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My casings are a bit dull and would like to bring them to a shine has any one accomplished this and what did you use to get them there. I still need to do some work to my XL1200, but one more days work as soon as parts arrive and she'll be ready to pretty up and would really like to see the aluminum shine with the rest of the scoot. Here in SW Fl. Riding can be done most of the yr and since I got the bike about 2 months ago it's been resting....(been on the bench you might say) more than me riding her, so for a while I'm gonna take a break from up grading and replacing things and ride that sucker before the next upgrade. (Stage 2 is on my list).
You're gonna have to get rid of the clearcoat on the casecovers in order to polish the metal below. I believe folks use a product called "Aircraft Remover" to strip off the clearcoat.
I live on the beach in Southern California. After 26 years my casecovers and rocker covers are severely spiderwebbed with corrosion. Someday I'll probably strip it all off and polish it up, but the "patina" is fine for now.
Cvaria - your engine looks rad!!! I love the black cylinders and heads, exactly what I would do with mine.
I've also used Mother's, with good results, but it does take a lot of polishing. As John Harper mentioned above, there may be clear coat which needs to be removed. I had a 1989 a while back, and used a Marine Stripper that I got locally at a paint store, and did my rocker boxes and fork sliders. It melted the clear coat right off. Mine had the cracks in the clear coat, with the white corrosion underneath where moisture and air gets in. It came out nice, but took a lot of elbow grease. I'm sooo glad my '06 is all chrome.
There is a round foam rubber ball that is available that can be used in an electric drill for polishing large flat areas. I tried it, and it works, but it does fling polish around, and there are still areas that you have to do by hand. Good luck.
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Clean and shine aluminum caseings
