New kz750- need advice on cleaning it up

swest wrote:

Sinaz20 wrote: the bike.

I think I'd attack that dent in the tank first. I've always wanted to try the freeze method on popping out the dent.
Steve

Hah, yeah. I was thinking that too. I have another bike that I'm building in my garage-- so this bike was meant to keep me riding in the interim. After the other bike is done, I'll put this one in the garage and give it a total rebuild.

I was thinking about trying the freeze method... and if that fails, I plan on doing a WWII P40 "Flying Tigers" paint job... I'll just paint that as battle damage

Consider yourself lucky that you can paint your engine, trying to get all that corrosion off of the those fins is no fun.



The fork tubs are usually clear coated or lacquered in some way. You have to wire brush them to bare metal and then you can polish them. I had no patience for that so I just used some silver paint to clean mine up. They actually looked worse than yours do. You can also paint the exhaust with a number of products, I used a ceramic type that had a flat look to it, some guys just use BBQ grill paint.

I also use wire nylon bristle wheels with abrasive in the compound, The sell them at hardware stores. They work well for removing heavy oxidation without leaving wheel marks in the aluminum. For badly scratched or gouged aluminum parts you will have to resort to wet sanding then polishing. That takes a lot of elbow grease but the results are parts that look better than new.



Good luck!

Sweet. You guys have been a big help.

I just ordered daytona bars, new grips, bar-end mirrors, blinkers, new master cylinder and clutch assemblies and levers.

Be super careful cleaning up chrome - wire bristles on chrome can scratch. I suggest a chrome cleaner/polish and 0000 fine steel wool.

The front lower forks are coated. I used 600 and 1200 grit sandpaper with plenty of soapy water to knock out the finish to the aluminum and then I polished the aluminum. My finish was too far gone to look good cleaned up. If you remove the finish be warned it will require up keep in the future.

I'm going to do mine again soon. PITA to clean up after 40 years. The clear coat was flaking off so I used #150 sand paper on a buzz sander and wire wheel for the tight spots. Then I went to #320 wet/dry, then steel wool, course, medium, then fine. I had a lot more to do so I stopped there. This time should be esier and I'll spray some engine clear coat on them. Still look good so not a priority.
Steve