Topic: I think I F%@#'ed myself!

[Pecantree]

So I'm waiting for bearing shell's to show up to put the K3/6 together and I started polishing the side covers. Two and a half days later I've got em looking like this.

Then I realized that these were gonna make the rest of the bike look kind of sad.
Oh Noes... Where do I stop?
There are worse problems to have.

[Bob Wessner]

Lay in a supply of cold beer and keep going. 

[Randy]

Looks like your goin be pullin the engine to paint... Oh sense you have the engine out.. paint the frame and trees, swing arm... So yeah, your screwed.. Hehe...

[fmctm1sw]

So I'm waiting for bearing shell's to show up to put the K3/6 together and I started polishing the side covers. Two and a half days later I've got em looking like this.

Then I realized that these were gonna make the rest of the bike look kind of sad.
Oh Noes... Where do I stop?
There are worse problems to have.

I know how you feel.  Putting nice parts on my bikes is like putting a silk hat on a pig...

[Really?]

No worries, they are not that great anyway.


















Just kidding! 

You might also consider polishing the float bowls, upper triple & clamp, outer parts of the wheel hubs, nuts and bolts where possible, MC cap...  I ended up doing most of that as well.  know I that I have no idea what your build looks like either.

[Johnie]

Dang those are nice. You did excellent polishing there. I agree, those will make that K3 look like crap. Send them to me for my K3...they will do it justice for sure.  I do my own polishing too. And it is a dirty and tedious job, but the results are worth it. Lookin' good man!!!

[ksteve]

Those look great!
Can you detail for us the procedure you used to get them there?
(What chemicals you used and what abrasives at what stage, etc.)

[bollingball]

+111 For ksteve

[wildcatmahone]

Yeah man it's cool I'll solve your problem let me go get my air chisel tool....

[Stev-o]

Yeah, you are effed!  I'll bring some crusty old covers and a case of Shiner Bock and trade ya!?!

[Pecantree]

<Really> : Oh #$%*! I forgot about the carbs and airbox. I've been focused on getting the engine fixed and back together.

<KSteve>:Clean water with a dash of soap for each grade then sand  with 220, 500, 800, 1000, 1500, 2000 Then hit it with the buffing wheel and grey and green.
Followed directions from previous postings here.
One thing I learned was to lightly buff after a sanding because it would show if I'd missed some scratch's from the previous sanding.
For ex. sand 220, clean, sand with 500. Then a light buff and it would show if I still had some 220 scratches left.
It took me a while to figure this out. Several times I had to jump back several grades to clear out some deep scratches.
It also was a big help to sand in different directions with each grade change.
I could have gone further, but I had to stop
(Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good!)


<Stev-O>: Thanks for the parts! I owe you some beer. Maybe some Real Ale Russian Imperial Stout

[Really?]

If you are going with the stock air box, pick up the Novus products (1,2 & 3), you will be shiny and happy.  Know that the products works party good an many plastic products. 

[ksteve]

Clean water with a dash of soap for each grade then sand  with 220, 500, 800, 1000, 1500, 2000 Then hit it with the buffing wheel and grey and green.

Thanks! Did you sand/buff uni-directionally toward the end or randomly in all directions? I can't quite tell from the pix if there's a faint directional pattern left.

[Pecantree]

<Ksteve> Used my bench grinder. Took the guard off the right side and added an arbor extension.
So basically buffed however I could fit the piece under the wheel.
<Really>
Thanks for the tip. Had some laying around and gave it a go. It came out pretty good.
Bottom half is done Top half is untouched yet.

[Really?]

Yup, came out perty good. If scratches are deep enough where step 3 is not good enough, you can sand it like you would aluminum, down to 2000 grit and then polish.