polishing stainless steel

Rufustbear

Rufustbear

Hero member
Location
Manchester
Rebuilding my jota moter after going bang at spa last year,seams a shame to put her back in and not polish the down pipes and box any one know of an easy way of polishing these items back to standard ?
 
Alloy wheel cleaner (hydrochloric acid) will remove all  staining, leaving the metal duller but bright silver including all the hard to reach areas.

A drill and buffing wheel kit makes light work of polishing stainless steel but wear a mask and eye protection (for the polishing) and expect to get covered in polish.

Something like this kit, they last for years.. usually ! http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PROFESSIONAL-ALUMINIUM-STAINLESS-STEEL-POLISHING-KIT-/110414279440?pt=UK_Motorcycle_Parts&hash=item19b5343310

Cheers Rob
 
Rufus

Rob's response pretty much covers it, I'll just add that I was in the same position as you after I mounted Cam's 3-into-1 system and was looking at the straw-coloured Keihan system strewn all over the floor. It looked really bad off the bike! So I attacked it with my cheap Chinese 1/2 hp polisher and similarly cheap mops and polishing compound, and after a couple of hours it looks great! The polisher won't get rid of the dents and gouges from collisions with great chunks of road debris, but does get everything the same colour and nice and shiny. Cheap and not much work.
Of course, you could always take it to a professional polisher and get an even better job. Even less work, but now not cheap.

Ken
 
Tetley

"Practical" depends on wheteher you can find somebody who still does small chrome jobs for a reasonable price. I just paid $US180 to get a chainguard done. They did a beautiful job, but for $180 they bloody well should have!
And if you have stainless headers, why would you chrome plate them? It'll just turn blue from the heat. If they're mild steel, chrome is the traditional coating but there are alternative coatings that are more rustproof (chrome will corrode sooner or later). Just don't look original (unless you have one of the triples with a black exhaust system).

Ken
 
Hi Ray

why would you want to polish something that will just turn yellow and dull again anyway? Pick up some free horsepower by wrapping the headers in exhaust heat tape instead.

I use this stuff, but there are many brands    http://www.thermotec.com/products/11021-exhaust-insulating-header-wrap-graphite-black.html

you need to buy the heat tape itself, stainless steel bands to attach it at each end, and some high heat paint to spray on it after it is installed. You can also use the high heat paint once in a while to keep it looking fresh.

soak the exhaust heat tape in hot water, makes it really pliable and flexible, wear some gloves as it makes your skin itchy, wrap one header at a time, secure it with the stainless bands, let it dry for a day or two, then paint. Keeps the exhaust heat in, supposedly speeds up exhaust flow adding power, and it keeps the exterior of the header cool enough you can touch the headers bare handed with the bike running, no more accidental burns.

I have the steel header pipes on my 79 1200 ceramic coated, then heat tape wrapped, been on there for several years now, works great.

I have the oversize stainless steel header pipes on my RGS exhaust heat tape wrapped, been on there for a couple of years now, works great, looks good, to my eye anyway.

I just salvaged an old header for my Kawa 650 project, sand blasted it, painted it with high heat paint, exhaust heat tape wrapped it, then painted the exhaust heat wrap, looks great.

Paul LeClair
 
Paul

Do your mufflers get noticeably hotter on the RGS? Always wondered about that, I've had a couple of bad burns in the past from mufflers that don't "look" hot.

BTW I never responded to your question about the hole in my primary cover, I saw your question but couldn't find it when I went back to respond. The inner race on my outer crankshaft bearing in the primary cover was badly worn, I'd bought a new bearing and was about to replace it first chance I got ( ::)). When I went to get on the bike to come home from work I noticed that the worn part of the race had managed to gain enough purchase on the rollers that as the very slightly out of round crank (still within spec but only just)whipped in tiny circles it "screwed" the inner race out against and eventually through the case.
So I had to have the cover welded up and bored, new bearing, slapped it back together, but I've lost a lot of confidence now. I keep looking down to see if it's happened again. I need to have my spare crank rebuilt so I can swap it one day when I've got the time, but with absolutely nobody to help if I realise it's more than I can do, it's pretty scary.

Ken
 
mcnicol said:
BTW I never responded to your question about the hole in my primary cover, I saw your question but couldn't find it when I went back to respond. The inner race on my outer crankshaft bearing in the primary cover was badly worn, I'd bought a new bearing and was about to replace it first chance I got ( ::)). When I went to get on the bike to come home from work I noticed that the worn part of the race had managed to gain enough purchase on the rollers that as the very slightly out of round crank (still within spec but only just)whipped in tiny circles it "screwed" the inner race out against and eventually through the case.
So I had to have the cover welded up and bored, new bearing, slapped it back together, but I've lost a lot of confidence now. I keep looking down to see if it's happened again.   I need to have my spare crank rebuilt so I can swap it one day when I've got the time, but with absolutely nobody to help if I realise it's more than I can do, it's pretty scary.
Click to expand...

Just checked, Ken.

Return postage from here to Florida is ?84, beats swimming or rowing..... :D

piet, off topic once again :o
 
Kinda off topic then back on a bit..

I think you would be very hard pushed to find any measurable gain by wraping your exhaust pipes on a motorcycle, on a car for sure as it will keep the under bonnet (hood) temperatures and therefore the inlet charge temperature down a bit, even if it did produce a fraction of a horsepower more I still think I would avoid the stuff on looks alone but that is a purely personal preferance based on asthetics.

You can get a good as new shine on stainless with some Solvol and plenty elbow grease, takes a couple of hours but it has the added side effect of toning up the wanking muscles.  8)


    Keith.
 
laverdakeith said:
Kinda off topic then back on a bit..

I think you would be very hard pushed to find any measurable gain by wraping your exhaust pipes on a motorcycle, on a car for sure as it will keep the under bonnet (hood) temperatures and therefore the inlet charge temperature down a bit, even if it did produce a fraction of a horsepower more I still think I would avoid the stuff on looks alone but that is a purely personal preferance based on asthetics.

You can get a good as new shine on stainless with some Solvol and plenty elbow grease, takes a couple of hours but it has the added side effect of toning up the wanking muscles.  8)


    Keith.
Click to expand...

Hi Keith

I likes my pipes wrapped black and my wheels silver or gold, I needs every additional fraction of a horsepower possible to make up for my own riding deficiencies........... ;)

Paul LeClair
 
How much more bhp do silver and gold wheels give over other colours? And is it just the rear wheel or both that you need to paint?  :)
 
When I was wee a Ming was a Scots word for a bad smell.
Since extended to cover anything aesthetically unappealing.

Robbie  :D
 
If you are going to use a polishing wheel on any of the parts, such as fenders etc., use the GREEN polishing compound. It is tempting to use the WHITE compound because it is a finer grit but the white grit is too hard and will leave fine scratches. Green avoids this.
Dennis
 
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