trying -- at least if I can find a local source for the media.
Sven, the glassballs is another good possibility. The phosphoric acid gave me a rough gray appearance -- a silvery look would be preferable.
Bill
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Post by StewRoss on Sept 23, 2008 3:33:09 GMT -5
Hi Bill, This is after 'hydo-blasting'...not sure what medium they used to do it. Not cheap...the end result almost looks as though the engine had been painted silver...  The head and barrel on this one have been wet-grit blasted (glass bead)...$40...  All of this was done with the engine apart of course. SR  |
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Post by soonerfan on Sept 23, 2008 8:08:02 GMT -5
Bill:
I don't know of a product that refurbishes cast aluminum back to its original luster. Many of the pics you see of bright castings is the result of a super cleaning and an application of high temperature aluminum silver spray paint. You can polish the engine side covers as you would any smooth aluminum part. XT engines can benefit from the same treatment with hight temp black spray paint.
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Post by Just Plain Bill on Sept 23, 2008 11:27:06 GMT -5
Hi Stew,
The photos aren't showing up. For the moment I'll take your word on their appearance. ;D I'm hoping not to take the engine apart for this operation.
Glass bead media is available locally -- in 50 pound bags; that's still an option. Soda blasting material doesn't seem to be available locally and I'm not sure that soda blasting is feasible for this small a project. It doesn't work well with regular blasting equipment (which I have), tho adapter kits can be found (USD $150) at Northern Hydraulics.
For some reason, I hadn't even thought of a high temperature silver paint Soonerfan. That would be an easy solution, if it doesn't look gaudy -- like aluminum paint usually does. The center cases of the SR500 engine appear to be painted (or powdercoated) silver too. That finish has held up well over the years.
Bill
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Post by StewRoss on Sept 23, 2008 16:58:35 GMT -5
Yes the site I use to host the pics can be a little hit and miss sometimes...I can see them at the moment.  SR |
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Post by Just Plain Bill on Sept 23, 2008 23:16:12 GMT -5
Photos are working right now Stew. It would be worth pulling the head and cylinder off to get results like that -- gorgeous! I picked up a 35 gallon plastic box and lid today at Wal-Mart and a small sheet of clear acrylic to make a window into the box. Going to make a blast cabinet out of it and try bead blasting. If it works, I'll post pictures. If it doesn't, where did I put that high temp silver paint  Bill |
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Post by StewRoss on Sept 24, 2008 7:08:56 GMT -5
Yes, not too difficult...here's another engine I have to do now...for the 'Ross brother's attack on the salt'...heh, heh...no more black barrel...  SR  |
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Post by soonerfan on Sept 24, 2008 7:57:10 GMT -5
Yes, I painted my case, jug and head with high temp aluminum spray paint. And it is bright, no doubt and not gaudy in my eyes. But I did remove the bolts, inspection cover, etc. before doing the deed, and it turned out pretty well. The media blasting would be the best method of course, but finding a facility experienced in aluminum cleaning is no small task.....and if they muck it up, all they can say is "oops, sorry about that".....and then you have a sorry looking lump of an engine, worse off than before.
And if you ultimately find an excellent media blaster or can do it yourself, one can always take that paint off sometime.
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Post by zacapasan on Oct 4, 2008 22:46:19 GMT -5
I've been reading thru these replies and I wish to put out a word of caution with abrasive media blasting. I recommend sand and glass beads be avoided. Particles may remain imbeded in the 'soft' aluminum - even after cleaning and come loose after the engine has warmed up contaminating the oil and possibly damaging a freshly assembled engine. I was an aircraft engine assembler for an O/haul shop years back - we cleaned crankcases with a stripper bath and used crushed walnut shells as an abrasive media to clean pistons and cylinders. The shells were hard enough to clean the metal but sofened when exposed to anything fluid like water or oil. We acid etched the aluminum with alumiprep and then applied a chemical conversion coating, alodine. These are nasty chemicals and are best left to a shop equipped to do the work. I also learned over the years that spraying WD-40 on the engine to preserve the outside is not IMHO recommended. WD40 breaks down and leaves acids in it's wake. The biker lads where I work use PAM cooking spray - totally organic. For polishing polished aluminum I'd recommend using a product called Nuvite. We use it to polish the bright work around the windshields and on the leading edges of the wings on our customers' Cessna Citation jet
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Post by superrat on Oct 21, 2008 16:59:43 GMT -5
I know this is off subject but the picture reminded me. What is the significance of the black barrel? I've seen old Brit bikes with black barrels and also Japanese bikes that have been restored. Just wondering.
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