Just some retarted questions

Well here i go:
1. What entails taking a valve cover off? do i just losen the bolts, and pop it comes off? is there anything attached to the cover, and i know while im under there i should adjust the valves, but i have no clue how to. is there a how-to?
2. what do you need to do to paint on chrome? can you just paint rite on it? because on my old honda pipes, i want to slap a yamaha emblem on a nice part of chrome, and then paint the pipes black, pull off the logo, and then have black pipes with a chrome yamaha emblem. i do plan on taking a wire wheelon a grinder to the pipes, especially the rusty spots, but i dont want to get into the yamaha emblem with a dremmel and rough up the spaces in between, can it be done with some steel cloth
3. still looking for a borke, useless, or unwanted engine cover to practice sanding and polishing aluminum, also, whats wet sand paper? just sandpaper put under a faucet? I bought some dollar stor sand paper, that has coarse, medium, fine, and very fine, i want to just try using that stuff
sorry for the book

 

I'll throw in a few answers...

Yes, loosen the bolts to the valve cover and it should come right off. You may need to pry it a bit depending on how well affixed the gasket is. Search the forums for a how-to on valve adjustment. I don't recall seeing one, though.

I believe you need to use some steel wool or other abrasive to rough up the chrome for the paint to stick. Also, you'll want to clean them really well of all road grime. Use mineral spirits or the like.

Wet/dry sand paper is meant to be used either way. I used a small pan with warm water to soak my paper when I was doing my tank. It allows the paper to conform to the curves of whatever you're sanding. Also makes it so you can wash out the paper as it gums up. I did a little buffing on my engine covers this last summer and found that if you finish with 2000 grit, you'll get damned near a mirror shine. Pretty neat.

 

lol this dollar store stuff doent have a grit number, but man there is a whole butt load of it, i have like 4 9x11 sheets of 4 different kinds for a dollar..

 

schooter, dollar store sand paper is not near fine enough to buff/polish aluminum. you need to go to an automotive store and get some 'real' sand paper. Depending on how bad your covers are, start with 600 or 800 grit and work your way up to 2000 or higher if you want.

 

ya, on my covers that say yamaha, i sprayed some aircraft remover, WOW, took off the nasty tan enamel, and made it look like a dull mirror, but it really shows the scratched and road rash or what ever happened to my covers
so any sand paper can be "wet"

alrite, so now im asking for advise on how to bring back my covers, and i dont plan on taking them off, i know it helps, but how much in gaskets is this going to cost me? i plan on changing the oil too so thats no big deal
also, who has experience with steel wool and chrome?

 

No you have to purchase wet/dry sandpaper that uses more of a cloth material to hold the grit.
Regular sandpaper will fall apart when it's paper gets wet.

 

ya, i went to autozone, i bought some 220, 400, 800, and 1000 sandpaper, just couldnt find any 2000 sandpaper, i didnt feel like asking cuz that was already 16 bucks

 

I'm currently working on the "how to" for aircooled XJ valve adjustment. Stay tuned. Unless BADLY scratched, you won't need the 220, maybe not even the 400. Get yourself one of those rubber sanding blocks you buy at the hardware store, and start with 800 wet. WET. You will need to replace any gasket you 'disturb' the bike is 23 years old. Valve cover gasket and bolt donuts together are kinda expensive even from Chacal (twice as much from MamaYama.) I wouldn't go in there until you're ready for a valve adjustment. Lastly, steel wool=bad. Leaves minute particles of steel behind which can rust. Scotchbrite works the same, comes in different "grades" and is GOOD. Use Nev-R-Dull on your chrome.

 

alrite guys, ill psot some pics of what it looks like now and let you be the judge of what i need and dont need, cuz i would love to save $6, lol, naw but ill just trade the 220 and 400 for like 1500 and 2000, is there anything higher? what polish do you reccommend, and i plan to use it wet anyways..

Also, does anyone have experience sanding the fins on an aircooled?

umm lesse, the cover below the engine that the header pipes separate for is the oil filter cover, rite?
does anyone know the fram oil filter number? i printed the number off but i think i lost it.

 

You sand all the Parts out until there's nothing left but swirls form the Finishing Paper.
Then you Buff it out with Jewelers Rouges.

 

where do you get these jewlers rouges? what do they look like, and a how-to i googled said to use straight strokes, not "swirls"

 

http://www.widgetsupply.com/page/WS/PRO ... UP2-4ROUGE

 

Ok well i got some pics, The one good side i can get away starting at 800, but the other side, with the scratches, i may have to start at 220, those scrates are done dry however, not sure if wet helps alot, so please i would like some constructive criticism.
also, the black paint in the yamaha groove seems to have faded/disappeared, so what i want to do, is paint that part of my cover, and get some paint in the holes, and then fill the holes with clay, then use aircraft remover to get rid of the paint, and sand, then i will take out the clay.
The last picture is of the chrome i want to use steel wool, but bigfitz, are you telling me to use scotchbrite istead, or neither?

 

Most of what you see above is the clearcoat coming off. 2 weeks ago I did the covers on the CB they looked about the same, worse on the ignition cover as it had been layed over. Used Permatex spray gasket remover and a scotchbrite pad to remove the coating. Then used some 400, 800, 1500 to remove most of the scratches on the ignion cover then some of the rouge with a buffing wheel to bring it to a polished finish you could see yourself in. Used some press and seal to protect everything around the covers I did on the bike. The others I pulled, like the valve cover, alt cover, ect...

I wouldn't use steel wool on anything as it will leave particals behind in the metal which will rust. Looks like that chrome is pretty pitted. Might try some aluminum foil on it with some chrome polish.

 

You won't be needing 220.
220 is for sanding-out damage.

Before you put any SandPaper to that Aluminum try doing some "Burnishing" first.
You need a Mandrel that you can adapt for "Buffing" with some discs of ScotchBrite Pad.

To be able to use ScotchBrite Pad Discs you modify the Mandrel by adding hardware.

You need a Mandrel that will hold at least 3 ScotchBrite Discs.
To keep the ScotchBrite from NOT spinning ... add hardware at Both ends.

Place an "External Star Locking Washer" against the Discs on BOTH Sides.
Put a Nylon Flat washer outside of the Star washers to help compress the Star washers to the ScotshBrite material ... AND ... PREVENT the Star Washer from coming in contact with the surface and causing the aluminum to be deeply sctatched by the Star Washers teeth.

Make Discs of ScotchBrite GRAY (medium) ... By using a Sharpie and tracing around the edge of a Compact Disc.
Buff the Cases with ScotchBrite before you so ANY sanding.

https://www.findingking.com/p-20784-cot ... -2pcs.aspx

 

I am not sure how bad it was in the beginning, but 220 is pretty coarse for polishing work.

 

erm, did some sanding with sandpaper, just those scrateches you see tho, ill jsut buff them by hand then with scotch brite, i wont use 220..

 

ok, well all this different advise is getting me confused..
this is my plan...
1.Spraypaint the center of my covers black, the ones with the yamaha emblem
2. fill in the yamaha holes with clay
3. apply aircraft remover to get rid of the enamel and black paint
4. sand with 400
5. sand with 800
6. sand with 1000
7. sand with 2000
8. buff with a jewlers rouge, but i dont know how!! can i do it by hand or do i need a tool? what?

Please tell me what i'm doing wrong!!! if im not doing anything wrong tell me, i want to do this
Also Rick said to use scotch brite before i did anything, so i think ill do that.

 

http://www.hobbytool.com/aluminummetalpolishingkit.aspx

this seems liek a really good kit, but its 30 bucks... i may sand the bike and ask for this for christmas..

 

Hard Buffing Wheels
Medium Buffing Wheel
Soft Buffing Wheel
Sewn-up Buffers for applying force.

Different sized UN-sewn Buffers for finishing
Jewelers Rouges
Brown, Number 5, Number 6, ZAM Jewelery Polishing Compound (expensive; but sold in small quantities)
Mandrels for the Drill
Multi-speed, reversible drill.