Best way to do this?

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wjrich

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Among other things, I want to clean up the front end of my Mk III. The front brake hose is all wrong, the dash is a mess, instrument cups need repainting and most of all, the triple trees look like crap- surface rust, dull, etc. My thought is to take apart the front end, take off the trees and clean them up. My understanding is that the tres are cast iron, most likely painted with some aluminum or silver colored paint. What I would like to do is put the wire wheel to them, sand them at the appropriate finer grits, and polish them to a nice finish. Question is, with the appropriate effort, can i get these to a show-like finish, and if I can, what kind of protective coating do I need to keep the surfaces as rust free and maintenance free as possible? This is a do-it-myself job, so I won't be able to powder coat or plate, just sand and polish...
 
Plating is rarely successful as it doesn't stand up to the screws and clamp opening. (and you're not going to be doing it anyway !). Best bet in my opinion is to tidy up the castings and then paint them with an aerosol of 'steel wheels' or similar. It's durable and unobtrusive. If you don't paint them, they'll rust and I think there'll be too many impurities to clear-coat.
 
Cast iron doesn't polish very well at all. It's also rather hard, you'll be sanding for a looong time to get them smooth. And I know of nothing that will protect it from the elements afterward.

Paint or powder coat would be my advice.
 
Yeah like polishing a textured turd, it will end up shiney dull grey but could be attractive as hell with a nice clear coat buffed out over it, or will flash rust over night. Metal flake would be era correct : ) Might ask a chromer if worth while and get back to us how it works out. There are hydro printers now that lay a sheet design over stuff like guns and tools so look into that for say bright leopard or dark Gothic images looking back at ya. This is not the vinyl sheet crap on cars vans.

I'm thinking my chain guard is do for refreshing

Best way to do this?


[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prOzE6DiSao[/video]
 
I painted my triple tree's with a rattle can of VHT High Temperature Caliper Paint -cast aluminum. Cleaned them up, painted and when the paint dries you bake them at 200 F. Wife got po'd but they turned out nice and have held up for 2 years. Did the front plate of the air box too while I was at it.
 
The trees are of course cast STEEL.
Iron is brittle, and would not last too long in that place.

You do see them sometimes all polished and chromed.
Lotta work to get them like that.
Before something can be chromed, the steel has to be polished until it gleams like chrome anyway.
Either you or the plater will do a lot of grinding and polishing to get there...
And chrome doesn't last long, like someone said.

I just wire brushed them and rattlecan silvered them.
Thick coats, lasts well.
About how the factory did them originally ?
 
Have a look in your local hardware store for spray cans of epoxy enamel. Doesn't need any undercoat and should be available in aluminum color. Very close to original look and sets very hard. Good stuff!
 
L.A.B. said:
Rohan said:
The trees are of course cast STEEL.
Iron is brittle, and would not last too long in that place.
Click to expand...

I think the yokes/trees are malleable iron.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malleable_iron
Click to expand...

I don't.

Nortons yokes have been cast steel for quite some time. (?)
Very highly stressed part.

Malleable iron frame lugs can crack, seen a few of those.
Have a set of bent Commando yokes, that we contemplated straightening.
Surprisingly flexible, when you play with them, no sign of cracks.
 
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