Honda C200

[Spargett]

When you say "use the paint remove before buffing", are you referring to buffing out after "polishing" or use the paint remover before starting anything at all, including the polishing?

The parts came out beautiful. Just want to be clear on what your technique was.

I polished with emery, then buffed on a loose cotton wheel. Not really getting the cutting results I was hoping for. Maybe I just need to keep it on a tad longer. Here's a photo. As I you can see I kept most of the focus on the area just below the "Type 1".

I also have a white polishing compound, but I'll need to pick up another wheel for it. I look forward to getting better at this. Any pointers?



-Scott-

As for the buffers, well I attached a picture of the type I'm using. I only use two colors of compound. For the rough cut I use the black one and for the fine I use the white one. I don't mix the two. One buffer for each color and that's all I use. I also found the if you use the paint remover on the parts before you stat to buff you'll get a better result. Might be there is some king of clear coat on the old part. Paul

[4shorts]

Hi Scott. Use the paint stripper to remove any clear coat off the aluminum before you attempt to buff the parts. After the old clear coating is removed and the parts are dry you can start the buffing process. If you leave the original clear coat on the parts it will be very hard to get the proper result your looking for. Good luck, Paul

[4shorts]

Scott the picture you emailed pm looks good. I like to try and answer all the questions here so that everyone of us can benefit from the information.

When buffing the main thing is don't use any wire wheels because it can contaminate the aluminum. Using two buffing wheels is the way to go and each buffer should be dedicated to each type of compound you use. If you make a mistake and mix the two just use an old hair brush to clean the wheel again.

Try and get as much of the scratches out before buffing. Aluminum oxide paper is good and you can even use water paper. In extreme cases I've even used a sander.

Here's a picture of a piece of aluminum I did last week for a Harley. The polished part that's on top was cut and bent from the piece it's sitting on. Good luck. Paul

[Spargett]

Thank you. I have just one question. Do you use the emery and white compound on each individual wheel, and keep an addition wheel clean for final buffing, or does a loose stitch wheel with fine compound do the final job well?

Thanks again for helping. I fully agree with the philosophy if getting the info out there, which I try and do on my thread as well.

Scott the picture you emailed pm looks good. I like to try and answer all the questions here so that everyone of us can benefit from the information.

When buffing the main thing is don't use any wire wheels because it can contaminate the aluminum. Using two buffing wheels is the way to go and each buffer should be dedicated to each type of compound you use. If you make a mistake and mix the two just use an old hair brush to clean the wheel again.

[4shorts]

Scott. When I use emery I mean emery cloth and I use it by hand. I use it to get the scratches out of the part. When the scratches are all out I only then do the buffing. One buffing wheel for each compound. Paul

[bigolsalmon]

Hi guys,

I just started restoring my C200 (after being inspired by Paul's incredible resto) and am curious as to the best way to clean some rust out of the gas tank.

I have it completely disassembled but wasn't sure the best way to do it - I have read a couple of methods including muriatic acid solutions with rinsing with a power-washer and a gravel slosh mixing but would like to get some expertise here as this is my first resto.

Thanks in advance!

Bill
Denver, Colorado

[4shorts]

Hi Bill. First of all welcome to the site and that's a fine looking buddy you have there in the photo. Nice bikes as well.

Although I don't get over here much you'll find a great bunch of people here and I'm sure they will try and help out where they can. The site is really dedicated to the 305 equipped Honda bikes but I kind of broke that trend when I posted the restoration of my C200 on here but no one seemed to mind which was nice of them.

I'm also happy to know that this thread has helped folks out over the last year or so and given them a few ideas I've used to try for themselves. Now when it comes to the rust in your gas tank let me offer a little advise. Coat your tank! Every bike I've done I've coated the tank and it's as good as an insurance policy. If you use a product like Kreem it will come with the solution to get the rust out and also the coating to put in. It's easy to do and inexpensive. Doing it this way will insure it's done the right way and you won't have to worry about leaks in the future.

If you want to see what the stuff looks like you can visit my thread "The Rebirth of a C78 305 Honda Dream at the link below and you'll see the stuff on page two. If you haven't noticed that thread you might want to look at it because I posted just about every step I went through to do my Dream there. When I started doing my C200 I couldn't find any info on doing one. It's great to see folks wanting to do these old gals. Good luck. Paul


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