Buffing, polishing, restoring.

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Skyguyz

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I did a search on the topic of restoring the luster or correct finish of the metal, (non-painted)l bits of my Norton. There were a few threads but not specific to my questions. Again, kinda a "Noob" but also I value highly the opinions expressed here. So my questions of seeking guidance are:

1) There are some parts on my Norton that could be restored to to a like new appearance through the use of old fashioned elbow grease and buffing tools. What is a good staring point to bring back the like new to some of the bits, (Different metals deserve different treatments of course.)

2) For instance; I want to bring back the new look to a disc brake lever. the alloy is different than say a triple clamp. Is the technique and products that
much different or is it a matter of buffing wheel grit or hand sanding wet with 2000 + grit?

3) The chrome is in fairly good shape. Some slight very, very small spots of rust on the front rim. Best technique here, (Semichrome polish?)

4) There are some fasteners that are "worn" looking and for the price, just replace em with NOS or McMaster-Carr stuff? (The stainless thread has been researched here.)

My overall objective is not a concourse bike, but a really nice looking and functioning Norton 850. Rather than just throw money at it I would prefer to redo/
refinish the stock parts if possible. Oh, two of the bigges are the engine cases and the cylinder and head. *Maybe a separate discussion here?
I was thinking of buying a soda blaster for prepping the frame and other painted bits for new paint. Worth it?

Thanks in advance for the invaluable opinions.
 
From one Noob to another, I started with my valve covers and used 150 grit up to 2000 grit to wet sand them and got them nice looking. I thought about doing the timing cover like that but it would take a while and I was worried about differences from hand sanding in the finishes. I went to Harbor Freight and bought a $50 polishing machine (grinder with buffing wheels) and some polishing compound sticks and went nuts. It was pretty quick and did a good job for a rider bike. I did not want to take my primary cover off so I got some polishing compund for bikes at my local autoparts store and it did a pretty good job brining out a decent shine.

I used the buffing wheel and a small dremel with a wire wheel to clean up the pitting and rust off my wheels then polished and waxed the heck out of them ( I did this with the tires off because I was replacing them and wanted to stop or belay any rust from forming in the tire well).

I also polished the front caliper and several other pieces but had to stop from going crazy so I could get the bike together and hopefully ride her soon.

For painted surfaces we talked in a thread about polishing compound and clay bars. I bought a Mothers clay bar kit and did my tank and side panels, it took some elbow grease but did an excellent job of getting the dirt and grime off the paint and leaving a smooth finish (better than polishing compund)!

IMHO, I would just look at replacing fasteners on the bike with new ones. There are a few reputable dealers on Flea Bay and then Old Britts, CNW and I found a guy in Columbia, TN at Bikes and Bits, he has a good inventory of parts and pretty good prices!

As for the case and cylinder head, there was a thread here about soda blasting and hydro blasting. Maybe some of the more senior members could chime in on this, I would like to know more myself.

Hope this helps out some!
 
DistortedScout knows what he's talking about an exactly what I do, though on fasteners I often just wire brush ad maybe buff then install and spritz with a wheel clear coat then buff wheel to shine and prevent rust a good while.
I often flame anodize the mirror surface Al to help seal in under sapphire layer then wax with the hardest to rub off stuff. Zoop makes a good sealer shiner I'm using on Ms Peel wheels to fork nuts.

http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/zoop-se ... 30516.html
 
UGH the mention of starting with 150 grit sends Shiver's down my neck and arms. Elbow grease can get Al like a mirror but dang hard to keep it that nice over week in real life. Last pm I was depressed to see how nasty Trixie Combat small covers were and began to ugh, wire brush the white crust and corroison pits off one then remembered I'd put up a finished gleaming set for Peel that I ain't going to use on her, so opened the sealed clear food container with each wrapped in packing paper, pleased only minor blemish on top item, then a bit lower mood on 2nd item, then true depression on the 3rd one down and total recoil shock at the bottom one even more encrusted than those left outside in shed climate, UGH! So bad I went back to 320 grit on Trixies and worked down to 800 grit on 4 covers over 3 hr as temped dropped to 40's F by 2:30 am.

I highly recommend Not to wire brush alloy as leaves stippled pitting so best just to use elbow grease down scale of grit till time to do the easy buffer wheel series stage. I've a number of waxes to Zoop goop and clear wheel spray to try to preserve the efforts. Clear coat leaves a slight stain finish over bare Al even when buffer wheeled to shinny smooth, but still way better than a weeks exposure to real life and night and day after a winter's set up. I figure another 4 hr to get covers on to keep bugs out and attract the eyes.
 
I only ever went to 320 with the sandpaper and then started with buffing wheel with black compound and sisal wheel, then brown with a spiral sewn wheel and finally white with a loose cotton wheel. You have to be careful not to get the comets from the pits with the buffing. Some AL will polish completely differently than other AL.

Dave
69S
 
May I addd a warning on alloy on the Commando: do be careful about
sanding your way down as you prepare for polish. Casting alloy leaves
tiny bubbles and the surface is usually free but as you deeper they appear
and there is no turning back. The deeper you go the worse it will get.
I bought a new front hub, genuine, and there is a spot that the bubbles show
through. So be very careful about going to the sanding paper. Avoid it.

When I got my bike I was going to mod it out like I have all my others but
as I took it apart I found it nearly unmolested. So I went with the stock
approach only replacing what I cannot fix. At some point you want a Norton
built by Norton not by you. So to speak. This is why Im having all the
fasteners and odd bits plated, only replacing pieces buggered beyond help.
Up to you as to how to go, no right or wrong, just preference.
 
I've done a huge amount of polishing of aluminum and stainless trim on antique autos and British bikes. I actually spent two days at my plater's shop learning the tricks of the trade. Dave is correct that one piece of aluminum and another will polish to a different finish and color depending on the type of aluminum, compounds used, buffer speeds (mostly due to heat build-up) and wheel type. If you plan on doing any sanding to ease areas that have been slightly nicked or scratched you want to start with 320 (the most aggressive you really should use) and then work up to at least 2000 grit. The finer the paper the less polishing you will need to do. Always match the grit of the paper to the scratch or nick you are working on. The less aggressive the paper the better. I always use the paper wet.

If you plan to use a double spindle buffer (which is the best way to get superior results and greatly reduces the amount of effort and time involved) get used to it on a part you don't care about as they can get ripped out of your hands pretty easily. Once you get a feel for the process you can do fairly small parts without having them flying around. As for polishing, I would suggest that you check online for a polishing tutorial. Caswell's has a good listing on their website for which wheels and compounds to use on what type of metal. On aluminum, I find I work most often with a black emery and then follow with brown tripoli bar on a sewn wheel and then finish buff using the white bar and a loose cotton wheel. A word of caution, and not to sound like anyone's mother or high school shop teacher, wear eye protection and a mask as you will get filthy.

Also, Norton did not spend a lot of time cleaning up castings so some pitting and roughness will be encountered, especially in the tight spots, so if you are bring it back to Norton new, there will still be imperfections.
 
I've always thought that most people over polish their AL. Honestly, they were not mirror polished from the factory. Actually slightly better than a satin finish. And as stated, it's a bitch to keep nice. Once you clear coat it then you have the age old problem of the clear coming off in areas then having a real mess.

I give it a good polish but never worry about a mirror finish. And anyone who judges at a show and deducts points for a non-mirror finish is doing it wrong. It cost too much for factories to do that on the production line. They used a single wheel type and compound type that delivered the best compromise of polish vs time spent.
 
I had mine professionally done last year. 1 year later- only thing that still has a mirror finish are my z-plates. The shiny-ness goes away FAST, and I've even used autosol and the good mother's alu polish, but it's still no where near how it was after the professional polish.

Guess the moral is, once you do it be prepared to do it over and over and over and over....
 
A year ago, I posted this thread about how to preserve the nice shine on your cases, rims, etc. after you've dedicated the work with your Mother's alumininum and chrome polish. I know a lot of folks out there don't give a hoot about shine...to each his own...but I've always kept mine spiffed up out of personal pride. Here's the link, the discussion goes a little off course, but oh well:

prolong-the-shine-t6027.html

I'm serious about this product being fantastic. Here in Florida's salt-tinged air, my cases would get dull within a week, wasting all my efforts. This stuff keeps the mirror finish on every surface for months. There's only one "little" problem...It was banned by the State of California and then by the EPA and is no longer available.....bummer! I've had my approx. 17-ounce can for over a year now and it's way more than half full.

Anyway...I've found this product I'm planning on trying when my Flawless Wax starts to get low. Right now I only have to apply it every 2 months or so....so it might be a while before I have to find a substitute.

http://www.topoftheline.com/blackfire-c ... y-wax.html
 
yeah man, I wish they still made that stuff! I tried some liquid turtle wax that I use on my car, but that didn't work for very long. There's stuff called zoop seal, but it's expensive, hard to apply right, and you have to re-do it every 6 months or so anyway.

I'll order a can of that other spray if they get some more in stock and try it out.
 
Zoop seal seems as good as it gets w/o loosing the mirror shine. I'm using it on Ms Peel and read number of reports in lasting on road show cars couple years depending on conditions and how many times just wiped off before judging.
If flows into Al pores and lifts grime but then needed this layer rubbed off to finish. I've left that layer on until I'm finished handling stuff building.

I've given up on Trixie and after pretty good, better than show room but not concours perfect polish the Duplicolor wheel coat appears to slightly dull ans satin enough to look closer to factory issue clean and new. I buffet it some to help. Rubbing compound generally don't leave the mirror like sheen buffers do.

I sprayed clear on Trixie's raw cases this 3rd time around rebuild,for sealing and easier hose and soap off, I hope.
 
Zoop Seal is expensive, has a short shelf life (one year), and turns to mush when exposed to gasoline. I used it on my timing cover and it melted to an ugly goo when I accidentally dribbled some fuel on it.

My solution is to polish parts on the buffer when they come off the bike, and keep up with hand polish on an as needed basis. Or chrome them, so just a wipedown is enough to bring them back. I will never chrome the timing cover, primary, or gearbox cover however. Highly polished aluminum is so beautiful.

drc
 
Ugh, Ok drc, your report confirms other downside reports on Zoop, so I wasted money and time on Peel's stuff, except for few years storage from dust inside home and shed. I can not kept up with polishing protecting fun as it is so considering clear anodizing or clear powder coat at some point.
 
First a disclaimer! Anything that works well to polish your parts will probably ruin bearing surfaces on the inside of your engine!

Now some stuff that works for me.

I have a six inch wire wheel mounted on an electric motor. It has fine brass brisstles and it removes crud really well without a lot of damage to the alloy.

I have 4 and 8 inch Scoth Brite hook and loop pads that I use on angle grinders for large projects. These are really aggressive and spinning them at 10k RPMs on an angle grinder will remove a lot of metal in a hurry but they do come in grades from coarse to super fine and you can use them by hand with good results. You can also cut them with shears to custom shapes for getting into differents spots. I prefer them to sand paper for lots of tasks.

I also have the Scotch Brite pads in what 3-M calls Roloc pads. These come in sizes from 1.5 to 3 inches and have a threaded button on the back that screws into a backing plate. The backing plate has a shaft that fits into a drill press or hand drill so you can turn them at slower speeds. These are handy for lots of chores.

I have an old Black and Decker polisher/sander (photo below) that is a real workhorse and works well for me in place of a bench mounted polishing wheel.

Buffing, polishing, restoring.


Pitted chrome is pretty much toast except you can polish it to clean it up. You can also use Ospho to remove rust stains and help stabilize the exposed metal to inhibit further rust.

Russ
 
Angle grinder was what I started with to take Drouin's raw casting to fine gleam, but one was enough, to say I did it and didn't ruin too bad. Will keep the fine brass bench wheels in mind as steel wire sure eats up Al worse than 120 grit paper.
Polishing is a test of my will power and patience to over do each step or it ain't quite pleasing when following step is finished.
 
maximini said:
I've done a huge amount of polishing of aluminum and stainless trim on antique autos and British bikes. I actually spent two days at my plater's shop learning the tricks of the trade. Dave is correct that one piece of aluminum and another will polish to a different finish and color depending on the type of aluminum, compounds used, buffer speeds (mostly due to heat build-up) and wheel type. If you plan on doing any sanding to ease areas that have been slightly nicked or scratched you want to start with 320 (the most aggressive you really should use) and then work up to at least 2000 grit. The finer the paper the less polishing you will need to do. Always match the grit of the paper to the scratch or nick you are working on. The less aggressive the paper the better. I always use the paper wet.

If you plan to use a double spindle buffer (which is the best way to get superior results and greatly reduces the amount of effort and time involved) On aluminum, I find I work most often with a black emery and then follow with brown tripoli bar on a sewn wheel and then finish buff using the white bar and a loose cotton wheel.

I recently purchased a double spindle Caswell buffer and have started playing with it. As a staring point I used 220 to remove the outer oxidation followed by buffing with the black compound on a sizzle wheel. After several passes I first cleaned it then moved to the brown on a cotton wheel. I am amazed how quickly the finish turned from dull to a jewelry shine. I figured I would wait to use the white until I was closer to installing the parts. I can see this is a labor of love and it takes time.
On the down side buffing is a really messy job! I did not have the fortune to watch and learn, other than what I have seen on youtube. Also, I have already notice how aggressive the sizzle /black combo can be. I had a couple of file marks on one piece and when I polished in line with the scratch it both lengthen it and made it deeper.
I have much to learn and am also vary interested in hearing more from the experts.
Click to expand...
 
You can get a half decent double spindle 3/4 HP buffer from Harbor Freight for about $80 delivered. I found it best to hold small pieces with pliers and use gloves, hat and best a face shield. Keep a metal detector around for zinged parts. I did it all outside, it was just too messy inside. I mounted the buffer on 2 angle irons about 18" off the edge of an old heavy shooting table on the patio. It's boring and messy, but once you polish something you want to go back and do some more, the bowls on the Amal's can look like chrome. Read Caswell's article on buffing, it's a good start, but experience is paramount. I understand the real pro's use real heavy duty HP buffers and even will buff with layers of cardboard to melt the metal and get rid of the pits. That will never happen with the Harbor Freight buffer. For the expense, it's probably worth it to send it out, but re-doing it gets expensive.

Dave
69S
 
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