are the air scoops metal?

[mattmullins]

Looks metal but sounds like plastic I have a 1990 was wanting to know I was going to polish it if it was aluminium any one know and if it is what's the best stuff to use

 

[satariel666]

Cast aluminium, funny grade which is hard to weld.

 

[alorio1]

I have polished a couple of scoops and was skeptical like you, but after seeing some that were busted/cracked that was selling on Ebay , I am convinced they are alluminum...Plastic doesn't look like this when its cracked. Here is a scoop that is cracked.

 

[mattmullins]

What did you use to Polish it

 

[alorio1]

But, then I found another one, this looks very strange, it may have some type of fiber content in it.

 

[Rusty McNeil]

They are definetely cast aluminum. And it IS a weird grade. They are easy to polish.

Strip 'em with paint stripper to get any coating or paint off.

I use a buffer cloth wheel from Sears, and their buffing compound sold in bar form on the same Aisle, you start coarse and work your way to fine, takes a while and it's VERY messy.

I mounted my wheel in a small bench grinder. And mounted that grinder to a 3 foot ladder so I could take the whole operation outside in the yard and not have that crap flying all over the garage, it puts out some black dust which is mostly the wheel cloth wearing away.

Practice you technique and be careful cause that wheel can rip things right out of your hands if you feed stuff in the wrong way. I think a proper polishing motor goes slower than my grinder and doesn't have this problem.??

 

[CustomMax]

The best aluminum polish I've ever used and still do is Mothers Billit it comes in a small jar and kinda expensive but well worth every dime. Just make sure it's the "Billit" not mothers aluminum polish. Anyone I've turned on to this agrees it's the best polish they've ever used as well. And I've tried them all. There are very few people that spend more time and effort than me polishing. Good luck, Ed

 

[Rusty McNeil]

The best aluminum polish I've ever used and still do is Mothers Billit it comes in a small jar and kinda expensive but well worth every dime. Just make sure it's the "Billit" not mothers aluminum polish. Anyone I've turned on to this agrees it's the best polish they've ever used as well. And I've tried them all. There are very few people that spend more time and effort than me polishing. Good luck, Ed

Thumbs up on the mothers..Fantastic for previous polished pieces.....

I was thinking he wanted to polish an old scoop that had paint and or the brushed finish plus possibly the factory clear coat...That's all my answer applies to since you need "cutting" action out of a compound to take raw or brushed alum to a mirror finish..............

 

[one2dmax]

The look like ass polished up. You can never get the defects out of them completely. The chrome we offer is the only way to go if you aren't coating or painting them.

Sean

 

[Rusty McNeil]

The look like ass polished up. You can never get the defects out of them completely. The chrome we offer is the only way to go if you aren't coating or painting them.

Sean

I wouldn't say that:biglaugh:

Mine come out to a complete mirror shine, you can read a book backwards in them.....not that you'd want to..

They DO have defects in the metal tho'.......... the castings seem to have a lot of porosity and ?"tiny air pockets"??? throughout them, some scoops are worse than others........my stock scoops looked Okay, but I ditched my scoops for some Exactrep Baddann scoops and the castings are much better, but they still oxidize,.........The side covers polish out much better than the scoops,

I will be the first to admit tho that polishing them to a mirror shine lasts about two days before they start oxidizing, and I've tried every sealer wax known to man to try to avoid this......Seriously it requires re-polishing once a week to keep them looking thier best, and is maintenace head ache....

If you got the bucks get 'em chromed, Seans work is excellent, I've seen it on a few bikes around here and you'll be pleased. I simply can't afford it right now since Seans getting all my spare money towards a tranny repair and upcoming rebuild right now..unk:

 

[mattmullins]

Thanks guys

 

[KJShover]

You guys are forgetting about 190's alumaplastic scoops :rofl_200::rofl_200:
http://www.vmaxforum.net/showthread.php?t=6876&page=3

 

[texmax]

You guys are forgetting about 190's alumaplastic scoops :rofl_200::rofl_200:
http://www.vmaxforum.net/showthread.php?t=6876&page=3

Actually, that was the first thought that that entered my mind.

 

[KJShover]

I've seen a few polished up and IMO they looked great. But they were lucky as they had very little flaws in the casting. If you do go the polish route, eat your wheaties, your going to be in for a workout. :biglaugh:

 

[SpecOps13]

It was a 3 day workout just doing the top half.. With Power Tools.. But they do look good...

 

[dannymax]

Actually, that was the first thought that that entered my mind.

Hahaha....me too!

Wonder which institution that fruitcake is currently housed in!!

On second thought, I really don't give a shit!! :wacko::wacko::wacko:

 

[Redbone]

Polishing the scoops is indeed a workout for your hands and forearms.
The perfect off season fitness routine for those with the DD clutch mod!:biglaugh:

 

[Rusty McNeil]

I've seen a few polished up and IMO they looked great. But they were lucky as they had very little flaws in the casting. If you do go the polish route, eat your wheaties, your going to be in for a workout. :biglaugh:

Not a workout at all......

Go to Sears and buy thier cloth buffer wheel, the one that chucks up in a becnh grinder, and thier clay compound bars in different colors. chukc the wheel up in a bench grinder and get at it,,,

You can take the raw scoop to mirror finish in about an hour.......

 

[jojo2667]

i have a pro buffer at my work and did my scoops and they came out great, except the black spots that are in them from the casting so i sent them to Sean for chrome, much better !

 

[one2dmax]

The spots are what I am talking about. I have yet to see a set polished that didn't have them. You can get the mirror polished but you'll never polish out the defects.

Sean