1962 Superhawk Restoration: Here I go

[Spargett]

Steering Stem/Fork Disassembly. Getting these chrome fork sleeves off (going to sell, or trade for black if anyone is interested).



Steering Stem Wear. Now these are some interesting bites here. Could this be from the ball bearings? They shouldn't be down there though right?



Steering Stem Bearings, a few popped out as I pulled things apart. I collected them all into a little baggie.



So per Loud Mouse's request, I filled the reservoir with degreaser, and checked for leaks. Everything help up perfectly on the left side. Slow leak on the right.

I recommend ya install spark plugs in the head and place the head on it's top. Fill with lacquer thinner and look into the intake/exhaust ports for any thinner that may pass the valve seats. If ya see some ya can turn the valve (valves have slots in them for a screwdriver to fit) and if the leak stops ya are good to go. A pic of the combustion chamber would be nice................lm

Right side combustion chamber. Dirty as all hell.



Left Combustion Chamber. Those almost look like little pieces of metal (prays not). I couldn't really see anything that would have caused it. The other possibility is that those were clean spots, which seems really odd and I'm not sure what would cause something like that to happen, in that pattern.



If anyone has any pointers or questions on what you see here, I'm all ears. Look forward to hearing what you have to say.

[LOUD MOUSE]

As for the valves I'd turn them right/left and see if leak stops. I have no idea what the other pis show. May come to light when ya clean the grease from the TC. .?????????. ..............lm

Steering Stem/Fork Disassembly. Getting these chrome fork sleeves off (going to sell, or trade for black if anyone is interested).



Steering Stem Wear. Now these are some interesting bites here. Could this be from the ball bearings? They shouldn't be down there though right?



Steering Stem Bearings, a few popped out as I pulled things apart. I collected them all into a little baggie.



So per Loud Mouse's request, I filled the reservoir with degreaser, and checked for leaks. Everything help up perfectly on the left side. Slow leak on the right.

I recommend ya install spark plugs in the head and place the head on it's top. Fill with lacquer thinner and look into the intake/exhaust ports for any thinner that may pass the valve seats. If ya see some ya can turn the valve (valves have slots in them for a screwdriver to fit) and if the leak stops ya are good to go. A pic of the combustion chamber would be nice................lm

Right side combustion chamber. Dirty as all hell.



Left Combustion Chamber. Those almost look like little pieces of metal (prays not). I couldn't really see anything that would have caused it. The other possibility is that those were clean spots, which seems really odd and I'm not sure what would cause something like that to happen, in that pattern.



If anyone has any pointers or questions on what you see here, I'm all ears. Look forward to hearing what you have to say.

[Spargett]

Lower end of the engine painted to match the crankcase and starter paint. The aluminum was pretty ugly, even after scrubbing. Decided to paint it to give it an extra dash of cleanliness overall. The top is being bead blasted right now. The whole combination is going to come out nice.



Here's a close-up shot of more detail on the lower crankcase. The engine's serial number still retains full clarity even with the layer of primer and paint on.



Here's the underbelly of the lower crankcase (engine). The paint seems to have adhered nicely. I used a self-etching primer underneath.



I found this to be a funny contrast. This is a partially polished valve cover on the uncleaned 305cc top end engine. I will have the entire top end bead blasted on Monday. It will be clean, bright aluminum yet again. Much more in tune with how the final valve covers will look.

As you can see there's still some sanding and filing I need to do to get all the nicks out of the covers. Someone was using improper tools to remove them, therefore denting the soft aluminum. Tisk tisk.

[Spargett]

So I've been having some problems getting the finish I'd like from polishing with a bench grinder. Here's the steps, along with the supplies I used. I feel like I spent no shortage of time on these and, I'm lacking the quality results I'm looking for.

How long (ballpark) should I spend polishing? I prob spend about 20-25 mins polishing with each compound on each wheel. For a total of 1.5 hours. Not too pushing too hard, or too light. Not applying too much polish. Just a touch every 0.5-1 minute or so.

Is is the quality of polish? I picked this stuff up at Harbor Freight (pure quality). Is it the fact that I'm not sanding enough? Do I need to keep it on the wheel for longer? etc. etc. Any tips are greatly appreciated. I had/have really high hopes for this, especially after seeing this thread. It makes me feel particularly dumb, like I'm doing something completely wrong here. It's certainly an improvement, but I could have easily gotten these results by hand.

Here I am wet sanding out some of the corrosion on the rear wheel's brake hub. I sprayed the top with paint stripper to remove any possible lacquer that could on the metal. I then sanded with 600 - 1000 grit paper.



[url=Here's a shot of the rear hub after polishing. After wet sanding for about 15-20 minutes, I used the black emery on the spiral sewn wheel to cut. Then polished with the white rouge bar on a loose spun cotton wheel, then finally buffed out on a clean, very soft buffing wheel.

I'm not getting the results I want right now. I feel like I'm halfway to the mirror finish. There's still alot of imperfections in the metal. I'm wonder if that's because of a lack of sanding before hand, or improper use of polishing.



Here's a close-up of the rear hub after polishing. After wet sanding for about 15-20 minutes, I used the black emery on the spiral sewn wheel to cut. Then polished with the white rouge bar on a loose spun cotton wheel, then finally buffed out on a clean, very soft buffing wheel.

I feel like I'm halfway to the mirror finish. There's still alot of imperfections in the metal. I'm wonder if that's because of a lack of sanding before hand, or improper use of polishing.



From left to right: Spiral sewn wheel, used with black emery compound. Loose spun cotton wheel, used with white rogue polishing compound. Clean buffing wheel.



From left to right: Brown "tripoli" bar, white "rogue" bar, and black "emery" bar.

[LOUD MOUSE]

Do ya have a drill press? ................lm

So I've been having some problems getting the finish I'd like from polishing with a bench grinder. Here's the steps, along with the supplies I used. I feel like I spent no shortage of time on these and, I'm lacking the quality results I'm looking for.

How long (ballpark) should I spend polishing? I prob spend about 20-25 mins polishing with each compound on each wheel. For a total of 1.5 hours. Not too pushing too hard, or too light. Not applying too much polish. Just a touch every 0.5-1 minute or so.

Is is the quality of polish? I picked this stuff up at Harbor Freight (pure quality). Is it the fact that I'm not sanding enough? Do I need to keep it on the wheel for longer? etc. etc. Any tips are greatly appreciated. I had/have really high hopes for this, especially after seeing this thread. It makes me feel particularly dumb, like I'm doing something completely wrong here. It's certainly an improvement, but I could have easily gotten these results by hand.

Here I am wet sanding out some of the corrosion on the rear wheel's brake hub. I sprayed the top with paint stripper to remove any possible lacquer that could on the metal. I then sanded with 600 - 1000 grit paper.



[url=Here's a shot of the rear hub after polishing. After wet sanding for about 15-20 minutes, I used the black emery on the spiral sewn wheel to cut. Then polished with the white rouge bar on a loose spun cotton wheel, then finally buffed out on a clean, very soft buffing wheel.

I'm not getting the results I want right now. I feel like I'm halfway to the mirror finish. There's still alot of imperfections in the metal. I'm wonder if that's because of a lack of sanding before hand, or improper use of polishing.



Here's a close-up of the rear hub after polishing. After wet sanding for about 15-20 minutes, I used the black emery on the spiral sewn wheel to cut. Then polished with the white rouge bar on a loose spun cotton wheel, then finally buffed out on a clean, very soft buffing wheel.

I feel like I'm halfway to the mirror finish. There's still alot of imperfections in the metal. I'm wonder if that's because of a lack of sanding before hand, or improper use of polishing.



From left to right: Spiral sewn wheel, used with black emery compound. Loose spun cotton wheel, used with white rogue polishing compound. Clean buffing wheel.



From left to right: Brown "tripoli" bar, white "rogue" bar, and black "emery" bar.

[davomoto]

Use the tripoli, it will remove the scratches from sanding. Ed question about the drill press, I used to use a drill press, with a buffing wheel, and it works pretty good. I use only tripoli when polishing. It doesn't give the brightest " mirror" look, but it does look awsome!

davomoto

[Gunner_CAF]

I got the best results with a small 4" wheel in a corded hand drill for the hubs. I used the dremmel stick polish. Just work a small area, press hard. It first gets a black coating and as you work it, it turns to a chrome finish. If you have a small part, it will become too hot to hold with a bare hand just about the time it starts to shine. Then move on and continue. If you start with the white, even a scratched area will shine, but the scratch is too deep it still be there.

I have a hunch your just not working it hard or long enough. My clutch lever must have been put in a vice at one time and had deep gouges in it. I removed it and used the black stick to polish out the marks. Once they were out, I switched to the white and polished the entire lever to a mirror finish. One handle took me at least a half hour.

Attached are a few pics. I don't have a before picture, but right at the wide part of the base where you can see the reflection was where the gouges were, and the other picture are the tools I used. This is also what we used on the wheel hubs.

Gunner