New member restoring 1978 KZ 650

Hi all,

Just joined, would like some advise on removing clear coat from front fork castings. Replacing fork seals and while i'm at it thought I would clean them up a bit.

Thanks,

Tim

paint stripper works good,then polish them with some mothers aluminum polish;)

Welcome Tim. Wireman is right about the stripper. He seems to know a bit about stripping judging from his shirtless pics:)

I have gone down the road you are embarking on, having brought back a 1977 Kz650 Custom from the grave, thus my username reborn650.

My forks and other aluminum parts were totally oxidized. In fact the whole bike was pooched and should have gone to the bike boneyard, but I ain't too swift:)

Here is what I did to bring my forks a couple of steps away from a chrome-like finish.

First, I removed the front wheel to get all around the outer and inner forks, then I took steel wool to the forks, not the sliders but just the bottoms. This got most of the rough crap off the surface. I then took 180 grit wet sandpaper and rubbed and scrubbed for probably a half hour per fork. It is important to keep a small water dish handy and keep the sandpaper wet.

Then I repeated the process with 220 grit wet sandpaper, probably spending about 15 minutes. I progressed through 400, 600 and finally 1000 grit which is the finest grade. You will notice that with each step of sandpaper the aluminum will get smoother and smoother.

To get a nice polished finish I used autosol metal polish applied and rubbed in with my fingers until the polish turned black. Then I buffed with a buffing wheel on a variable speed drill on low speed. Incidentally, Autosol is sold in Canada but it very is similar to Mother's Aluminum Polish. They both have a very fine grit in the cream.

Now, the only danger of following all of my steps is that you will have to probably do all of the removeable engine cases with the same technique to match the shining forks. The cases will take you probably a couple of dozen hours. Then you will want to clean up the wheels, the frame, swingarm, instrument cluster and of course then you will want a kick butt paint job.

Welcome again to the world of Kz ownership. It will become a labor of love and a never ending journey of continuous improvement.

You have chosen a good ride and a great hobby but of course you could always just paint everything flat black with a rattle can and create a cool rat(tle) bike.

Cheers-Colin Firth-Ontario Canada
1977 Kz650 Custom. 810 Wiseco big-bore with lottsa go-fast goodies.

Please delete this double post...the computer gremlins have come out of their cave tonight.

Post edited by: reborn650, at: 2006/09/22 01:16

Good advice from Reborn.
The clearcoat on the aluminum was designed to preserve the shine. But after all these years, it's deserted your bike and joined the other side.
Once you remove the clearcoat, and polish the raw aluminum, you won't have any protection on the surfaces, so it will tend to dull over time. The forks have the additional problem of getting hit by road debris.
But once they shine, it's not very difficult to keep them looking good. I like Semichrome. It puts a nice shine on metal, and leave some kind of coating that helps keep it shiney.
Good luck!

I saw a pic of some forks that had the brushed aluminum look that seemed very nice to me. They were not polished to a chrome look, if you know what I mean, but the brushed look instead.

I emailed the guy and this is what he wrote. I'm pretty sure he was/is a kzrider member.

"I stripped off the clearcoat with medium grade steel wool, followed by 400 grit wet/dry paper. Then I rubbed the forks with a scotchbrite pad dipped in Mothers. That produced the finish that I have now. The scotchbrite pad leaves tiny scratches on the surface that give a "brushed aluminum" look. I think that if I buffed with rubbing compound they would get really shiny, but I don't think that's the restored look I'm going for..."