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When I had the engine pulled in the fall of 2017 to rebuild the top end I thought I'd see if I could do a little better job on the case cover.
First pic is as it was in July of 2016 before any work was done.
2nd pic is after a lot of elbow grease hand polishing only with Autosol.
3rd pic is what that looked like from a few feet away a year later.
My finishing schedule once case was removed again in the fall of 2017.
1. Hand sand with 600 Grit Wet/Dry paper soaked in water
2. Hand sand with 1000 Grit Wet/Dry paper soaked in water
3. Buff with White Diamond bar on cloth wheel
4. Buff with Red Rouge bar on cloth wheel
5. Buff with Green Honing Compound on cloth wheel
5. Buff with Autosol with cloth wheel.
The Red and Green compounds aren't always really necessary. You just have to try them and see if the extra work is worth it.
If this case hadn't already had a lot of initial hand Autosol polishing, I would have started with 400 grit W/D soaked in water.
I have since learned that using another intermediate step of 800 grit W/D saves time.
Also note the Green Veritas honing compound I sometimes find worth using finishes to a 0.5 micron or 0000.2 inch scratch pattern. It does leave a light wax film but it is designed for tool polishing and I don't know how it would hold up to exterior elements so I always finish with hand or power buffing with Autosol to give some further protection. Can't find the specs for the grit size in Autosol but it will dull and scratch the green bar finish somewhat.