Got the yamaha R1 engine home the other night and some of the black pieces are a bit scuffed and scratched. Is it alright to mask the bolts and paint these bits with some smooth hammerite?
What about the main block as im having trouble cleaning it with a brush and petrol and still there is some minor staining and corrosion. Is there anything to use on it to bring it back to a really nice silver finish?
Cheers

[Edited on 23/12/07 by bassett]

Buy a spray can of wheel silver and blow the lot over, then lacquer it. TFR spray for wheels gets it clean but that's acid as well or brick acid if it's really bad. but make sure you wash them off thoroughly.

[Edited on 23/12/07 by Peteff]

Personally I think painted bike engines can look great for 10mins then scruffy for ages so Ive avoided painting the block and only sprayed the odd engine cover if Ive had to take it off.

Hammerite is funny stuff with some metals Ally included so you need special metals primer on there first.

I reckon a bit of etch primer then some bog-o halfords stain black looks pretty good here and there - as for the block.....

Get something like "hammerite aluminium cleaner and restorer" or something like that - its in a red 2.5 litre bottle at Halfords and was on offer hence I tried it!

Its pretty good but basically the only functional ingredient as far as I can tell is the phosphoric acid. If this is the case any good quality alloy wheel cleaner will do the same job if you cant find the hammerite restorer stuff.

Spray it on and work it up into a lather and leave to get the stains out of the ally then wash off with lots of water.

Spray some MUC-OFF PTFE protector afterwards to drive the water out and leave a PTFE coating and a nice satin finish.

Thats what I did anyway

Geoff

why not strip it and then laquere it?

I think that looks a lot better.

Saying that, I had a mate who's engine weeped like someone at a wake after he tried to clean off old paint to repaint his engine. He got it shot blasted and the idiot who did it thought the faces were fair game. Took some blue and a lot of patience to sort.

Go steady out there!

try some alloy wheel cleaner on engine block it will come up rather well but dont leave it on too long it goes grey and cant be removed

also i have sen battery acid used on a engine brought it up very clean but iv never tried it as it can eat into the ali and make it pourous

cheers malc

We cleaned ours with a rotating wire brush in a drill. We have not touched it since and it looks fine.

Steve

i bought engine cleaner from netto for £1 a can brought mine up a treat then sprayed it with silicon spray also £1 form netto

[Edited on 24/12/07 by higgsti]

Step 1 ... Face mask, with vapour filter. Can of petrol, and a good bristle brush.

Step 2 ... Nice warm, soapy power wash, rinse and dry it up immediately.

Step 3 ... Just leave it as it is, and give it a wipe or a dusting often! If you really feel that you have to ... lacquer it.

I'm told battery acid is particularly effective at bringing up corroded alloy castings. I'm planning to steam clean first (old wall paper steamer is ideal) then carefully apply battery acid and wash off thoroughly once desired effect is achieved.

Best solution was as Hellfire recommended the wire brush drill attachment. Took off the dull greyish stuff and left it how i imagine it was new with a bright silver finish. If anyone else is considering this give you self a good day for it, cover all open pipes and get a few small and large attachments as it takes a while getting round all the fiddly parts.
Adam

alloy wheel cleaner and powder coating
Rescued attachment gulf indy 013.jpg

That does look mint gaz but bet it took a while to get done.

Gaz where is your battery?