Going over my aluminum parts once again while trying to decide on a final finish/technique, whatever you want to call it. My rear flange when removed was caked in grease and road grime etc. I mean it had not seen the light of day in a lot of years. I posted pic's in my restoration thread on what it looked like once I gave it a quick clean up. I decided to remove some of the clear coat and compare how the original and clear coated surfaces differed.
So here we have a shot showing the clear removed exposing a fairly "polished" surface". I have been told that polishers never hit the sandcast production line however, I have no evidence that the P.O. or the original owner removed this hub and polished it themselves and re-cleared it. I know 100% for sure it wasn't the P.O. He would have had me tear it apart and do it for him!
(I worked for him when he was riding this bike) The clear was very thin similar to what we see on other aluminum parts.
Again, this pic shows the clear coat removed and the areas that are polished. It's almost like they went around it with a very large wheel, hitting the face and just catching areas like the boss's for bolts etc. No attempt was made to polish other areas.
This picture shows where I removed the clear coat on the face and casting area. The casting is clean to say the least. It has the appearance of solder when melted and allowed to drop on the floor. Very shiny and clean, but not polished. I'm having a hard time believing this part and finish are not original to 576.
Clear coat is still firmly in place over the polished areas after 43 plus years if it is original. I have been doing a
LOT of thinking and reading about this lately. We know the original aluminum parts had clear coat on them and yes it chipped off in areas over time. Oil filter cover would be a prime example of an area that's going to get road rash quite quickly. Front of rocker cover is another...fork lowers and the list goes on. I'm going to go over the remaining aluminum parts I have and look for evidence of original finish. I remember one of my fork lowers had a lot of grime and evidence of the original finish underneath. So yes, I'm leaning to a finish with a clear coat over it, just as it came from Honda. Perhaps with the superior products we have today it will stay on much better. 576 will for the most part be a trailer queen as long as I own it anyway!
I'm going to have to get another flange as this one is ruined from the chain guard. The BIG challenge is how to bring that original casting look back.
