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Why is it that, both my 907 and 750 Paso have a (previous owner) history of explosions of the battery? Due to battery acid, the paint of frame and aluminium swing-arm are not that nice anymore...

I noticed that the battery is kept in place by rubber knobs and a sponge...
My '94 SuperSport had rubber fasteners over it which secured the battery tightly.

What causes those acid attacks?
What can I do to prevent it from happening again?

The acid attackes are caused by the battery overcharging and boiling the acid out. The root cause of the problem is the crappy electrics. With the voltage losses in the Paso system, the regulator "thinks" that the battery is low and charges the crap out of it. Some cleaning and rewiring will help alleviate the problem.

Thanks jon, I was wonderingthe same thing as I had an acid attack on my swingarm & pants while riding reciently & thought it was odd but I had also lost the breather hose so that it why it did not drop to the ground. So what can be done to restore the swingarm to pristine condition again?

Red - winter nights + alloy polish + beer = acid stain removal......

I started on mine with the above & then decided I had better things to do...........(lack of patiance......!!)

That sounds good to me, the nights are getting cold now so it is a good time to get into it. I work on a ratio of 5 minutes rubbing then 15 minutes looking at the (lack of) progress I have made (Port bottle in hand, naturally). I should have the swingarm looking new by winters end

Thats what I did to polish my Paso mufflers one winter - (then swore I'd never do a job like that again.................)
Felt like The Karate Kid after the first hour - polish on - polish off........ :thumbdown:

Maybe a nice Shell sticker to cover it up?? The anodize is impossible to replicate so it always looks damaged.

It would save a lot of elbow grease but i would know it is not right & have trouble sleeping, I will try the polish & then put a sticker over it. I did not think it would go back to original but I will give it a go

It's an old post, but I have the same problem: battery acid ruined the swingarm surface and I would like to restore it.

Did anybody try to polish the swingarm? Is the result satisfying? Does it take a long time?

I found a procedure in internet:
1) remove dirt and oil with soap
2) rub with abrasive paper, starting with size 800, ending with 1200 (waterproof)
3) drill (or grinding wheel) with soft sponge, using diluited abrasive cream/paste
4) metal polish, applied manually with cotton

Is it correct? It seems veeeery long...

i made some pix of my swing arm just a sec...

note that polished parts need a lot of care if they`re not sprayed with a clear coat.
Just check some car forums and posts of guys who polished their cars rims.
Chainspray, fuel and whatever abrasive material touches a polished surface will impact the shine or leave dull or white spots. So if you`re not a person only riding in nice weather you will find yourself repolishing probably more often than you`d like to.
I know I have such a bike.

It will look like this at the beginning...
http://www.box.net/public/a5kqhx4gdn

... and after 2 rides like this
http://www.box.net/public/gnjilih79f

G.

PS: in Germany it can happen that you also get prolems with technical inspection as the tester can argue that polishing will remove material also from the welding spots and influence stability (which I don`t believe unless one would try to grind down the weldings and polish it then to make them disappear, but who would do that)

the problem with my swingarm is that there are miniscule putholes in the surface of the aluminium...
I guess those were camouflaged by the anodization of the swingarm, or the battery acid did the metal attack...
To smooth the surface I should sandpaper at least half a millimetre off......

solutions:
1. anodize the total swingarm (don't know if that is possible or easy to do with "old" metals (greasy, contaminated surface))
2. sandpaper/-blast the thing and spraypaint it (cheap)
3. sandblast and powdercoat the swingarm (stronger than paint)
4. look for another swingarm...

I think I am going for #3.

do not sandplast aluminium parts.
There`re less aggressive methods like ie glass pearl blasting (don`t know the correct english term)

furthermore note that powder coating is indeed a very resistant surface but if you need to retouch due to some scratches, things will become more difficult because there`s no good way to spot repair a scratched powder coat.

last comment. Bikeshops sell universal battery acid overflow cannisters which is nothing else than a plastic tube with one in and out tube on top of which one is connected to the battery. I had one of those and it only requires to take off the rear side fairing once in a while to check if this thing needed to be emptied. I had it mounted on the side of the battery compartment.
(after that I went for a no-maintainence sealed battery)

paso750 wrote:do not sandplast aluminium parts.
There`re less aggressive methods like ie glass pearl blasting (don`t know the correct english term)

U r right
I even believe sand blasting is not allowed anymore its now all glass pearl (something like that) blasting... (cause it's environment friendlier...)

the problem with my swingarm is that there are miniscule putholes in the surface of the aluminium...
... To smooth the surface I should sandpaper at least half a millimetre off......

before you do that buy yourself a classic car magazine and check the ads. I`m sure there`re a lot of specialists who can give you some hints what to do best. Just an idea ...