Just some retarted questions

lol what have i gotten into, sigh, so is this stuff like a clay? do you apply it to the buffing pad, and spin on... i cant even think of what scotchbrite is. is it a steel wool, or a sandpaper, or one of thsoe sandy sponge. I hate asking all these questions, but im shooting in the dark with this,
Thanks rick, for tolerating me.
Where did you get thsoe buffing wheels? if u made them im gonna say screw it, looks too hard, ill but them
and did you get the rouge from, internet? that website you sent me to? ugghh sorry for being so ignorant

 

and the only zam i could find was a bar, not a liquid, and it was like $3

 

got another question for 'yall, can i sand polish the front forks, the part with the oil in it and stuff, and expect almost the same results?
i think that ill have to do a how-to so people like me stop asking so many questions

 

Schooter you can get the buffing wheels for a drill like that from Home Depot or Sears. (I got mine at Home Depot, a whole "kit" with 3 wheels and a mandrel for like $10.) Scotchbrite is those green scrubby things that look like plastic steel wool about 1/4" thick they sell in the grocery store with the sponges and stuff. They also sell them in most paint departments in green and grey, they grey one is finer. Scotchbrite falls in between 800 wet and 1200 wet (sort of.) By the time you get to the 2000 wet you'll have a pretty nice shine. A word of advice: GO EASY especially with the coarser grits, even the 800. You won't need 220 and probably not 400 either.

 

ok, thank you. Ill just sand it for now, and worry about buffing it later, im giving Rick a hard time, asking hime to type essays for me about this stuff.
so, i think ill get to work, but no one has said anything bad about painting the covers and filling in the holes with clal, so i think ill start with that.
Also, on the one side cover with the scratches, i rubbed some 800 pretty brisk and hard over the chips, and it didnt take it out.
also, if i dont need 400, what should i use? 800, 1000, and 2000? is there a 1500 or somethng i should use?
mmk, fitz, what did you use on the buffers?

 

You're doing it right. The thing is to try the lowest grit needed to take out the spots. If 800 doesn't work. Use 600. If 600 doesn't do the trick, use 400, etc until you've gotten down to the correct grade to remove imperfections and then from there, you move on to finer grits to smooth everything out and finally get to the buffing stage.

The lower forks, yes you can do. Upper is a no no. You'll need to use aircraft remover before you do so to remove the clearcoat.

If you're going to paint the covers, then make sure it's sanded, very clean and primed then coated with an engine enamel. Personally, I think they look much sharper polished though. I wouldn't fill in the lettering.

 

No, i dont want to paint the cover, just the yamaha word. you see, ill paint the part fo the cover with the yamaha, then once it dries ill fill the hole in with a clay that doesn't dry. then i use aircraft remover to get rid of the black paint that isnt in the yamaha letters, and the paint remover wont tuch the yamaha letters cuz its cover with clay, then ill sand it down, remove the clay, and then ill have a shiney cover with nice black yamaha letters

 

You don't need to use paint remover to remove the excess paint. Just gently sand it away on your way to polishing the cover. Or, do what I do: Get the cover all sanded, buffed and polished. Use a q-tip with lacquer thinner to be sure the letters are CLEAN, and paint in with automotive touch-up paint, either by hand or spray. Then once the paint has dried to the touch (NOT "cured") take a "tight" rag (I use a doubled-up paper shop towel pulled tight over my finger) dampened with lacquer thinner and simply wipe away the excess paint.

 

Be careful of over polishing the fork are that contacts the fork seals. That area will work best cross hatched with 300-500 grit. If you do some googleing on fork tubes, you'll find this information. Apparently, the fork seals like to seat similar to piston rings. High polish on the tubes will actually promote fork oil leaks.

I'm not sure I agree with the 2000 grit for polishing. This would only be necessary if you arent switching to the jewlers rouge. When doing paint jobs, I go to 1000 wet dry, then switch to finer polishing compounds.

Be sure you use mineral spirits, or soapy water with your wet dry paper. Sanding residue is the worst enemy to polishing.

 

Here's how to paint the YAMAHA Logo.

Mask-off the Cover leaving the YAMAHA Logo exposed.
Spray the Logo with the Color.
Before the Paint dries:
Un-mash the Cover.

Take a T-shirt and cut some 6" squares.
Wrap a square around your finger and get the T-Shirt material DAMP with Thinner.
With the T-shirt material tight around your finger ... wipe-off the Overspray.
Use plenty of clean T-shirt sections.
Don't spread the paint with the T-Shirt ... just wipe it off and change the square.

You may have to do a few coats to get it looking Factory.
I wear a latex glove under the T-shirt.
I dampen the T-shirt and then touch a dry towel to make sure its not too damp.

That Logo will look as good as new after two or three coats.

 

what is with people thinking im polishing the fork tubes, just the part that attacked to the front wheel, not the part that goes inside the toehr part, just the part that has the tubes go inside it, and i dont know what it it called.

 

You have to do a lot of Prep on the Lower's before you Buff them out to a nice mirror-finished looking shine.

I did the "Sanding-out" of these ... with a Pneumatic Dual-Action Sander.
I took my parts to a Body Shop and worked-out a deal with the owner.
For the pleasure of being able to use a D-A Sander and air to do my parts ... I did errands running-around to get stuff he needed for his shop.

He was able to stay and get time in on the jobs he had going at the shop; rather than having to run-out to get some paint, hardware, coffee -- whatever!

If you set yourself up in a little corner of an Auto Body Shop and get to use an air-powered, dual-action sander on your parts ... you are going to be able to get so much done in just a few hours ... that all the HARD work in prepping for Aluminum Polishing can get done in a couple of afternoons -- after school.

 

Rick,
I'm jealous of your lowers..

 

I have covers that are in better shape than that if you're interested... 81 xj650 engine...

 

ugghh, i may jut use aircraft remover to get rid of the primer, and then buff the crap out of them, then maybe they'll be nice, and i can avoid sanding them
moonfried, im not sure if they will fit, but how much are you asking?

 

ok well im officiall beginning this, and ill try to do a how-to

 

for those yamaha logos, just go to walmart, get a black touch up paint, and carefully spread the paint into the logo, have a rag with minirel spirits handy for any mistakes. if i can get my cam to work ill get some pics of mine, but befor i put the paint into the wording i painted mine with a high quality gray/silver caliper paint to help hide the small scratches in the covers, it turned out good except for one of the larger scratches is still visible. ive heard a good lead based solder and a mapp gas torch can fill them scratches in.

 

Wow that was a read.
All good advice.
I just finished painting my car so I know what you're in for.
If you want to do it right it is a huge amount of work.
If you do it wrong it will look like you didn't take the time to do it right.
It took me 2 weeks to prep for paint, every spare minute, weekends, no body work just prep.
Taping ran into 3 rolls, thank god for harbor frieght.
The actual painting was a breeze.
A drill and some wheels are going to be essential for you, on the car I used a buffer.
Wet sandpaper is your friend, it leaves less scratches, the water cleans the paper so it doesn't clog and not sand.
1500 is super fine after that you are into rubbing compounds, then polishes.
So don't worry about finer paper.
The advice about the Yammi lettering is right on.
Let the paint setup a bit then use a slightly damp rag with thinner, acetone, mineral spirits, to wipe up the excess.

 

ok, well here's the update, after abut 2-3 hours, im almost dont sanding one cover... just with 800 grit, just have some touchy spots to do. as far as the yamaha logos, well im gonan do those until the end, i tried on both sided, on side the paint stayed on really nice, but got washed away by my wet sand paper, lol. Then the other side, well when ever i tried to spray it, the paint would bead and well, it didn't work, can anyone tell me why? was it too cold? should i start up the engine,let it run and then see whats up

 

It should be 60 plus degrees to paint, for proper drying.