How To: Polish Your Dirty Old Motorcycle Engine
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- čas přidán 17. 12. 2017
- In this episode, I show you how to make your dirty, oily, oxidized motorcycle engine shine like a diamond for less than $30 and a little bit of time! I hope you guys enjoy the video, stay tuned for a whole new series!!
Tools Used:
Polishing Kit: www.harborfreight.com/14-piec...
Polishing/Sanding abrasive disks: www.harborfreight.com/pack-of...
Sanding Disk Backer: www.harborfreight.com/2-in-Di...
BUY MY OLD PARTS: www.ebay.com/usr/masomcaliste-0
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Jack Isidore - Wayfaring Stranger
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You could have saved yourself half your elbow-grease, by using some paint-stripper to get the old clear paint off. Then polish. That way you don't have any big marks to buff out.
Exactly, I was going to say the same... Paintstripper everytime, then polish to a mirror finish, using soft cotton cloths and Autosol.
I found that running the engine, and getting the cases warm- gives a much faster reaction to the paintstipper atracking the laquer or silver finish.
Always use a gel painstripper too.. that way is stays where you want it to be!
There seems to be a problem here.
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This how I started, the more I worked on the better I got and the better products I discovered. It's a progression, with practice comes perfection. We've all been there, stop knocking the guy he's on the right track and he's doing fine. Heck I've been restoring and detailing bikes and cars for a long time and I'm still learning.
Thunderbyrd Most excellent comment on here and exactly what I was thinking! He's young, he's learning, we're all still learning! Hats off to you 👌
Yes he's learning, so we are making comments to guide him, not to criticise.
It's nice to see you young-uns taking interest in old bikes and not filling up junk yards.
Martin Cvitkovich really hard to find good classic bikes
Japp
I don't understand why people keep turning these older bikes into cafe racers and some weird stuff. I love seeing older bikes restored.
I'm working on restoring my 81 Kawasaki KZ750 LTD.
I had this same bike ,and wet sanded and used neverdull
I’m 14 and I’m restoring a Honda big red 300 I will post a few videos on my CZcams channel soon if you want to watch
I remember as a young man doing the same. Made me aware how far I've come with time. God bless him for trying!
Poor kid. My heart goes out to you and your effort doing this. I wish there was someone around you to help you out.
Keep going, learn as much as you can and don't be discouraged by what others say. At least you went out and did it yourself , and that's something to be proud of. Experience can't be bought. Having someone else do the work just means that those with Experience make the money 💰
I'm a profession wood worker and long time rider, I can tell you 100% that you shouldn't skip more then 2 grits when sanding/polishing. You will get a more dull finish if you jump 3 or 4 grits like going from 120 to 500. You need to slowly remove the scratches from each sanding. 120-180-240-320-480 or 500- 750,-then 1000. He's right, it really I'd alot of elbow grease!
Thank you for the helpful information
Respect to anyone that keeps the old iron running! Nice work.
I watched both your build series today. Found your channel randomly on here and I'm a subscriber to you man. You've come a long way and yet more to go. You lack the experience but your passion tells me that you'll have a good life ahead of you. Loved both the Vintage Americana and the Scrambler. I wish you from the bottom of my heart all the very best.
Nice Guy wow thank you so much! What a nice comment! The world needs more people like you!
Thats a gr8 comment!! Respect.
Nice Guy i
@@GoldGuyRides Just an idea: Take off the things u want to polish, and use a column drill. Just put the bike on the side, to prevent draining the oil. Sandpaper just gives u more work, A nylon/polyester sponge is ok, just polish it wet, u can use oil, saves u time degreasing, Brasso can also be used, and of course, If u want to use ur sundays for other things than polishing: lacquer. :-)
Good to see a young man put in some work and time to keep his things nice and learn us youtubers a little somethin'
I like this guy. Seems like a genuine, cool cat. Keep on keepin’ on!
Screw what others say.
You're not trying to build a show bike. Just trying to make the engine not as disgusting, and you did a good job. 👌🏼
Good job, but you did make more work for yourself using such aggressive sanding discs. Also a tip, change to a clean polishing wheel when you change compound, also clean the surface between steps, keeping it free of contaminates will make it much easier to get the desired final finish.Another tip, painting raised letters. Applying vasoline just to the letter with a q-tip(very thin coat) will allow you to spray paint the whole part, let the paint fully cure then later wipe the letters with a soft cloth, the paint will come right off clean, no sanding
Just curious? Do you have a video on how to do it - would greatly appreciate it
Sub my channer sir
Your level of excitement is contagious!!!
I admire you men, you look like a simple and lonely guy, and without no help you still made this video by your own risk trying to help others.
I don't dare to criticise you; be careful with other people's opinion sometimes they just want to laf on you.
I have an older bike and never thought to clean the engine. Keep working it and thanks for sharing.
good job man. glad to see young guys out trying this stuff and not just paying some shop to do it like most people today.
GOOD JOB YOUNG MAN, AND GREAT CHOICE OF MUSIC, BRINGS BACK SOME FOND MEMORIES
When I first saw you, I thought, what could this kid know about polishing a dull finish on an aluminum motor. I have to say you impressed me. I have a 76 CB 750 and I polished my engine as well. I went as far as the blue compound and got a mirror finish on my motor and fork sliders.
You did a great job. Never let anyone tell you different.
Great start on a cool old bike. A machinist friend gave me a pointer a few years ago when I was restoring one of my old FJ1100s that will serve you well. You can combine a few steps by getting scotch brite discs for your arbor instead of sandpaper. There are different abrasive levels; if I remember correctly I used the two finest (green and red) to do my bike. After you clean the engine; use the scotch brite only to get the clear lacquer off of the big parts (that's what is coming off on the side covers); when that is done, load the scotch brite with your buffing compounds (in the same order). Then use your cloth wheels using some MacGuire's metal polish on them, finish up with a hand rub and a lint free cloth. The metal should look like a brand new mirror! A nice metal sealer (not clear) will keep them looking like that for years to come. Every piece of aluminum on my FJ looks like chrome!
That was awesome. Because you left the motor in. Looks dope
I know this old,but kudos to you for being into what you are doing instead of like so many of your generation,sitting on their asses in their parent's homes playing video games..proud of you.
Also,research before tackling something can help a lot too and really step your game up.👍👍👍👍
Thanks for all your super-inspiring videos. Especially the GS850 based ones.
Awesome job young man. It is a really good thing to see a young man spending time on the old and Original Super Bikes. I just purchased a 1982 GS1100G and it is in so so shape. I remember when this bike was released, In fact I had been in the Army 10 years when it came out. I wanted one but deployments interrupted that. So now I have on and I am going to have fun. Thank you for the information.
Thank You this is exactly what i came on youtube looking for today and you delivered! well done and nice GS! mine is a GS450t that i currently refinishing.
Nice job. Thanks for keeping these old classic bikes going.
Tall Dude they have a very authentic feel to them, like nothing you can get with a new bike
Good job. Love your passion.
Nice and easy, straightforward for someone looking to make the engine look brighter.
The only other way is a complete disassembly and that takes time.
Well done.
I build and restore these old bikes. You’re gonna do alright kid keep up the good work!!itll all come with time!
It's awesome you sharing. The extra elbow grease you put into your bike saved you from headaches. Some people use paint stripper that creates a reaction with aluminum.
Excellent, excellent video. As another poster mentioned, I would be tempted to start with a less harsh sanding disk and eliminate a lot of work getting the deep scratches out. I was worried about sanding off the black paint on some of the covers. But, I think I like the look better with no paint. No paint means more metal shine. A tactic I'm going to try if Winter ever stops up here in Central New York is to use a baking soda blaster. I got the blaster tank from Harbor Freight along with a big bag of medium grit baking soda. What's nice about baking soda is that it dissolves in water and washes off so easily. And, it's not harsh enough to damage anything. It's what they recommend for cleaning carburetors because they are a soft metal like aluminum or pot metal.
Just watched 2 minutes of this video. Something tells me this is exactly what I've been looking for and that this young man knows what he's talking about. I'll comment again after I watch. Here we go.
Very nice vid
Thanks for time you take to do it
I appreciate it man👍🏻
Happy Holidays 👌🏻
Thanks , Snowy here in Detroit too ! Now is the time to clean , as I am building 1st 1978 550CB Honda , watching all the cool videos and getting a lot of GREAT ideas !
I HAD A CB 550 4 IN 1978, WHEN I WAS IN THE NAVY IN CONNECTICUT. THOUGHT I WAS ON A HOG! GREAT BIKE.
Awesome!! My rearsets are ally that really need sorting out. Gonna try this. Many Thanks!!
Thank you. Looking forward to cleaning my engine with your advice.
Good lad nice vid keep up the good work watching you in Ireland pride in your work is a noble thing
I like the background music, the environment, bike, this decent rider and most of all....that bike.....u r lucky man....☺
Try California purple,this stuff is amazing,buy it at NAPA or on Amazon for $15 and will take out all that extra work and polish it to look like chrome and it seals itself! Awesome stuff!!!
Great video! You've inspired me to do the motor on my CL350.
That’s really cool I would not have figured that out thanks man
As an aside, one of my bikes is still a GS850G I bought new in 1980. It has well over 200 000 kms on it - great bike.
sub my channel sir
Thx for sharing this.
Realy cool result.
I am going to try it on my BMW r100rs
Very good job young man very good job. I love watching young people do things their self. That's how I raise both of my sons.
That buffing kit that you showed I had no idea harbor freight sold that kit. I have one similar it comes with a little bit more stuff but it also costs a lot more. Normally where I live we have a huge indoor bike show in the beginning of February. I don't really necessarily go to look at all the bikes. I go because there are vendors set up that sell everything you could ever need for a motorcycle. It's this one particular vendor who shows up every year. It's a husband and wife company. They sell anything you would need to detail your bike or your car. Every year I restock my garage from this vendor. That's where I purchased my buffing kit.
I was glad to see you using a electric drill. There's nothing wrong with using battery operated drill it's just hard on the batteries and the equipment that you plug in your battery too. Like what you were doing could take a very long time.I'm really glad that you did not use a air power drill. Nobody would have been able to hear you speak after all that sanding.
I really love how you use that small space to be able to work on your motorcycle. And it's great that you have some place to put your bike away for the winter. I just leave mine on my left unless I'm working on someone else's bike.
I really enjoyed your video I look forward to watching more of them. Again great job turned out pretty damn good.
Thanks! I'll try these techniques on my old bike!
Thanks I love what you’ve done, the bike looks great she is just beautiful, ride her with pride.
sub my channel sir
5 year old video helping me restore my 1980 Honda cb400 today. Thank you for this video. Subscribed
beautyfull job bro,also like your style "i gona make it shine like a diamond"😁
I have an American gs 450 Suzuki 1986 in Kent England, I need to do simular clean up, nice to see your enthusiasm lad,
Nice job.
I have to take my motor out to do some maintenance, and you gave me some good ideas!
Cool bike! I used some scotch brite pads that are made for a rotary tool. It worked amazing and didn't scratch at all. Just get the different grits to bring it up to a shiny finish.
Great videos! Paint the crash bars and put them back on, little brother.
Keep up the good work!
That DOHC point cover is an adhesive metal decal, cheap on ebay
These bikes came factory with a clear coat on the engine case ..problem being it corroded underneath..so good job on sanding that stuff off
Good job. Good to see young guys using some elbow grease. Impressed.
I like that bike, the color scheme is on point
I like the mesh cover over the rear brake reservoir
Cool video bro,I'm gonna do my FJ 1200 Yamaha tomorrow.Looking forward to this.Thanks man.Chur from New Zealand.
Great build young man.
nice video, using a fine scotchbrite pad would have been just as effective as your sandpaper but would have sped up the polishing process.. just try it. sandpaper is pretty aggressive on aluminium.
Its only on step farther to the best method from there, wet sanding. I'd go three grits, like 500, 1000, and 1500, and then high rpm buffing to bring out the mirror look. I have those scotch brite disks but wouldn't put those to my engine, even the softest one would cause a lot of wet sanding (by hand) to remove the scratches, it's almost a guarantee somewhere in that process you WILL have an "OOPS" moment and scratch the shit out of the engine somewhere with the drill chuck or mandrel or edge of the disk while attempting to REMOVE scratches. That can be sanded out but your going backwards trying to run from wet sanding. Man up, roll up your sleeves and forget the drill and turn on some music and get the polished quality your looking for. This video is more fraudulent than informative and you didn't come along today and figure out a better and easier way everyone else never though of until you blessed us stupid Bikers with your drill knowledge. You'd save 15 mins hand work and cause 45 more hard hand work. The only powered machine that should touch a polishing job is the buffer, and that comes AFTER the sanding and goes quickly if you sanded it right. No short cuts or magic creams. If you want to know a real short cut to making a super ugly engine look like new (not polished, just clean looking) This is for engines that were black painted thats chipped away. Just clean it well with a brush and degreaser, rinse, make sure its dry and tape everything off that you need taped off and spray paint the engine with HIGH TEMP ALUMINUM PAINT. Your engine will look new and clean and it do it right it lasts and it's not obvious that it is just paint, it looks sand blasted. But I strayed, this is not polishing. You may want to High Temp Paint your main engine cases and polish the side covers if your really into it or building a hard tail Bobber out of an old Yamaha XS like I did.
I agree...Wet sanding the way to go in many cases. have done it many times
'xactly................wb
Hi there,thank you for your great posts & your time to show how to clean polish shine & care for our motorbikes, thank you & love the music friend....
My ignorance astounds even me, I didn't know what those red & white blocks were for that came with my polishing tool kit. Now I'm gonna go try'em out on my old primary case. Thanks
Good idea for those unsure. simple for those just want a little better look and go.yes he could of done more, but those who want more pop in the polish etc just do same procedure but as detailed as you choose. The video is appreciated.
Awesome tip bud merry Christmas 😊
Ngl I never expected a fellow teen to do a restoration video. It's nice to see a young face since most of motorcycle restoration vids are done by boomers. I am 18 yo and restoring an old HD sportster thass been sittin for 20 years. Thx for the tutorial it helped a lot!
Hell yea sick video, very small details that make a huge difference 🤘🤘🤘
Never in my life would I have thought to sand down anything on my motorcycles until CZcams.
Well done dude,keep at it👍
Great vid really appreciate the time you put in the vids and sharing the tips and tricks you learn along the way. Are you thinking of a new build yet maybe a Honda cb or cl also isn't there a clear protective coat on the engine covers that the polishing will remove and just make it oxide worse in the future?
Yes. Rust-oleum makes a high temp clear coat for around 10 bucks. A better product is Eastwood 2K aerospray high temp clear for around 30 bucks a spray can but it is hard to find. Go easy. Two light coats should do the trick. I'm yet to fire the motor up to see how well they work but both had good reviews.
Like it and learned a lot and your Suzuki looks great I have 3 of them S40 C50 & C90 just great bikes will do a little cleaning up on the S40 using your advice thanks!!!!
those 70's Suzuki scramblers were so cool and well designed
it's an amazing idea, actually, I want to find out how to do it for my motorcycle as well. This video is the right one that I am looking for. My small question is after the polishing job, then how long does it last of those polished parts.
Really cool. I may do my old yamaha like that.
"Semichrome" brand metal polish !! After degreasing. works as an abrasive to help remove oxidation and then as a polish. Haven't found an application/type of metal it didnt work on with outstanding results !!
Your bike looks really cool dude!!
I'm going to polish my trail 50s and 70s motors thanks for everything now I know how to start.
sub my channel sir
Thank s a lot great video 👍(what style tyres have you got on the bike ) looks great
A couple of points I would like to make if I may. Firstly, Don't put your polishing mops on a cement floor, if they pick up dust or grit they could spoil a lot of hard work! Second, I'm quite sure the 500 grit paper would have been ok for the first step, 250 is really coarse to be using on any aluminium but especially old Japanese aluminium, which was often regarded as being somewhere between pot metal and cream cheese in strength. Other than those points well done!
love the battery cover too. :)
love the video man
just cleaned up a motor on a 1990 Honda xr100. A dremel with a bunch of wire wheel brushes really helps get in small areas. I did all my fins with it.
Thanks for the tips. Great job and very cool bike!
Good video! Just by watching I should by the repair manual and follow directions on each service. Thank you for pointing that out.
Buy*
Cheers
I’m a 16 year old with an epic looking ct110 engine thanks to you
Looks good. For anyone following this i think 120 is a bit too rough for what youre trying to do. I think i would start with 400 minimum. You can always go harsher if need be but once you put deep scratches in youre going to be at it a while. Also a lot of these engines were clear coated from the fsctory and trying to do this process can easily make a huge mess.
Good job young man. God bless you.
Great! Will try suggestions.
Good man i enjoy your posts.
Thanks for posting.
One step further on the aluminum would be Wizards Metal Polish. It works Much better than Never Dull. Great product,You'll love it!
looks great !!!
Love the side covers. I'm just starting in a 1980 Suzuki GS550E. Your videos are a good watch. Assuming you made the side covers? Is there a vid for this or am I wrong and you purchased those somewhere? Still kicking around ideas for side covers.
Tks Gold Guy for keepn the ld ones on the road a showing the beauty underneath. John Montgomery alabama USA
sub my channel sir
Fantastic instruction
I also have a gs850g it’s a 1981 model
Regards
Dave from Scotland
i love your classic Suzuki bro very nice
Do more detail .... it pays off. Good job man. Be safe on the Road. 👍
Great work been doin the same on an 05 1200c. I'd reccomend scratching off the DOHC and SUZUKI badges again. And use some scotch tape and a box cutter then respray it.
Good job and nice music !
i have done several of these with mothers mag aluminum polish, lots of elbow greese but no sanding. it turns out close to chrome!
Lol when you painted the bolts 😂
Looking good. My first bike a was a gs850. You could have started with around 220 or 300 grit. Aluminum is so soft that starting coarser is extra work. Also there are much better compounds than what HF sells. Look for a "non-ferrous cut & color" compound. It will remove light scratches and mirror polish. I usually sand to 6 or 800 and use a good cut & color compound. A lot of times engine covers and cases won't ever get perfect mirror as they are cast and the imperfections and corrosion run way too deep. One tip for the gs850- don't let the horn leads short out against the cam cover. It will fry the main fuse and leave you stranded at night on the side of the freeway.
slowlowchev z
Great job on your GS850.