Bike component materials, for polishing

[Allrover]

Hi all,

I bought a '92 CB400 Super Four a few weeks ago, its in decent condition certainly enough to be using it as my daily bike already, but it is in desperate need of some TLC to restore it's looks.

I've never had a naked bike before, so not really had much to polish! Had a look at polishing kits online and they need me to choose between steel and aluminium. Thing is I don't know what is made out of what on my bike.

Some noddy questions as follow, would anyone be kind enough to provide the answers?
- am I right in assuming the main engine casing is aluminium?
- swingarm…I've no idea, will that be aluminium?
- rearsets - haven't a clue. Guessing ally too?
- exhaust system, stainless steel?
- what about the carburettor, it looks different, will that also be ally?

And I suppose an important question is, if I buy the aluminium polishing kit, will I do any harm if I use it on steel if I have got any of this wrong?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Regards, Chris.

[billgrundies]

hi Allrover, on my 92 cb400 the engine main, side casings and footrest carriers are made of cast aluminium. the swing arm is made of box section aluminium. the carbs are made of cast aluminium composite. all can be polished, carbs will be tricky. my exhaust is original and is made of stainless steel. all the aluminium parts will have to have all the paint and lacquer removed to bare metal before polishing can be done. I've done a lot of polishing in the past, started off with a power drill and now have a bench mounted unit. I stripped all my aluminium parts to polish but ended up spraying it all. cheers.

[billgrundies]

am back again, I have used the aluminium kit for polishing steel with no bad effects. you can get different mops etc, and polishing compounds for steels.

[Allrover]

Cool, thank you, that is nice and clear then. I've equipped myself with some engine degreaser over the weekend, as I guess thats got to be the start point - just get it all as clean as can be. I'm not planning to take any parts off the bike as I'm not looking to get it to showground standard, but I guess I'll have to see how practical that turns out to be once I get started. I'll get the polishing kit ordered ready for the bits that need it.

The bike has an odd paint job on the engine I've never seen before except in one picture of an NC31 I found online. The engine is painted - dark grey in my case, except for the cylinder head, gearbox and crank case covers, which are all polished silver. I'll put some pictures online once I get some of the years of dirt off, but I better start a new post in Graphics and Style for that.