best way to clean and make aluminum shine again

[timebombprod]

for the engine section of my bike im wondering the best way to clean all the aluminum, try to make it all one shade, and make it shine or if it doesnt really shine then brand new, i can use whatever tools, a pressure washer, whatever as the motor would be apart and it would simply be cases at this point getting cleaned.

also, anything for chrome? if theres an in depth cleaning and shining process to chrome i would also like to know that.

also plastic? anything to make it not so dull and old looking?

 

[Burque73]

As suggested by many other GSR folks, I used aircraft stripper to get the clear coat off of the case covers. It's super nasty stuff so don't breathe, open your eyes or let the kids play near you while using it. After spraying the stripper the clear coat just scrapes off with a plastic putty knife or credit card.

I bought a couple of polishing wheels for the drill and a few flavors of compound from Harbor Freight, setup shop in the yard and in an afternoon polished this stuff up. Not nearly as good as some others I've seen here, but I'm happy.


I masked off the area around the letters and sprayed some gloss black over it, wiping off the excess with acetone before it dried. Again, not as good as others, but good enough. I initially forgot about the circle around the perimiter but did eventually paint that too.

Chrome and plastic I haven't tackled yet.

Before
20210501_202759 by Roger, on Flickr


Masked and ready to paint
2022-01-23_03-11-52 by Roger, on Flickr



After
Polished covers by Roger, on Flickr


20210611_150442 by Roger, on Flickr

 

[timebombprod]

Wow that's a huge difference, definitely what I'd be looking for, what do you think about doing it to the cylinder walls aswell?

 

[Cipher]

Wow that's a huge difference, definitely what I'd be looking for, what do you think about doing it to the cylinder walls aswell?

arent cylinders painted silver?
If not vapor blasting would be the way to go I think

 

[timebombprod]

im honestly not sure how the cylinder walls are done, i wish i knew that much about my bike

 

[oldGSfan]

I painted my GS1100's entire engine with VHT but left the GS1000's cylinder barrel bare since it looked fine to me. Not sure what the purists prefer, but both look OK to me, I am not entering concours restoration contests. I did paint the 1000's head and for some reason the paint has a bit of gold tinge to it, maybe I used a different VHT than the GS1100. Oops! Oh well. The nu cast aluminum is the brighter and more original one I think.

For chrome it depends, is it rust and pitting you are trying to solve? There are many ways to approach that, some chemical, some mildly abrasive but be careful.

Plastic is tricky, such things as airbox and switches get sun bleached and I don't know of any permanent fix other than painting them with plastic paint. You can treat them with stuff like Mother's back to black, it will help for a while.

 

[timebombprod]

No rust or anything on the chrome, there's minimal scratching on certain bits and just wondering if there's anything you do about it and also to get it to shine the best.

Honestly, how does painting the engine black go? Sorry there's alot of ideas going on right now in my head I just wonder the best way to approach them.

 

[rphillips]

Hard to imagine nobody's mentioned "Semichrome Polish" & "NeverDull". All bike shops carried it in yrs. past, I'd guess polishing alum. is what it was for. Been working pretty good since the late 70's.

 

[timebombprod]

ill have to check all these out, but im wondering if im going to paint the motor black, im planning to really make this bike mine.

full rebuild, bore, full repaint, a proper aftermarket intake setup and tune, replacing or greasing all bearings, replacing any seals or gaskets that need it, deleting any unnecessary to me parts and wires, rerouting wiring, electronic units, cables, all that. ill be fine with the engine rebuild as i have done a few now and two being DOHC inline fours, but i definitely need help on the cosmetic side of things and the smaller stuff. there will be before and after pictures forsure, not sure when this will all start but ofcourse it all really starts with an idea.

does anyone have a downloadable template of a GS by chance, like a stencil type drawing of one of these thats not coloured in? does anyone know where i could possibly find one?

 

[oldGSfan]

My older brother would pay me a buck to polish his Triumph cases with Simichrome when I was a kid in early 70s. It's great stuff. At one point I had Autosol, some watery stuff for gun cleaning that people swore by but I forgot the name, Simichrome and Mothers mag and aluminum polish so I did an unscientific test with them all. The Mothers was my favorite and the cheapest as well by far. I never liked the NeverDull wadding but people seem to. It's almost like an oil thread The Mothers tub lasts me for ages.

Hard to imagine nobody's mentioned "Semichrome Polish" & "NeverDull". All bike shops carried it in yrs. past, I'd guess polishing alum. is what it was for. Been working pretty good since the late 70's.

 

[Grimly]

My older brother would pay me a buck to polish his Triumph cases with Simichrome when I was a kid in early 70s. It's great stuff. At one point I had Autosol, some watery stuff for gun cleaning that people swore by but I forgot the name, Simichrome and Mothers mag and aluminum polish so I did an unscientific test with them all. The Mothers was my favorite and the cheapest as well by far. I never liked the NeverDull wadding but people seem to. It's almost like an oil thread The Mothers tub lasts me for ages.

Oh, far gawd's sake, you had to go and remind me of Brasso Finger.

 

[Cipher]

My older brother would pay me a buck to polish his Triumph cases with Simichrome when I was a kid in early 70s. It's great stuff. At one point I had Autosol, some watery stuff for gun cleaning that people swore by but I forgot the name, Simichrome and Mothers mag and aluminum polish so I did an unscientific test with them all. The Mothers was my favorite and the cheapest as well by far. I never liked the NeverDull wadding but people seem to. It's almost like an oil thread The Mothers tub lasts me for ages.

mothers is superb al lot finer than some others ive used.

Some youtube vids of people buffing auto paint with it to glass-like shine.
Ive used it after a multi grit wet-sand progression 400-800-1000-2000 and it turns suzuki cases and fork tube into mirrors.

ive used nevr dull and never liked it thought it was crap. probably used it wrong as it may be more of a coating than a polish

 

[chuck hahn]

Hard yellow wheel on my Eastwood buffer machine with BLACK MAGIC rouge. Paint stripper any clear way before polishing. Do all the covers and forks on 2 or 3 hours. Then clean with acetone and buff in WIZARDS POWR SEAL to seal the raw metal from oxidation. See any of my project threads for dozes of pictures.

 

[Cipher]

Hard yellow wheel on my Eastwood buffer machine with BLACK MAGIC rouge. Paint stripper any clear way before polishing. Do all the covers and forks on 2 or 3 hours. Then clean with acetone and buff in WIZARDS POWR SEAL to seal the raw metal from oxidation. See any of my project threads for dozes of pictures.

omg hi chuck whats up?

 

[limeex2]

Use 000 grit steel wool on chrome. Been using it for 30 years cheap at home depot.

 

[Guest]

anyone have any experience using lime away or other hydrocloric acid products on aluminum?
it did an awesome job on my exhaust pipes, but i cant really find any info on using it to clean the aluminums

 

[Cipher]

anyone have any experience using lime away or other hydrocloric acid products on aluminum?
it did an awesome job on my exhaust pipes, but i cant really find any info on using it to clean the aluminums

acid on aluminum?
as suzuki casings are an alloy containing lead id not do it. ALso acid will pit and make the surface are larger thus accelerating future oxidation

 

[xkaes]

also, anything for chrome? if theres an in depth cleaning and shining process to chrome i would also like to know that.

You can get chrome polish at any auto supply store -- there are probably more than one brand. But if there is tar or rust on the chrome, you have to deal with that first.