wow....

Looks good DD. Is that Mothers (or other compound) and a foam pad in your drill?

Nope; Chemical stripping of several layers of old silver paint, then use of a Merit VF-1 surface-prep wheel followed by black emory polishing compound on a stitched cotton wheel. Once the other side's done, the whole thing will get gone over with white diamond compound.

The original cast surface is just a bit too porous to go for a completely mirror shine without having to cut a lot of material, & clear-coating it will cut a mirror shine down some anyway. So I'm going for the glossy die-cast look rather than a mirror-polish.

I may take some wadding polish to it before clear-coating, but frankly, it'd be wasted effort on the trans, where little of it is visible face-on anyway. It'd just be reflecting the dark-grey tunnel paint.

Oh, buffing compound. That can be a lot of messy work. Your going to clear coat it? Have you heard of shark hide? Supposed to keep polished aluminum from oxidizing and looking new. I've wanted to try it on a couple different projects but never yet have.

I may check it out, if it's available locally. I already have some engine-temp-rated clear-coat for the housings and front cover, though.

http://www.sharkhide.com/mpinfo.html

Wow, $60 a can through Eastwood... and no mention of it being safe for high-temp engine surfaces. I think I'll pass for now.

i used clear coat on peepers, it works pretty well

Yea, I know it's expensive. They show applications on engines so I was assuming it was heat resistant. The manufactures web site used to have a video that had very impressive results. If you ever wanted to remove it, it looked fairly labor intensive and since I was looking at applying it on aluminium tread plated surfaces on my trailer, I shyed away. I need to drop a tranny maybe this year and it might be a good time to try it.

Day 1316

With Valentine's day out of the way, I finally got an evening in the garage last night; I finished refurbishing my original steering box, which at the end of the day has less play & was in slightly better internal shape than the 'spare' one I bought some years back. So it's all assembled and ready to go back in the chassis, possibly tonight; thus finally beginning the "re-assembly" phase of this project.

Long way to go, and a short time to get there, but I'll be late rather than imprecise.

Shawt list:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...emoval/246.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...emoval/247.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...emoval/248.jpg

that looks nice

That reminds me... I probably should fill it with gear oil, too. Note to self.

Strange thing, but the FSM specifically has you do all the pre-loads and adjustments before adding the lube.

Day 1318

Worked from 9am til 5PM polishing the trans bellhousing, front cover, and got into the middle of polishing the rotor housings when i lost my light and heat, and had to quit for the day.

Looks awesome, thus far.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...emoval/255.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...emoval/257.jpg

Day 1319

30 days and counting til registration is due - - though I can stretch that to the end of March by paying and then 'completing' later. After April 1st, I'd need to buy a temp pass to go to the smogtologist.

Not much movement today (social interrupts again) but I did get the front cover & one rotor housing finished and clearcoated, and the trans rear seal replaced.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...emoval/259.jpg

Tomorrow promises both better weather and more free time, so I can stomp on these polishing tasks, The high-temp clear takes a week to fully harden, so I really want to have it all on and hardening in anticipation of the following weekend, where I may just be ready to start engine assembly.

My forearms are officially tired of polishing.

Raw fingers too right? It was worth it though lol. Looking good!

Impressive DD. I.ve spent countless hours polishing on V twin engine nooks and crannies and can appreciate the time and work involved.

I did relatively little handwork on the polishing. My fingertips are all dried out from the acetone, though - - stuff goes thru nitrile gloves in a minute or so, but heavier gloves just get in the way.

The final result is making me happy; I left just enough 'patina' in corners and around details and original casting flaws that the end result looks sort of 'antiqued.' Has that old but carefully restored look, rather than looking like a collection brand-new parts.

& I got forearms like friggin' Popeye now. Feels that way, at least.

now you just need a tank tattoo. I can't wait to see it all together and back into the car.

What ever happened to the louvers? did you ever get them worked out? I'll be starting mine this week, I'll post pics in my thread.

Louvers are hanging on the wall, waiting for more available time and warmer weather before I start messing with them.

I've seen enough live examples of them up close now (including several pristine sets at SevenStock) to realize my error was in trying to get them to fit to the glass to precisely.

I ended up having to replace a few more rivets, which means the paint needs touchup, and I get the best results in that regard when they can bake in the sun afterward. So they're awaiting late spring or early summer.

that carb looks great!!!!!

Day 1323

I figure tonight will let me finish off the last of various prep tasks required before I can go for engine and trans re-assembly and installation this weekend. After all this prepping and staging, it'll be a real relief to actually assemble something significant... and I need the bench space cleared so I can get started on the carb!

The bulk of next week will be lost to a business trip, too... I'd really like to have the engine & trans re-assembled and back in the chassis by Sunday evening. Doable, I think.

I still haven't decided if I am going to use freeze plugs to block the intake manifold water path or not. I'm obsessing over the possible impact on emissions, but there's just no data to go from as far as I can tell.

Main reason I want to do it is to make it simpler to swap manifolds - - I hate wasting AF & making a mess every time I may want or need to pull the intake off.

But when running a Thermal Reactor with EGR and ACV, I'm concerned that having the cooling loop under the carb may be more crucial than it is for later engines using a simple manifold and cats. There's a lot more heat originating under & around the intake on a TR setup; not only does the TR get blazing hot, but the EGR passage runs up the inside of the center iron, just inboard of the intake runners.

Pop open a few cans of speenich and keep going . those shiny parts make me drool . Jealous of your weather too.

great job . Your going to want to drive around with your hood off .

Freeze plugs are easy enough to remove if you wanted to do so later on. I've been running them on my 83 12a for years and it never has a problem passing emissions. As you said though, that thermal reactor does put out a good bit of heat.
Personally I'd go for the freeze plugs...

Sounds good... now I just have to find some in 20mm before the weekend.

BTW, what is the proper method of removing a freeze plug without damaging the other parts or getting metallic debris inside the water jacket space??

Sounds weird but in 30+ years of wrenching I've never had to take one out!

Can you say "Lucite hood?" :egrin:

(No, I don't have one... gotta admit it would be a cool idea, though.)

Useful cross reference info:

20mm expansion plugs
Dorman products
# 565-101.1 brass, 20mm nom.; $1.99 each at O'reilly
# 555-101 steel 20mm nom.; $0.49 each

I'm gonna go with the brass, working under the premise that they are less likely to damage aluminum on removal. Should be more than strong enough, esp. since there will still be a sealed gasket passage in place whenever the manifold's on.