Mockup Continues

Last month I spent a good bit of time tearing down the engine and then cleaning and bead blasting the cases.  They turned out beautifully to say the least.  If I wasn't worried about corrosion building up I'd leave them as is.  There's something about the look of raw aluminum, especially the cylinders and cylinder head with all the casting textures.  After the cleanup process was complete I got to spend several hours with an air gun and tap removing the built up crud from all the bold holes in the casings.  Lesson learned: Always plug up every possible hole before blasting something.

I reassembled the engine minus all of the internals for mockup purposes.  I'm going to paint the cases when the weather warms up so it made no sense to completely reassemble the engine at this point.  I installed it in the frame this evening and it looks pretty darn good.  I'm still on the fence as to whether or not I'm going to paint the cylinders black.  I love the way it looks on my T-100 but the fins are much thicker on that engine and the edges are polished to breakup the black.  I don't think I'd be able to achieve the same look with the CB450's engine.

I wonder how long it will be until the fins start oxidizing again.