Author: grant

Antique Gas Engine BBS, Smokstak

Smokstak is an:

Antique engine forums related to collecting, restoring and showing hit and miss engines, vintage Diesel, steam engines, antique tractors, old generators, pumps, industrial antiques and collectibles. There are thousands of old engine photos and thousands of discussions about all types of engines and old iron topics. This is a world wide community with members of all ages from Australia, Europe, North America and other points across the globe.

CB750F: Day 24: That Changes Everything

Tonight I really wanted to see if I could make progress like the article did on polishing your aluminum engine case so I bought some Dremel attachments. The results were generally nice, but didn’t get it all the way there. Since I had borrowed the Dremel, I removed some of the crudified paint from the right horn and grip assembly for future painting. At the end of the night I felt good, that it looked pretty decent, even though it is not a perfect mirror finish.
At the end of class Pat told us that this might be the last semester, ever. As such, I’m going to shelf the polishing, and spend spring break acquiring the necessary gear to complete the most important service tasks, eg: brake fluid change, new sprockets and chain, front fork fluid, and more.
At the end of my work, I sprayed down the engine with a very diluted Simple Green mixture to get the carb spray off and ended with using compressed air to get all of that included; I didn’t want anything that the plastic wouldn’t like on there.
Continue reading “CB750F: Day 24: That Changes Everything”

CB750F: Day 23: Engine Polishing Continues

On the way to the shop I stopped at Harbor Freight and bought a 7-pack of 500 grit wet/dry sandpaper, and boy it finishes fast. The “you are going to need patience” advice kicked in tonight. It was so strange, after hand-sanding and also trying out the tiny little brash brush with the Dremel, I thought that it was getting close to the metal but Pat showed me how there was still clear-coat on there. What?!
You can’t see it, and it is very shiny, but you can feel it. It feels like the fine grain of a leather jacket, and it has kind of a different finish than the edges where you can feel that all of the clear-coat is gone. Numerous breaks were necessary, and the dish-washing gloves helped. The Dremel was pretty helpful for digging crud out of some of the tight spots, and I’ll need to buy some new tips.
Pat brought in his recommended choke and throttle lube, Remington Wonder Lube.
Continue reading “CB750F: Day 23: Engine Polishing Continues”