Breaking down the Academy H2O Xpress® Mettle reel

[rockchalk06]

Okay, I've finished super-tuning my H2O Xpress Mettle.  Here's the look I was (sort of) gunning for:



My version:











All parts are stock.  The bearings have been flushed and lubed, the drag surfaces have been polished, the spool shaft ends and brake drum were polished, and then I painted it in the colors you see.  I was originally going to paint the frame light pearl gunmetal and do the rest of the reel similar to the Megabass TD-Ito (below), but I ran into some problems with the pearl paint and ended up stripping it down and going with the black frame.

Overall I'm very pleased with how the Mettle turned out.  After the polish the drag is making roughly 10# instead of the 7-8# it maxed out at before, and the spool free-spins for 13-14 seconds empty of line.  Considering the reel with un-flushed bearings and unpolished spool shaft ends free-spools for 10-12 seconds fully loaded with line, that's a marked improvement.

I wasn't able to do much with the clutch assembly.  That beefy chunk of aluminum doesn't lend itself to polishing, so there are really no polishing options other than the spool shaft ends, brake drum and drag. 

So, now all that I need is open water and fish to test it with.   Next year I plan on testing the stock and tuned reels side-by-side and seeing how much difference the upgrades make.

Tight lines!

Ben

Ben,

That looks pretty good. Good job