Matching and polishing

We all try and get the most out of our bikes, and cleaning up the fuel passages seems to be the most popular. In another time of my life I raced Sail boats and the Hulls were worked on every spare moment trying to eek out a advantage. I remember seeing hulls that looked better then the finish on most cars. One weekend this guy pulls up with his boat which does not have a mirror finish and he kicked our butts. Talking to him he said that a not perfectly polished finish gave better performance by allowing a boundry layer of water to attach itself to the hull which in turn allowed the boat to move with less force, the boundry layer rolled rather then being drug. He never went finer then 400 when wetsanding his hull. Why would this not also be the case in the fuel passaages ? Maybe someone else has a thought on this.

Re: Matching and polishing

You !DON'T! want a mirror finish in your !INTAKE!

You !DO! want a mirror finish in your !EXHAUST!

- Joe

Re: Matching and polishing

You don't want a mirror finish in you intake.

You do want a mirror finish in your exhaust.

- Joe

Re: Matching and polishing

The whole boundry layer idea has been dicusssed to death. Lots of info on it when you go searching about automotive intake(head) porting.

Re: Matching and polishing

Your discoveries are the norm for performance flow in all motor sports. Research has found the layering effect in wet flow as in induction where the performance polish was 60 to 80 grit. Dry flow as in the exhaust flows better with a finer polish around 320 to 400 grit. There was no increase of performance on the bench flow using a finer polish into a mirror finish.

Re: Matching and polishing

Charles Cole (OFMC) /

From my understanding, the mirror finish for a 2 stroke, is to keep the carbon deposits from forming as quickly & as a side benefit, the heat will also not stick to a polished surface as readily, so it is evacuated from the cylinder/head. This may or may not be fact, however, it is thought to work by many race teams, so I do it. I have found that it does reduce the carbon build up & that alone is worth the extra work.

Re: Matching and polishing

I would say the ^^^ should completely close this thread quite nicely.

Re: Matching and polishing

Charles Cole (OFMC) /

Aircooled; I happen to have a 916, which is down for valve adjustment at the moment.

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