Engine Cleaning/Polish question?

Another version among those available --



Good Fortune!

I have a grabit bits. They are ok but kinda cheap made. But will most likely work. Depends on type of screw and location you could take a die grinder and grind a flat notch in it then use a straight bit. Ive had to do that a few times before i got the best ever impact driver ive ever had, It takes out screws right away without trouble and ussally dont strip them. Its a craftsman 19.2v impact driver. Just one tip only use it while removing fastners. As far as the cleaning and polishing goes. Ive been polishing my engine, tho its out of the bike. Heres how i did it. First i sandblasted it with glass bead. Then i bought some of the big scratch pad type wheels that go in a drill or dremel. that will polish it up most of the way while removing most of the pitting. Then i touch up the needed areas with 180 grit sandpaper. Then 220 grit then finnally wet sand it with 800 grit then 1000 grit. Then finnally time to start buffing. First off i start by using white diamond polish sealant. Its a courser grit polish. It removes most of the last sanding marks. Then i clean it all off and use brakecleen to remove the residue then grab another buff wheel and go over it with some mothers mag and aluminum polish. Gives it a great polished shine. You could read off it its so shiney. Of course the more you sand the better itll shine. Ill post a couple pics in a few of how it turns out.

Heres a couple quick pics.



mostly done. Iam only detailing it where youll be able to see it while the bike is together. Where you cant see iam just ruffly sanding it just enough to make it shine while still having pits.



This is the head in progress. So far ive just been using the scratch pad wheel and some hand sanding. The wheel im using actually fits in between some of the fins.
Also i realize theres a cam cap missing in the pic above. I had it apart last night and just threw the valve cover back on for the pic.

KD, try to grab the sides of the screw with good pliers, or cut a slot in them and use a flat head.

If using the self-back-biting type extractor bit in a hand-held impact driver, would first use a propane torch to heat the screw throughout it's entire length, and then be relatively gentle when hitting the impact driver so as not to demolish the screw-head.

By so heating, the screw will conduct heat to expand the surrounding female aluminum threads (which will expand more than the male steel screw threads), to hopefully relax the aluminum's grip onto the screw.

Heat should also break the hold of any locktite that might be on the threads.

Good Fortune!

First off, thanks for helping the new guy out!
You guy's have been great. I just wish this forum had "stickys" for tried and true solutions.
The info is spread all over the place and I find it hard to navigate and soak up all the info I want.
One example is, "GS1100 SWINGARM CONVERSIONS". This opens up a whole can of worms, like tires size, axle size, bearings, brakes, shocks, sprockets and I'm not even talking about the street fighter conversions, but that's another story.

My wife seen the 74 and she wants to ride now also.
I have this 75 I found in the weeds, so I started to work on it for her yesterday.
Besides, I can test out some of these polishing ideas on this old motor.



Tins from Craigslist


This is the donor for my wifes Z1. (Nothing for sale at this time)


My wife is short and that's why I made the comment about using GS1100 swingarm and shocks.
This build will be another thread though.

Powerstroke_fan wrote: Heres a couple quick pics.

Attachment IMG_0310.JPG not found

mostly done. Iam only detailing it where youll be able to see it while the bike is together. Where you cant see iam just ruffly sanding it just enough to make it shine while still having pits.

Attachment IMG_0308.JPG not found

This is the head in progress. So far ive just been using the scratch pad wheel and some hand sanding. The wheel im using actually fits in between some of the fins.
Also i realize theres a cam cap missing in the pic above. I had it apart last night and just threw the valve cover back on for the pic.

That looks nice!
I thought the polishing compound order was black, brown and then white?

I didnt really like using the sticks. Didnt give me the finish i was looking for and its alot of work to get all the pits out.

I like to use polishing compound on sandpaper, takes the edge off and gets the job done. :woohoo:

If you're into restoring: www.kawasaki-z-classik.com/forum/index.php

ideally I would mix some turtle was polishing compound with water in a spray bottle and go to town.