my grandpa gave me a family harloom, a 1971 Honda Trail 90, after it sat in a shed for a good 30 years. i have got most everything in tip top shape except for the polished aluminum has become lightly tarnished. and because i am a perfectionist
The aluminum has a clear coat on it, get some aircraft stripper (in a spray can) from your auto parts store o take that off, then get a buffing wheel and some brown Tripoli and you can get it looking like new, switch to rouge and yo can get it looking like chrome. you will need to put clear coat back on it or keep it clean and waxed or it will tarnish again.
Buy LOW TEMP aluminum paint and make it look like new.I have restored 1 1985 and that is a lot of work and well worth the results.Nice Job on the 71.
I helped a friend restore an old Honda 160. We did a combination of the things mentioned. We painted the engine cases with a high temp aluminum paint. We did the side covers by wet sanding with 400-800-1000 and then finishing with Semichrome. Other misc bits we went with flat black (makes the polished aluminum pop). It wasn't exactly stock, but it looked great. It would take an expert to know the difference.
You can use furniture stripper to dissolve the clear-coat. Then you can polish up the parts using Simichrome or other chrome polish. Then spray on a new clear-coat. I used a Harley-Davidson product in the past (on a Honda) with very good results. Note that you may get a finish which is actually glossier than the original Honda finish. You may prefer that, or you may be more interested in replicating the original finish. It all depends on what you want, and how far you go with the polishing. In my case, I ended up having the parts professionally triple chrome plated several years later for a really custom look (once I had the money to do it). BTW, your cases are made of an aluminum alloy. Apparently, pure aluminum does not tarnish, but is not considered strong enough.
