Time to make my piggy pretty

Ever since I got my piggy I have been planning to tear her down and build her properly at some point but now with the unexpected big end failure I may as well do it now while she is in pieces and I am waiting for parts from the USA/UK - unfortunately the "make pretty" budget has now been reduced.

She is an SM for those of you that have not seen her I will post a pic.

Some things I plan to do.. - Advice/comments are welcome and if you can think of other (not too expensive) ways to make her pretty while she is apart let me know.

Fix wiring harness and electrics behind headlight shroud - a mess because of all the extra wiring to make her street legal

I planned on rebuilding my wheels with stainless spokes because the zinc plating has gone dull - unfortunately now with the big end expense new spokes and wheel rebuilds are out of the question for now. Any tips on how to shine up the zinc spokes in place as a temp solution?

Replace all incorrect nuts and bolts with OEM
A lot of the OEM nuts, bolts, engine mountings, footrests and bits and pieces I have look tatty/corroded - Not sure what kind of plating would make them look nice. I wouldn't mind chrome but I suspect that would cost a lot (they quoted me as much to chrome my spokes as a new set of stainless spokes costs). My brother just had a load of stuff zinc plated and he says the stuff he spent some time on with a wire brush before he sent it in came out nice and shiny.

Respray clutch and alternator covers with correct shade gold paint

Try to get my aluminium engine parts as new looking as possible - They are not in bad condition so hopefully a really good clean will make them look good. Any suggestions? Am I correct that they are bare aluminium?

Frame - strip off silver paint and rub with Scotchbrite pad for brushed finish. I wouldn't mind a polished frame but that might take some upkeep?? Not too sure what I should do with the front part of the frame that is roughly cast??
Swingarm - maybe same as frame.
Anodizing or powder coating might look trick but if it gets scratched it has to be redone.

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Buy yourself a plating kit from ebay and plate the fasteners yourself....will save you loads

Mauser wrote:Buy yourself a plating kit from ebay and plate the fasteners yourself....will save you loads

There is a guy selling kits here but the prices are high although I am sure he is selling the real deal.

http://electroplatinghomekits.wozaonline.co.za/

Under 2 minutes with a microfiber cloth and a squirt of Brasso and half of one of my spokes is smooth and shiny. They might stay shiny as we are in a dry climate 5000ft above sea level.

The question is, do I try clean them in place (tricky) or do I remove them one at a time counting turns on the nipple and then refit? Will my wheels still be straight after that?

Definitely not!
But it you want to go through all that trouble it will put you somewhere in the ballpark, especially regarding the position of the rim with respect to the hub ('middle' - at least if they're there now?). Lacing wheels is not too difficult, you only need a brain and some tools. Brain you got, so...
.. use it to buy a bench'grinder' and put buffs on. Then with some grinding paste you can shine your heart out, from spokes to frame, some plastics even, all goes. Yeah, lotsa elbow grease but shine it will, promise.
I would not buy some plating kit as this is akin to reinventing the wheel however with a different diameter. There's many platers who will process your batch (ie the lot!) by stripping & re-plating. Know that cadmium is a nono these days but zincplating (silver or yellow) is no problem, ditto chrome. The latter should be plated over copper on steel, pls know it, not all do.
Polished surfaces keep clean easiest, especially when wiped with some silicon oil before you go dirty... oh wait, SM, no real dirt
If you take the wheel apart then you'll have best access to the hubs as well. If you reassemble self first, the above ballpark, then you're welcome for final tensioning/aligning here, got all tools you need and you will learn something... because I will tell you how to do it, no lazy gits allowed here

BuRP wrote:Definitely not!
But it you want to go through all that trouble it will put you somewhere in the ballpark, especially regarding the position of the rim with respect to the hub ('middle' - at least if they're there now?). Lacing wheels is not too difficult, you only need a brain and some tools. Brain you got, so...
.. use it to buy a bench'grinder' and put buffs on. Then with some grinding paste you can shine your heart out, from spokes to frame, some plastics even, all goes. Yeah, lotsa elbow grease but shine it will, promise.
I would not buy some plating kit as this is akin to reinventing the wheel however with a different diameter. There's many platers who will process your batch (ie the lot!) by stripping & re-plating. Know that cadmium is a nono these days but zincplating (silver or yellow) is no problem, ditto chrome. The latter should be plated over copper on steel, pls know it, not all do.
Polished surfaces keep clean easiest, especially when wiped with some silicon oil before you go dirty... oh wait, SM, no real dirt
If you take the wheel apart then you'll have best access to the hubs as well. If you reassemble self first, the above ballpark, then you're welcome for final tensioning/aligning here, got all tools you need and you will learn something... because I will tell you how to do it, no lazy gits allowed here

Thanks BuRP - I have all the tools I need apart from the wheels so I will take you up on the wheel tools and the braai for me and Charlene because we will have no money left for food

Any idea what it costs to anodize rims and hubs in SA?

Yay & Nay, phone Mark at Astro Anodizers on 011 4529748 and he'll tell you. Choose your colour wisely, they fade - red quickest, blue least, neutral never.
Welcome any weekend with an advanced warning as long as you don't mind 3 big dogs protecting small kids to death (parents not allowed to punish their own kids in my yard!) and paying extra attention to women - so you'll not be noticed by them hence will be least sniffed
Number pm-ed, Oh, vegetarians I habitually direct to next door, pls know it