Sandblasting...

[Shuriken]

There may be a possibility that I could rebuild my XS in the future (big bore, valves, etc.). I can't stand how old the bike looks.

Will sandblasting the head, valve cover, and cylinder assemblies bring back factory luster? If the media will not be reused can engine dissasembly be avoided?

If I take out the engine I might as well do a complete frame-up restore and I don't know if I have the expertise for that.

Ben

[pathfinder]

check this out

http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread...&threadid=3987

[Geezer]

Re: Sandblasting...

Originally posted by ae7f
There may be a possibility that I could rebuild my XS in the future (big bore, valves, etc.). I can't stand how old the bike looks.

Will sandblasting the head, valve cover, and cylinder assemblies bring back factory luster? If the media will not be reused can engine dissasembly be avoided?

If I take out the engine I might as well do a complete frame-up restore and I don't know if I have the expertise for that.

Ben

Sand blasting is to dustructive but you can use ground walnut shells or corncob in a sand blasting hopper to clean up aluminum.

Years ago I dropped off a Ducati cylinder to be bored and they used my cylinder to test a new walnut shell blaster they had. The cylinder came back looking like new.

Geezer

[uk1.1s]

Try vapour blasting

Some places in the UK offer vapour blasting for sensitive parts..... no blasting media involved and therefore no nasty surprises if damaging particles are trapped in some out of the way part of the engine after the work is done. This can really wreck things later on once the engine is running.

The place I know of in the UK have in the past taken a whole engine (friends Z1100) and sealed all holes with a polyurethane foam and cleaned up the engine cases to the assembled engine in one vapour blasting process. Looked great afterwards and wasn't that expensive.

[squarehdca]

I used glass beads on mine, came out well with no appreciable degradation.

[John]

I used good ol' sand in a blast cabinet. I just masked off the areas that I didn't want blasted with aluminum tape, and then trimmed it with an exacto knife. After balsting, I used compressed air, a pressure washer, and fresh water rinse. Then, I did it all again. All threaded holes wre cleaned out with a tap, and compressed air.

[xssiveone]

Originally posted by squarehdca
I used glass beads on mine, came out well with no appreciable degradation.

This is what I did as well, and it came out beautiful. I wouldn't try it with the engine assembled tho. From what I was told, it doesn't matter how well you think you have all the openings sealed, the "damm sand gets into everything" syndrome will apply.