• Required reading for all forum users!!!

    Welcome!
    Register to access the full functionality of the GSResources forum. Until you register and activate your account you will not have full forum access, nor will you be able to post or reply to messages.

    A note to new registrants...
    All new forum registrations must be activated via email before you have full access to the forum.

    A Special Note about Email accounts!
    DO NOT SIGN UP USING hotmail, outlook, gmx, sbcglobal, att, bellsouth or email.com. They delete our forum signup emails.

    A note to old forum members...
    I receive numerous requests from people who can no longer log in because their accounts were deleted. As mentioned in the forum FAQ, user accounts are deleted if you haven't logged in for the past 6 months. If you can't log in, then create a new forum account. If you don't get an error message, then check your email account for an activation message. If you get a message stating that the email address is already in use, then your account still exists so follow the instructions in the forum FAQ for resetting your password.

    Have you forgotten your password or have a new email address? Then read the forum FAQ for details on how to reset it.

    Any email requests for "can't log in anymore" problems or "lost my password" problems will be deleted. Read the forum FAQ and follow the instructions there - that's what we have one for...

  • Returning Visitors

    If you are a returning visitor who never received your confirmation email, then odds are your email provider is blockinig emails from our server. The only thing that can be done to get around this is you will have to try creating another forum account using an email address from another domain.

    If you are a returning visitor to the forum and can't log in using your old forum name and password but used to be able to then chances are your account is deleted. Purges of the databases are done regularly. You will have to create a new forum account and you should be all set.

pros and cons of painting engines

  • Thread starter Thread starter cougar
  • Start date Start date
C

cougar

Guest
my motor isn't bad bad but Im a bit lazy when it comes to polishing so paint seems the way to go.

So what are the pro's and con's of painting a engine and does colour matter for cooling ie black verse alloy/silver?

also any photos of nice looking gs1000 engines
 
Paint comes off .
I soda blasted , acid cleaned , degreased and then painted my engine .
Beautiful .
I spose I'm whinging a bit but , 7 years later , and in some places , the paint is starting to flake off .
Still looks pretty good and most people don't pick it , but .........
I could just suck it up and do it again .
Or I could just ride it and be damned .
If your engine is looking a bit $hitty , paint will definitely make you smile . VHT alloy (I think) .

Cheers , Simon .
 
I believe black is actually cooler for a motor? Ill try and find the info on that.
 
It has been my understanding that the color of the paint only has an effect in deflecting / absorbing heat. So an engine painted black would absorb heat from the sun, while a silver / white / etc would reflect heat. Of course, pouring a gallon of any colored paint and letting it cure so it was 1/4" thick wouldn't help at all.....

Fwiw Cougar, when an aluminum looking paint gets scratched and there is bate aluminum underneath it won't be as noticeable as black paint being scratched.
 
Here's my '82 1100e painted to, I suppose, mimic an '83.

I always liked the way my '73 Z1's motor looked, black with the edges of the cooling fins bare. I'm thinking of doing that to my Suzi.
 
Big Rich said:
It has been my understanding that the color of the paint only has an effect in deflecting / absorbing heat. So an engine painted black would absorb heat from the sun, while a silver / white / etc would reflect heat.
Click to expand...

The black/absorbing thing is fact, except it doesn't work that way here. Why? Because heat ALWAYS travels from hot to cold. And since the temperature of the engine is higher than the heat from the Sun, the black paint will actually move heat from the engine to atmosphere. Really.
 
Rob S. said:
Here's my '82 1100e painted to, I suppose, mimic an '83.
Click to expand...
Yaayyy, another iPhone "camera" victim with SUPER-STICKY tires.
icon_thumbsup.gif




Am I the only one that previews their own posts before hitting "Submit Reply"? :-k

.
 
Whats up with these iphonepad pictures hanging upside down??:rolleyes:

I use my phone to take pictures too but they always come out right side up... android ftw?:-\\\

About paint:
Black is cool, but looks bad once scratched or if it starts to flake off.
Aluminium looks clean and if it scratches you can't tell at all, at least from a distance.
;)
 
I use my iPhone too but turned off the auto-rotate feature in Photobucket. I'll edit the picture (size wise) on my computer then upload and post.
 
FLHGSRay said:
The black/absorbing thing is fact, except it doesn't work that way here. Why? Because heat ALWAYS travels from hot to cold. And since the temperature of the engine is higher than the heat from the Sun, the black paint will actually move heat from the engine to atmosphere. Really.
Click to expand...

I've been told (never tried it) if you have a warm can of beer (unopened) put it in a black sock dip it in water and put it in the sun and the beer will end up getting cold.
I don't drink so never had the chance to try it
 
cougar said:
I've been told (never tried it) if you have a warm can of beer (unopened) put it in a black sock dip it in water and put it in the sun and the beer will end up getting cold.
I don't drink so never had the chance to try it
Click to expand...
The beer doesn't get a chance to warm up, if it's by me on a warm day.
 
black absorbs heat first, but it also dissipates heat the quickest on the color spectrum if you want to get all scientific.
 
get the engine vapour blasted and leave it bare aluminium. no problems with heat dissipation,flakey paint or oxidization.job done
 
Absorbing heat isn't in play here, engines get them selves hot. Is the increase in dissipation due to being black more than the increase in insulation from the added paint? I think it just doesn't matter. Paint it if you like the look. I like it, I paint some of them, they don't get any hotter than the others as far as I can tell. Too hot? Not gonna happen.
 
FLHGSRay said:
The black/absorbing thing is fact, except it doesn't work that way here. Why? Because heat ALWAYS travels from hot to cold. And since the temperature of the engine is higher than the heat from the Sun, the black paint will actually move heat from the engine to atmosphere. Really.
Click to expand...

This is the truth. All the good air-cooled VW mechanics know that chrome engine tins will make the car overheat. Black is the way to go and nothing else will do unless you're doing a full custom car or a buggie with the exposed engine and extra oil cooler and all that jazz. Then it usually overheats because of people running the valves tight and the carbs lean no matter what color the tins are.
And all of my physicist friends tell me that the science backs me up on that.

As for the original topic, my advice is to prep, prep, prep. If your engine looks dirty and oxidized and it's just too much work to polish it up, then it's not clean enough for paint and you should just run the bike dirty until it dies under you. Paint is easier to keep clean over time, but you need the engine a lot cleaner to paint it than you do to polish it. Unless you've already had the motor blasted and steamed and all that jazz, in which case 'Good show. Do as thou wilt upon thy own lands.'
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

jdub6092
Painting Bike parts
2
Replies
31
Views
753
oldGSfan
oldGSfan
CincinnatiKid
81 11e timing with a Dyna S
Replies
6
Views
178
rphillips
R
ignatiuz99
Having some general issues, help?
Replies
6
Views
198
Rob S.
Rob S.
KiwiAlfa156
Retarding Ignition Timing
2
Replies
25
Views
560
rphillips
R
G
1980 GS1100ET pistons/moly coating question
Replies
5
Views
164
Suzukian
S
Back
Top