end can refinishing

[two-stroke-brit]

Hi all not a RD part but looking for tips on rejuvenating this can for my FZR.
IMG_2354 by mark.dobson, on Flickr
IMG_2355 by mark.dobson, on Flickr

my plan is to drill out the rivets and remove the badge , same for the end piece also remove the cap screws to remove the baffle .
and basically try and emery the worst of it out (not all cos some are quite deep) then finish with scotchbrite
and reassemble and re badge.
any tips are appreciated.
T I A Mark

[JonW]

I'd say you were bang on with the plan Mark. If you were super keen you could put some clear high temp on it after but it looks like bare alloy originally. You could also polish it of course, but bling tho perhaps?

One thing Ive found is that one of those 'mouse' hand held sanders can work wonders with making sure its all flat, in a real body shop they'd use a DA and this is pretty close for home use and you can get high grits etc.

[75RD350rider]

My FPPs had one can almost that bad. Start with a rough grit like 400 wet or dry sandpaper and a bucket of water. Get the big gouges out and work your way up to 1500 or 2000 grit sandpaper and then polish to whatever level of gloss you want. With patience you can make it look like a mirror.

[brrrappp]

If you want a chrome-like finish, I use a buffing wheel with a 3m wool pad and 3m body compound. The same stuff the body-shop uses to remove scratches on paint.
You can also use neverdull metal polish and a ton of elbow grease.

[Zedixe13]

You can just buy a sheet of alu. and recover it .

[hablair]

I doubt you will get the big gouges out by sanding, particularly those at the end of the can, they look too deep to me.

If you were to get them out the ally would be real thin

If you were to polish it after, they would stand out like dogs balls, if its not shadows, I think you have a few dings on there too which will show up after a polish too

You could fill the scratches with a fine fill suitable for Aluminium sand back and paint it, i doubt that is the finish you want though

Or as Zed says replace with a new sheet of ally, quicker and cheaper i would think

[two-stroke-brit]

Thanks for all the ideas .
i will report back after i have worked on it.
thanks mark

[silverstrom]

Remove the skin and turn it inside-out and rivet again.

Move the V&H logo to the new side.

[Questo vecchio rz]

1.) Depending on what level of restoration you are attempting I think you will find it fairly easy, the only gouge I see being a issue is the one behind the pop rivet at the end.
The elec sander will save a lot of initial heartache, start with a grit that you can work the material with, then go to hand sanding, and work your way to the desired finish with progressivly finer grit paper and sand it length wise. Since your not going polished, and you intend to Scotch Brite the finish, again go length wise only and nice straight & even.
With the factory brushed finish I think you will hide 95% of the damage.

2.) As mentioned above, If you can flip the canister and get all the holes to line up, that would be great, provided you have no damage on the non facing side of the canister.
Post pics of your results.

[two-stroke-brit]

thanks again
i cant flip or reverse it as there is a bracket welded on the wheel side of the can with a captive nut for mounting purposes.
not looking for show finish just looking to improve it within reason.
will probably start on it this weekend
Cheers mark.

[gpaddict]

Or call Vance and Hines and see if they have a tube in stock!

[evan_calgary]

I have done a few of these sanded down and typically polished. They turn out alright but all dependent on how deep you go to clear the the scratches with the initial heavy grit sanding.

A lot of work is involved. 220 - 400- 800-1000-1500-2000 then to the buffing wheel. I always find it hard to get out all of the sanding scratches even with the buffing wheel which irritates me.

[two-stroke-brit]

I have done a few of these sanded down and typically polished. They turn out alright but all dependent on how deep you go to clear the the scratches with the initial heavy grit sanding.

A lot of work is involved. 220 - 400- 800-1000-1500-2000 then to the buffing wheel. I always find it hard to get out all of the sanding scratches even with the buffing wheel which irritates me.

Thanks Evan , fortunately i am only trying to remove most of the damage and bring to a matt scothbrited sort of finish .
hoping this will hide some of the minor scratches.
i might even light media/soda blast it at the end
cheers mark