Looking into polishing the Crank case covers on my 850 (and other asorted parts), and have not found a verdict on the best way to go on this so far. Lots of good info on this site and would appreciate any help one has to offer.

Depends if you want to do it yourself or send out and how polished you want them. Raber's in San Jose have a service that results in near chrome look. What is the current condition? If no scratches you can shine them up with a polishing paste such as Autosol, Semichrome or Mothers. Sending out requires removing the cases.

Greetings,
The very best way is to remove them and send them off to a professional metal polishing company, little work on your part, stunning results, but, of course you will have to pay for it. Second best way is to purchase a buffing wheel along with the various polishing compounds . Then spend the required time (a lot) in front of the wheel breathing dust and going deaf all the while. Then when you are finished you will consider how much you paid for the buffer and how much time you put into it, and the fact that your results did not match the professional job. Lastly, you could purchase various brands of metal polish ( "Mothers" never dull etc.) apply lots of elbow grease, achieve so so results and again wish you had sent them off to a professional. Personally, I used the second method.
GB

There's something about polishing you have to think about. Polishing is burnishing the outer 'skin' of the piece. It isn't just taking it down to perfectly smooth. This requires a lot of force. That's why the guys doing the buffing at chrome shops often weigh a few hundred pounds and the buffing wheels are made to take it. This goes double for polishing alloy. One just can't do the same thing at home.

The outer covers on mine looked like they'd been left rough cast, then attacked with a wire wheel in a drill. In other words, they looked pretty sorry!

I started with 120 grit wet & dry to get everything level again, then went to 360 grit to get the big scratches out. I then went to 600, then 1200 grit.
Final polish with solvol autosol and they look just great.
Cost me about a fiver so far, plus a couple of hours saved where I could have been sitting in front of the telly with the wife watching tawdry 'reality' shows!

I'd post a picture but our camera broke last week

Ironically, the rough cast items (gearbox shell, crankcases, cylinder head) were reasonably good, but I put that down to the fact they were originally painted, and the PO mercifully hadn't 'got round' to them.

Z plates next...

I use GBs method #2 with a cheap grinding motor, 8" buffing wheels, white compound and a dust mask. (Still makes a mess all over the garage)
Tony

It depends on condition and why I'm doing it. On my 76 LTD it is a rare beast so everything gets professionally polished.
On my Norton stuff was not that bad and I don't want utter perfection. It gets the range of Harbor Frieght's polishing kit in the drill down to Semichrome. The Harbor Frieght kit is cheap and offers a buffing wheel and couple levels of compound.

I did a preliminary polish on my forks the other day. No buffing just straight polishing compound rub on and off. Turned out beautiful, but only lasted 2 days. Now it is dull and has a kind of filmy milky finish like it had before. I'm guessing from oxidation. Even my polished parts from cnw have lost their finish.

How do you keep the finish after it's all polished and pretty? Would a thin layer of wax help?

I've done a lot of my own polishing. Sanding, buffing, polishing. I've come to the conclusion the best way to make those cases shine is with a credit card.

I,m with B+Bogus on this one. Rough wet & dry down to 1200. Used to have a proper buffing wheel at work, but that dissappeared. That was one filthy job. I just Solvol from 1200 grit now, keep meaning to buy some wheels & buffing soap, but never seem to get round to it. It is a lot better if the surface is buffed. I also find this more interesting than being stuck in front of the box watching reality programs, or in my case, soaps.
I see some of you list your bikes, so here is mine,
Norton Commando 850
BMW K1200S
Yamaha XJR1300

Forget the polishing stuff, Tony, that bike is gorgeous!

Well thanks for all the info, and the interest in this subject. I've completely disassembled the whole bike and have the engine at a mate of mine getting it rebuilt (Sam at Nelson engines in Cumming). I've opend up an account at photobucket and will post before and after photos. The covers are not in good condition due to road rash from a tank slap and a get off. Purchased this as a wrecked bike and would like a good rider out of it. Once again this is a great site, wished I'd joined earlier.

Tony.

Fullauto wrote:Forget the polishing stuff, Tony, that bike is gorgeous!

Wow!!!! I use to work at Horseshoe Bend out of Meekatharra and at Broad Arrow out of Kalgoorlie in the late 80's what a small world.

Tony.

My buffing station, with 8" buffs. It doubles as a grinder (hence the tool rest). It has a 1/2 inch arbor between pillow block ball bearings.



Things that come off get buffed before going back on:



Then it gets maintained with Autosol or Meguire's.

Some more info here engine-polishing-t3654.html

Jean