Hi all, on with the restoration of my 72 DT-2 250, the main reason why I joined this forum was to learn all about these bikes. I am just starting on the engine and have a few questions, i have tried a search on this forum but that looks to be broken? Photos on Google are not conclusive, so looking for some advice and experience.

• Cylinder OR Jug to my friends across the pond, I have seen most satin black but with the fins polished?
• Cylinder head, looks to the bare cast finish but just the outer fins polished ?
• Outer cases look to be polished ?
• Crank cases I think look to be polished but more of a brushed / low shine.

 I am on the right track.

It depends on the year and your own personal preference but in your case yes it sounds like your on the right track. Ive been attempting to polish the lower ends of the engines for the past 2 years now and after doing a friends 74 DT360 very recently ive learned to just work overtime on a Saturday and pay somebody else to do it lol. Definitely requires a lot of elbow grease.

Thanks for the reply, as listed it is a 1972 
After putting the cylinder in the hot wash and cleaning off the dirt, i can see that it was painted black. 

I have a great polishing guy which helps, we have our own in house vapor blasting. 

This is more of test to see if my photo hosting works, but this is 1 case blasted 
 

That vapor blasting works wonders! Ive never had it done or seen it up close but based on pics and vids ive seen it looks pretty good if you ask me. Im most likely gonna send my 72 RT360 motor out to be polished whenever i get to it. Hopefully within then ext month or two.

I'd like to add to this. Vapor blasting is great. For more shine I use a Jet 8" variable speed buffer. Polishing aluminum at 3,600 rpm can be difficult. I set it at 900 rpm with a wheel similar to ScotchBrite and cotton wheel with polishing compound. Depending on how much time you spend you can get it to a finish like the factory did and with more time and fine compound make it look almost like chrome.

I can only dream of doing this to my RT2 for now…
I’ll need more looking into vapor blasting and such so when my garage is done, the old grey mule should get the treatment. Any more pictures or thoughts about the process?
Sneezles61

There are several local shops near me that do vapor honing as well as sand blasting. I decided to not put a system in my garage due to the cost, electricity  and space it would take. You also need a big air compressor. The shops I use are very reasonable.