How do you polish carb bodies?

First time poster, but found this site through Evan’s excellent carb cleaning guide. (I also have an ’82 750 Seca that I’ve owned since 1984)

In any case, I have a Honda Spree project I’m working on with my boys teaching them how an engine works as we completely restore this scooter. The case and parts have been cleaned up a bit and I’d like the carb to match.

Is there some clever way to do this? At this point I have cleaned the exterior with a 3M pad that I cut into circles and mounted to my Dremel. After that I tried some buffing compound and small buffing wheels, but it just doesn’t look as nice as the other aluminum parts.

Thoughts?

Thanks!
George

Hey George – Sounds like a great project you have going!

I personally don’t ever go after the mirror finish. It is too time consuming in my opinion for the bikes I typically work on. It also takes a lot of effort to maintain. However, that said, I applaud your project and desire to get the best polish possible.

A flat finish can be caused by too rough of a surface on the aluminum. What grit sandpaper did you work your way down to – if at all? If it isn’t a sanding issue then give some jewlers rouge polish compound a try and buff the hell out of it.

The best I do on carbs is something like this.

 

This was just done with a soft wire wheel and a little quick wipe with some polish. Good enough for me! Hehe. If you want a mirror finish you have to start with sandpaper. 800 grit, 1200 grit, 2000 grit, then move on to the polish compounds.