I ,ve been looking quite alot at other members bikes lately . And what strikes me is that most of them look like they are brand new. I guess a lot of the members are really quite experienced motorcycle fettlers gained from years of messing about .
Well I,ve missed out on all this messing about , cos I,ve bin doin other things. Now I,m back and need some advice ,without completely stripping the bike down ( not yet anyway I want to ride it first ), how do you make the metalwork shine ? ,particularly the alloy engine parts , do you paint them or do you polish with some kind of secret paste ?. Need to remove scabbyness.
cheers.

have a look in the restorations threads

old goat ...halo and many others have done some excelent work

charlie99 wrote:have a look in the restorations threads

old goat ...halo and many others have done some excelent work

I think I,m a little out my depth here.
I suppose a wire brush and some Gunk just aint good enough!

a nice tube of autosol will work wonders.... halfords sell a similar one can't think who its made by off the top of my head.

It will start to bring the shiny bits up a treat.... with lots of elbow grease as well hehe

I keep a tube at work and occasionally use it on the bike during quiet periods hehe

+! Autosol. Old toothbrushes are good. Good for hard to get to casting recesses and cleaning up things like throttle bodies. I found on the TB's white spirit was surpisingly good at getting grime off - you need to re-lubricaate moving parts afterwards. If you use your bike over the winter you can use a product like ACF50 to protect the shiny bits - it also makes most surfaces look shiny and new (although not for very long!). Not to be used on brake pads/discs.
Cheers
Dave

Thanks Dave ,thats more like it

JOINYMAN wrote: I guess a lot of the members are really quite experienced motorcycle fettlers gained from years of messing about .

I'm not! I can send you some close up pictures of general scabbiness on the bullion brick if it makes you feel better.Her's a link to my rennovation which is neither extensive or expensive and taken me about 18 months to get this far but I hate to take the bike off the road even though I don't ride it every day, I guess I just want it available as the opportunity to ride sometimes presents itself at short notice.

Two products I've found great for a bit of handy tidying up are
Plasticote Satin Black and Upol Acid 8, etch primer (Available Halfrauds) the combination of the two gives a nice finish.

My fairing really needs a paint but funds won't allow so I just make sure it's clean presentable and running reasonably well.

Tips like this are great, tart it up sufficiently ,till it actually needs sorting properly , cheers .

JOINYMAN wrote:Tips like this are great, tart it up sufficiently ,till it actually needs sorting properly , cheers .

That's what I wanted to say I'm just too long winded

No worries mate. As Charlie says plenty of threads with more detail. MikeP is a serious practitioner so worth chcking his threads.
Mine's pretty far from perfect close-up; they all look good from a distance!
Cheers
Dave

agree will

im really sad when i cant have the old girl ready to go go go

I used a little wire brush (brass) on a drill and dremel tool, then painted all the alloy I could reach with a metal paint like Hammerite silver, gives a dimpled effect.
The crankcase cover and valve cover got taken back with emery paper (they had been painted black before), then I repainted with High temp black gloss paint from a rev head store (Auto 1). That was 2 years ago and
so far just a few stone chips have shown up and the paint job looks stable.
Like you I hate to have it off the road for any time when the temp is right for riding.


Not a very good picture but you might get the idea. (the bike is really dirty at the moment).
RT

Well I am not going to put up any pics of my bike coz the spiders are very camera shy.
Its called a rolling restoration and as many have found out it usually isn't successful. It's much better to take the bike off the road and strip it down after you gather all the parts that you can see are necessary (then buy all the other parts afterward) then start on it so that you don't have any interuptions. Better get a second bike to ride.
Or you can be like me and get them into a presentable and reliable condition and go enjoy as much as possible by riding around the country to see all the other restorations.

"...rolling restoration..."

I going to use this when people ask me about my bike.

Thanks Rick!

good on you Joiny for seeking advice and giving it a go, that's all it takes sometimes.
I hung out with all the Chrome buffs today, and like you , we all like to have our Ks looking Smick.
Mine is not the most glamorous, age is taking it's toll with cosmetics, but what I did do today was hold my chin high with the knowledge that I had quality and time proven performance on my side. Good luck with your touch ups, and hold your head up mate.

When I first got my K it looked like a Rat with everything resprayed matt black and looking generally very tired.... I parked it up on the Plymouth Hoe at the sea front and it was soon surrounded by Harleys in all there chrome and leather tassle glory! I think it's safe to say it stuck out like a sore thumb!!!