Harley engine polishing

[tfrosst]

Hey guys. I'm new here. Been reading for a while and have a few questions. I'm going to be polishing up a harley engine and need some info.

What is the best way to strip the powder coat and get a flat finish on the cylinders and heads? I see the scrubber wheels on the site and was wondering if this would be a good starting point. It looks like the ideal size to fit in between the fins on the heads and cylinders. Is this aggressive enough? If not, what can I use? the spaces between the fins on a harley motor are very small and I can't manually sand everything.


The cases are raw sand cast aluminum. Not very rough and pretty easy to work on so those i'm just going to sand down first then hit them with the wheels and detailing bits.

[mpierich]

Originally Posted by tfrosst

Hey guys. I'm new here. Been reading for a while and have a few questions. I'm going to be polishing up a harley engine and need some info.

What is the best way to strip the powder coat and get a flat finish on the cylinders and heads? I see the scrubber wheels on the site and was wondering if this would be a good starting point. It looks like the ideal size to fit in between the fins on the heads and cylinders. Is this aggressive enough? If not, what can I use? the spaces between the fins on a harley motor are very small and I can't manually sand everything.


The cases are raw sand cast aluminum. Not very rough and pretty easy to work on so those i'm just going to sand down first then hit them with the wheels and detailing bits.

Just send me the engine.

Otherwise: you know you're going to have to sand the fins etc. to get them ready to polish. That process will also remove any coating. Personally I wouldn't buy scrubber wheels just to remove the coating, but if you feel they're cheaper than whatever you'll use to sand the aluminum, they'd probably work fine.

BTW, DO NOT blast the engine unless it's taken completely apart. No way you'll keep the dust out of it completely.

[baz]

if you are talking about doing the (full polish) job ., i hope you know what you are getting into .
i don t think the scrubber wheels will do the job , i have been doing those for a long time and it takes me more than 40 hours to do a twin cam and thats because i have done dozens of them and i have all the tools needed.
for the powder coat on them a good liquid stripper should take care of that

[noizboy]

Hi from another noob to this site.
I'm working on a XS650 engine (no paint) and was just wondering if you would share your tricks on doing the jugs? I'm an ok polisher and I have no problem with most parts with normal contours. Do you use finger buffs for the fins? Any info would greatly be appreciated.

[tfrosst]

I must have missed your earlier reply baz. Thanks for the info. I was on your site and see tha you're in Quebec. What liquid stripper do you recommend that is available in Canada? Do you mechanically sand the parts or sand everything by hand first? If you use tools, which ones and with what ends?-if you don't mind sharing

As noizboy already asked, i'm also interested what you use for the areas in between the fins

[baz]

for the stripper i haven t used anyfor a long time . i send them out to be stripped . as for the tools to do inside the fins it would be complicated to list all of them, some are homemade tools but to name some : belt sander with 1/4 inch wide belts, die grinders with cartrige rolls of al sizes and shapes , carbide burrs of all sizes,angle die grinder ,small buffing wheels of all sizes,small sanding pads 3/4 inch to 3 inch,and lots more.