Intrigued by the Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club article about using a fine brass wheel brush, very slowly, on the aluminum engine case to produce a fine and smooth finish I tracked down the brushes at Lowes and picked them up, they are the same ones used in the article, great. Before starting I wanted to remove the old cylinder carb connectors and clean the engine up. The connectors were rock solid hard; through a combination of tin-snips, razor blades, and picks, and patience, I got them off.
To clean the case, I emptied four cans of carb cleaner along with brushing it intermediately. Before starting I had lined up paper towel on the life to capture the dirt, and in the end it was totally filthy and dirty. For some reason, I failed to take a picture. Some of the carb cleaner got in the engine exhaust ports; and Pat said that it was OK.
Before starting with the brass wheel I took a “before” picture, and then removed the shift lever and cleaned it, and the brushed the side cover. It is cleaned up, but not soft and supple like the article. Bummer, well now I’m committed. Took a last picture of the other side for reference.
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