I've polished a ton of stuff....sportbike frames and swingarms, valve covers, wheels, etc. The best way to strip it is aircraft stripper. You'll have to coat it a couple of times for it to work, but you're not adding any work for yourself later (scratches and gouges from grinding off powdercoating). Once the powdercoat is off, start sanding. You'll want to work your way down to 2000 grit. Once at 2000, you can pretty much use Mothers and make it shine, but you want to do better than that. Visit the Eastwood company and get one of their kits that includes the buffs and compounds for the job. Start with a rough wheel and the emery compound and buff like crazy. Then go to a softer wheel and use the tripoli compound. Finally use the white rouge and a soft wheel and it will shine like chrome when you're done, which all in all will take quite a few hours. And for the record, clear coat will not stick. It's like trying to paint glass, it's just not porous enough to adhere once it's polished. The only option you could try is having it powdercoated clear, that may work. Looking good so far, but you still have a lot of work ahead of you.
