Removing bearing from alternator cover

[NobleHops]

Oh ya Thanks for resizing the photo Nils Regards Anthony

Any time Anthony!

[EMS]

Are you trying to make me cry? You should see my blisters, The Clutch cover is next..I,ll let you know if it tarnishes..if it does is it possible to clear Coat?

A lot of people do clearcoat large polished parts. A guy who polishes for a living told me once not to and, personally, I am sticking to this. He said that oxidation finds its way under the clearcoat and will produce these nice spider-web patterns. Also, clearcoat has a tendency to tint after a while on parts that go through heat cycles
For the magnesium parts, I would use a nice paint, like Dave said. For aluminum parts, put a generous layer of car wax on it and polish ever so often. I have polished valve covers on my CBXes for more than ten years now, and they still look great.

[Don]

Are you trying to make me cry? You should see my blisters, The Clutch cover is next..

I suspect you will easily be able to tell the difference when you get the clutch cover done . . . . it is aluminum for sure

Hard to tell for sure from a small poicture, but your alternator cover looks like polished magnesium to me - Polished aluminum is almost indistinguishable from chrome plating . . . . and your alternator cover doesn't look anything like that to me - Compare it to your polished clutch cover and let us know what you think - I suspect you'll be shopping for an aluminum alternator cover in the near future

Don

[EMS]

Hard to tell for sure from a small poicture, but your alternator cover looks like polished magnesium to me - Polished aluminum is almost indistinguishable from chrome plating . . . . Don

I was thinking the same thing, Don. It is indeed difficult to tell from the picture, but the visible scratches in the surface did puzzle me. I don't think Anthony did a half-baked job polishing the cover, so the only reason the scratches are so visible is that the material would be softer.
While I don't really know for a fact, which cover surface is harder, (neither the aluminum nor the magnesium cover are of pure materials but rather alloys of those and we don't really know what the alloys are) I tend to think the magnesium cover is more brittle and thus more likely to show scratches.

[ahlenius1]

OK so you guys just broke my crayons I'll be shopping for aluminum i guess. Oh well!!!!

[NobleHops]

OK so you guys just broke my crayons I'll be shopping for aluminum i guess. Oh well!!!!

It'll make a tasty paperweight!

N.

[daves79x]

Again, in 5 minutes you could have it painted and looking better than new. Then if you HAVE to have the polished look, find an aluminum cover. Don't be surprised if you have to spring for a complete alternator to get one. But I admire your effort!

Dave

[EMS]

I will trade you your magnesium for an aluminum cover!

[Don]

It'll make a tasty paperweight!

It's not really heavy enough for that . . . . unless maybe you leave a bearing it in ;)

Don

[daves79x]

It's true - the weight of the magnesium covers doubles when you install the bearing - they are that light. The aluminum covers are much more robust and durable, however. I've seen many, many magnesium covers crack at the bolt holes - never saw an aluminum one crack.

Dave

[EMS]

The aluminum covers are much more robust and durable, however. I've seen many, many magnesium covers crack at the bolt holes - never saw an aluminum one crack.

Dave

Magnesium is brittle. Much more so than aluminum. Light weight comes with drawbacks. I am extremely careful when I ride one of the bikes with magnesium wheels on the street.
Avoid holes, ledges and even bumps at any price, if you can.

[ahlenius1]

Hey if any one is out of a job you could all become metallurgists!! I'm gonna keep the magnesium cover for now,and you are right im half way through polishing the clutch cover and it looks completely different, i like making things shiny so ill just have to keep polishing the alt. cover .

[EMS]

i like making things shiny so ill just have to keep polishing the alt. cover .

You will not be able to keep up with it. Without protection the surface will become really nasty and rough. You need to coat it with paint.

[ahlenius1]

Its been sitting in my garage for about 2 weeks and is as shiny as can be. I will take your advise with some credence,and of course let you know what happens to it. My Garage is not heated or cooled. this will be a great test! stay tuned!!

[George R. Garrison #0857]

HEY,, I used to maintain 5 airplanes in the Navy aboard ship. The engines where radials and all had magnesium nose sections.
We used Black Bear to protect them from the salt spray and would periodically strip them down and re coat them with Rust-olem red damp proof primer and bake them on the engines running those engines to high power at 52 inches of manifold pressure for 20 minutes and high cylinder heat temperature to bake the primer,,, then after shut down we'd top coat them with Rust-olem aluminum top coat. Magnesium is mined from sea water and will return to its natural state unless protected. The engines where Pratt and Whitney R1820-82a's, 9 cylinder radials.

Just a bunch of trivia from a frequent LURKER.