Billet or Cast?

does anyone know if the 82 xj650 r seca engines are billet or cast aluminum (sorry i don't know how to tell)? i want to polish the engine and i have heard that cast aluminum will oxidize when you polish it, but billet wont. i just need to know if i am going to have to clear coat the engine to protect it from oxidizing

 

The cases are cast, good luck and have fun

I don't think casting vrs billet has any effect on polishing, there are millions of pieces of cast aluminum that are/have been polished, it's all gonna oxidize

 

originally motors were clear coated and parts painted. the polished case will dull. do a search for polishing plenty of methods from a wheel to wetdry with wd40
a coat of wax works but dulls the mirror shine

 

https://www.xjbikes.com/forums/threads/polishing.111354/#post-586725

 

hey thanks. yeah previous owner stripped most of the stock paint just to paint it silver for whatever reason. if it doesnt matter then i will just go for it. I don't want to polish it to a mirror finish, i mostly just want to clean it up. sandpaper is the best answer i've found to clean it up and then polish to taste with a buffing wheel and some compound, but i know sandpaper will leave scratches and will cause it to oxidize faster..

 

As soon as the old oxide is removed and there is fresh air exposure, all aluminum starts oxidizing. Method of removal has no effect.

 

You won't find a billet (machined from solid stock; the stock being the billet) engine case on any production machine. The cost of that sort of work really limits it to prototyping and the well-equipped hobbiest.


To get it cleaned up really easily look into soda blasting.

 

i did mine with "aircraft" stripper, power washer and a wire brush, hand and on a drill. look into Eastwood's engine enamel
the wire brush leaves it ready to clear or paint. sand paper might not get a even finish, that's going to show through paint or clear

 

moe, that makes sense. i actually have a soda blaster, so i will try that out. i saw jish (on youtube) got his hydro blasted, but he did it with the motor put together, and i have had multiple people tell me that it would be a better idea to take the motor apart to hydro blast, but we have already put it back together with new gaskets so i figured i'll just put the work in and save some money.

polock, i will need to use some aircraft stripper too on some left over paint. did the wire brush leave scratches at all?

 

huntchuks, i kind of figured. i guess i'll just go for it then! thank you for your reply.

 

kind of a satin finish, sandpaper is kind of drastic, try a wire wheel about 5 inch dia. on a drill

 

this is what i got so far with soda blaster and wire wheel! thanks for the suggestions!!

 

Looks good. Now you just need a can of semichrome and a rag