Hi folks, after 1.5 years I picked up my bike from Ireland. Unfortunately , the bike is covered with some rust and the engine is very pale and has kind of calcium oxide on it. I hope I am using the correct descriptive words, but its looks like there are white stains on it (hardened).

I was kind of surfing on the forum, and saw some of you mentioing Autosol. Will that work on engines, or do I need something stronger? These stains are very hard, tried to scrape it of gently with a knife, but I am too afraid to damage it. How can I get rid of this and bring it back to her old glory, any ideas folks?

Many thanks!

SG

Hmmmm, what sort of bike is it?

I use autosol and wire wool on my engine casings. And just rag/polish and a coating of oil on my chrome.

If its heavily corroded ie fork legs, I've used those rough metal pads with soap impregnated in them....cant remember what they are called. You can usually get them from Supermarket/corner shop. I want to say brillo pad but not sure if thats the foam ones.

Anyhows I'm sure someone will be along to give you some ideas. Have you tried just searching the forum, Its been covered before.

Brillo
You can see who does the washing up in my house

Hi Fourtoes, thanks for ur quick reply mate, it is a Honda Shadow VT600C, my first bike.

I did check and found something on engines which was previously posted (in 2005), advises were like hot water pressure washer and a Heine Gericke polish set. Will these be enough? These stains are very persistant...

SG

be carefull using pressure washers as you can do more harm than good if not used properly.


used wire wool or brillo pads. you can also use a wire brush, you can normally pick up packs of these from pound shops etc.

is there a chance you can take a couple of close-up pics of the areas in question and then upload them on here so that we can be sure of what's needed?

And don't use brillo/wire wool and wire brushes on your chrome.......Or paint work either, just to state the obvious, but you can never tell nowadays.

Hi Sonny, I have no clue how you can upload a picture. However I was able to upload it in to my 'Profile Card'. It is a workaround, but it does the work .
Thanks,
SG

Looking at that pic, if it was me i would wire bush the fins, rub down the smooth areas with soapy water and 1200 grit wet & dry paper, mask off all surounding bits with masking tape and news paper and spray the lot with sperex VHT engine silver in a spray can. It will need to heated up to cure, any over spray can be cleaned off with white spirit or Meths (no drinking it though).

Holding the can aprox 6/12 inches from the engine and useing short bursts of spray keeping the can moving at the same time.. IE: PPssst to the left PPPssst to the right not PPPPpppsssssstttttttt so it all runs all over the shop fills up the top of the can and runs all over your hands...

Makeing sure I shake the can for a good while else it will clog up and probly explode when I pierce it to get the rest out coz it cost me £6.50 and i'm damed if i am are going to waste it .

That is what i would do any way.