Man your polishing is on point, very interesting build too. I'm going through a similar process, for the first time. What are you using to get all the grime and grease off, without stripping the paint?
Could you maybe outline your aluminum resurrection procedure?
The degreaser I used is BH-38
(link), you can find it at most janitorial chem supply places. Works pretty good and paint safe at 1:1 with water. I was using it unmixed mostly, it works faster that way, but it can take paint off undiluted. I'm painting the engine anyways, so it didn't matter to me.
As far as the aluminum goes, I'm working on the right fork lower now, taking a bunch of pics, I'll post on the procedure when I'm done with the fork. The way I do it is extremely labor intensive and time consuming, so it may be a week or two.
