Buffing aluminum oil pump cover, and other covers

[Travis398]

this looked as bad if not worse than yours when i started, a little out of focus but you can see jack stand in the reflection. kind of stands out a little because the stock covers aren't this polished.

[Travis398]

this cover was all corroded and scratched up pretty good, Bob put this on his belt sander with a scotchbrite pad, and in literally 20 seconds had nearly all the scratches gouges and corrosion out of it.

 

[markmartin]

If you do remove the black, respray with Satin Black 600*-800* engine paint, and oven bake (cure) the paint prior to addressing the shiny finish.

I picked up some paint stripper and will pick up some semi -chrome polish this week. The black needs to be painted as well.  I wouldn't have thought of baking the finish before working around the fresh paint and handling the piece.

Travis, thanks for the pics. 

Nice to see that it's possible to get a good finish and people do this.   I didn't know if I'd be wasting my time until I gave up and bought a new cover.

I'll post the results when I do it.  The pressure's on now!

Thanks to everyone for the input.
Mark

[Dan Filetti]

When you polish a flat surface of aluminum, you want it to end up looking like a mirror, and not the type of mirror you would see in a fun house.

Or the original Hubble mirrors, as it turns out...

Dan

[andyb]

Easier to make a brushed finish, which is faster to clean up and harder to make look bad....

[Travis398]

Easier to make a brushed finish, which is faster to clean up and harder to make look bad....

yes it is a lot quicker, when i said 20 seconds for the brushed look about half of that was talking about which direction to brush it.

[mz_rider]

Does the small cover on the right side of the engine (end of crankshaft) have oil behind it? I want to polish - do I have to wait until an oil change.

Stuart

[Travis398]

Does the small cover on the right side of the engine (end of crankshaft) have oil behind it? I want to polish - do I have to wait until an oil change.

Stuart

no, you can take it off. there is a seal behind the cover. it is a quick and easy one to polish too.

[Pat Conlon]

No, it's ok to remove. There is a oil seal behind it. Cheers!

[billwest]

I painted mine black.

[Travis398]

Mark, any progress with the covers yet? 

[markmartin]

One of the bottom screw holes on the cover was cracked when I took it off--I was able to break it off with my fingers--so I ordered a new cover. (Damn P.O.'s) I did refinish the smaller cover on the other side. (pic) Took it off, applied paint stripper, and buffed it with a random orbital sander with a red and then grey scrungi pads then buffed it with 3M aluminum and Magnesium polish and repainted the black with high temp semi-gloss black spray paint.  I like the sheen that I got on the aluminum--there are brush marks similar to the OEM finish and not a mirror finish.  Looks alot better than it did before as it was pitted also. 
I'm going to do the large cover on the right side this winter when I have more time.  I see on the parts schematic that this large aluminum cover comes out or appears to come apart from the rest of that cover and is sealed in with a gasket of some sort.  I'm assuming the oil must be drained also.  have you done this one also?  Anything I need to know that might not be obvious?

[Travis398]

I see on the parts schematic that this large aluminum cover comes out or appears to come apart from the rest of that cover and is sealed in with a gasket of some sort.  I'm assuming the oil must be drained also.  have you done this one also?

yes it does come apart pretty easy, just a rubber gasket to deal with, i took one apart just a couple of weeks ago. you will need to drain the oil.

[Yamifj1200]

As long as the bikes on the side stand you dont need to drain the oil to remove the clutch cover. HTH

Eric M

[courtsdaddy]

Check out the por-15 website you will find some polish that works amazing. I think the name is Artisian metal somthing, works great with a power ball and a good drill.