Update: I said in my first post that the method that I put forward got about 95% if the crud/crust and oxidation on the first pass. It is a good method if you fins are in really bad shape, like mine were. What was left on the 5% were gray stains and the fins had with a shiny burnished finish. On the second try the method didn’t get rid of the stains though. If you look toward the bottom of picture 2 you'll see the finish that the first method produced.
I switched to Mothers aluminum polish and it wouldn’t touch the stains. So I ordered some 3M aluminum restorer and polish off on Amazon. Got it today, so I gave it a try. I used my dremmel tool with the polishing wheels. I used the rectangular polishing wheel for the fins that I could get to easily and the polishing ball on the ones that I couldn’t easily get to easily. The aluminum polish instructions says a little goes a long way, so I used very little on the wheel. They were right. I applied a coating to the wheel and started the dremmel away from the bike to sling off any excess and then went about polishing the fins. They are coming out like jewelry! This is the perfect solution, and polish, for problem fins. I stopped because I used up my polishing wheels. I’ll get some more tomorrow and finish up. I’m also going to get some polishing pads made from the same material as the wheels. I’ll use those on the front and rear of the cylinders where you can’t get to with the dremmel.
I couldn’t be happier with the results!!
fxdx2k, if your fins are like I think they are you ought to trythis polish. It’s great.
Pictures of the results below.
Last edited by Pitbull_Dallas; 11-26-2013 at 10:43 AM.
Pitbull,
I too tried a lot of stuff with unsatisfactory results. Your fins look great. Good job and thanks for posting.
My 07 Deluxe is mint except for the fins. As far as I know my bike has lived in Minnesota, Ohio and now Michigan. I will give this stuff a try.
Jampg, if you use the Scotch-Brite be careful around the chrome. It will scratch if you're not carefull.
I did manage to find a somewhat representative picture of my fins in the before condtion. This is actually after a very light pass with the first method (I hadn't really gotten serious about that area at the time I took the pic and finished it up later), but it will give you some idea of what things looked like before I got started. Also one of the after condition. Light is kind of dim though.
Last edited by Pitbull_Dallas; 11-19-2013 at 09:53 AM.
I forgot one thing. I mentioned that I was going to get some pads made of the same material as the dremel polishing wheels. Well, you can't get the exact same thing, but I found something that is almost identical. You can get them at Home Depot or Lowes. They are adhesive backed felt furniture pads (see picture below). You don't remove the backing to expose the adhesive of course. They are about 1/8 inch thick and work real well. Cut them up to reach in hard to get places. If you dont have a dremel tool you can used these alone and it will give you a "near" same finish. The narrow one is the same thing as the pad. Used them for getting in places like behind the push rod tubes. Oh, and a couple of pictures of the the finished product and the bike.
The next project is to figure out how to remove fine scratches from chrome. Another problem that has many complaints and there isn't a good solution out there, short of buying new or rechroming. What else has an old retired engineer have to do anyway??
Update: I said in my first post that the method that I put forward got about 95% if the crud/crust and oxidation on the first pass. It is a good method if you fins are in really bad shape, like mine were. What was left on the 5% were gray stains and the fins had with a shiny burnished finish. On the second try the method didn’t get rid of the stains though. If you look toward the bottom of picture 2 you'll see the finish that the first method produced.
I switched to Mothers aluminum polish and it wouldn’t touch the stains. So I ordered some 3M aluminum restorer and polish off on Amazon. Got it today, so I gave it a try. I used my dremmel tool with the polishing wheels. I used the rectangular polishing wheel for the fins that I could get to easily and the polishing ball on the ones that I couldn’t easily get to easily. The aluminum polish instructions says a little goes a long way, so I used very little on the wheel. They were right. I applied a coating to the wheel and started the dremmel away from the bike to sling off any excess and then went about polishing the fins. They are coming out like jewelry! This is the perfect solution, and polish, for problem fins. I stopped because I used up my polishing wheels. I’ll get some more tomorrow and finish up. I’m also going to get some polishing pads made from the same material as the wheels. I’ll use those on the front and rear of the cylinders where you can’t get to with the dremmel.
I couldn’t be happier with the results!!
fxdx2k, if your fins are like I think they are you ought to trythis polish. It’s great.
Pictures of the results below.
Resurrecting an old thread but your results were so amazing I had to ask a few questions, since I'm dealing with the same thing.
When you say the "rectangular polishing wheel" and "polishing ball" are you talking about something like these, with the wheels on the right and the ball on the left?
When you were polishing them, were you running the wheel parallel with the fins? Light pressure, hard pressure? Long sweeps back and forth, or moving slowly in one direction?
Sorry for all the questions, but since you've done such an amazing job I want to do exactly what you did and hopefully get the same results.
^ be careful using any polishing compound if you have black on your engine. It's damn near impossible to get that white residue off.
I took a different approach to make my fins look great again. I sanded them using wet/dry paper starting with 400 grit and working my way up to 1500 or 2000. Can't remember exactly where I stopped. Anyway, it was tedious but the results were great. Not only did I remove the oxidation and crud but I got rid of all of the machining marks also. They're so easy to keep clean now. It took me a solid 14 hours but it was worth it.
Resurrecting an old thread but your results were so amazing I had to ask a few questions, since I'm dealing with the same thing.
When you say the "rectangular polishing wheel" and "polishing ball" are you talking about something like these, with the wheels on the right and the ball on the left?
When you were polishing them, were you running the wheel parallel with the fins? Light pressure, hard pressure? Long sweeps back and forth, or moving slowly in one direction?
Sorry for all the questions, but since you've done such an amazing job I want to do exactly what you did and hopefully get the same results.
Yes, I ran the polishing wheels parallel, along the length of the fins when using the retangular wheel. Used the radiused portion of the ball and held the Dremel at about a 30 degree angle. I used a moderate pressure and then went to a light pressure for the high polish. For the high polish I also increased the Dremel speed a bit. I worked about a 1 to 2 inch section at a time.
If you'll PM me your email address I'll send you the full instructions in a word file. This thread is a little broken up as far as instructions, and I put together a much more organized versions, with pictures, in word. Don't use that big wheel because it's too flexible and hard to control. The one I call rectangular is the one you are showing next to the polishing ball..
Last edited by Pitbull_Dallas; 07-15-2015 at 02:55 PM.
My fins are a mess as well. I followed PBD's recommendations and it works great. It is definitely time consuming though. I only completed about half of the fins so far but they look like new.
PBD would you mind sending me the instructions as well if I pm you my email?
11-15-2013, 04:57 PM
