How to Polish Parts for my Tecate?

[Meat-BoX]

I am looking for some polishing threads. I can never find anything with the search engine on this site. I know there is alot of info on this site. I would also like any info anyone can give. Also anyone who does good Polishing if I cant do it myself.
I have a Cal-Fab +2" swingarm that needs to be polished and I would like to do some of the Engine cases. I dont have any tools except a drill and no polishing kit yet so if anyone knows what is the best stuff to use please let me know. I hear a Dremel set is good. Any info on what is the best to use would be nice. I would like to do these parts in my house if possible. I dont have a garage which makes it hard to get any work done without anyone seeing my Trike out front. I dont want to get her stolen so I dont like to have it out where anyone can see it. And the snow is starting to fly and my hands dont work very good in the cold.
I'm hoping to get set up for Ice Racing and would like to have her done up by Spring so she will look good for Trikefest if I can get the time off. I havnt had so much fun in years and would like to go again and meet more cool people. Im looking to finish my Tecate finally. I see some people take about 6 months to get their rides nice while mine has taken almost 10 years..
Also if anyone knows where I can get the proper Cal-Fab stickers for my swinger please let me know. Thx

[Yamahauler]

Mothers aluminum polish, and drill mounted buffing heads. A tapered on, cylinder and mushroom head. Then for the small things, a dremel with small buffing wheels.

sand first up to 1000 grit or so, in the closest increments you can find. Make sure you sand for quite a while with each grit.

Smear some polish on there then use the drill buffing wheel and press hard.

Do tight spots with the dremel..

Heres a pic of my case I started. I did this in about 15 minutes, only sanded to 600 though, you can see a little bit of scratches though, Im going to redo the entire thing.

[super90]

Usually i just get it down to the smoothest it can possibly get with sand paper, then steel wool. Then i just use some mothers mag polish, Works perfectly every time. You can get it for around $3.00 at wal mart too.

[Dave223]

heya Metbox,
Im no expert at polishing but this is what I do and use:
For heavily oxidized parts and big parts...First make sure all parts are clean and free of grease, oil, paint etc. Then I will usually find an old squirt bottle and put in some Aluminum Brightener and spray all the parts I want to polish. This cleans all the extra gunk off of the alum and etches it. I usually only leave this on for less than a minute before washing it off with plain water.

My polishing setup consists of a bench grinder on a stand, using this pad available at Lowes& Home Depot:
For polishing I use the sticks of polishing compound available at Lowes. I cant find a link to it on their site but its usually located right with the buffing pads. There are many different types but the 2 I use are the cleaning and the aluminum buffing compound. There are compounds for metal, stainless, chrome and Alum. I normally start out with the cleaner/scratch remover compound, holding the part with a good bit of force against the wheel. This will take out alot of the micro-scratches.
afterwards I use the Alum compound stick, holding against the spinning buffing wheel (2 wheels, 1 for cleaning, the other for polishing) I then take the parts and hold them against the wheel lightly at first, applying more pressure if needed. WEAR HEAVY GLOVES, your parts will get HOT .
For small parts and detail areas I use Mothers Billet Polish and a rag. Just rub the area to be polished until it turns black in color, wipe off with a clean rag and do it again until your happy with the results! Mothers is good to test parts to see if it has a clear coat or anodizing on it. If you rub it and it turns black, its raw alum., iif it stays white after rubbing, its anodized or coated with something.
Again, Im no expert polisher, just self taught, but my parts usually come out shiny and look like chrome. Hope this helps, Dave

[rugabugadouglas]

all i know is it takes time i sandblasted mine first to get all the old paint and pits out then started with sandpaper then steel wool and the mothers i did mine in the house and it wasnt too messy but the wife bitched when i was sanding heres the intake i did for my 110

[Dave223]

here is a before and after on the rims of my SX: before--

AFTER---

[scooterroo]

alot of elbow grease, time, and effort. you can do it at home. i do all my parts myself. like has been stated, strip off whatever paint you have tosand up from a rough grit to a very fine grit paper, which takes time, but the better the sand job the better the end result. then get yourself some metal polish and polish away, should be bling blingin when done.

[Bryan Raffa]

get it to me and ill do it! bling bling!!! almost free of charge!!
You wont find a sweeter deal and im in NY so shipping will be cheep!

[honda250sx]

gregsmotorsports on ebay. I send anything aluminum and steel to him. Do and advanced search for him on ebay under sellers. His turn around is great. The final product is phenomenal. You can replace your mirror in the bathroom with a case cover of your choice

[jason 32]

i kinda think its a waist of time and money to polish stuff and not clear coat it
it doesn't take much for the weather to build up crapp on alluminum
just a suggestion
- i know i have polished w/o clearing too but it tarnishes so easily

but guys the polished stuff on here looks real good cleared or not

[Meat-BoX]

Is there a clear coat in a can for this kind of stuff or does it need to be done with a Paint gun at an auto body shop? I would like to have it clear coated to look good for awhile.

[Bryan Raffa]

yes john i agree.. that clear doesent yellow after time also, like some of the cheeper s

[jason 32]

if possible have it cleared with house of color high performance clear
lots of polish deserves lots of shine and protection

[Meat-BoX]

Heres a pic of the swinger. Raffa in going to Polish the swinger and case.

[Bryan Raffa]

oh ya man wait till im done with it.. is that carrier steel or alum if its alum send it!