engine painting

[aruyle79]

i have a question for everyone..... in painting the engine, is it best to take it completely apart, or tape off all side covers that will be chrome and paint?

[82gs1100]

taking it apart would be the best way but unless its a show bike would not be worth it. the paint mite peal when taking something apart if u dont use a razor to cut the paint first. i would take the covers off sence there easy.

[jwhelan65]

Be careful if you have it powder coated it will cause over heating.

[82gs1100]

Be careful if you have it powder coated it will cause over heating.

i did not know that i was going to have mine powder coated. i thought they were powder coated from the factory

[Nessism]

Liquid paint from the factory. Not sure whether or not powder coat will cause the engine to run hot or not. My guess is not but I'm not sure.

[82gs1100]

i guess it depends on how thick it is

[TheCafeKid]

Liquid paint from the factory. Not sure whether or not powder coat will cause the engine to run hot or not. My guess is not but I'm not sure.

There is been good debate on this very subject a few times on here. Some say it causes heat transfer issues, some say those guys are full of it..lol. I DO know that the factory paint was only 3mil thick, and powder coat would be 15 generally. But again, some say the added surface area the powder coating would create would transfer heat better. There are those that believe that polishing case covers harms heat transfer properties because you remove surface area. Im not thermaldynamics guy, so i dunno...

[bwringer]

I chose not to powder coat simply because the cure temps for powder coat are high enough to risk warping the aluminum parts.

I used PJ1 satin black on a completely disassembled engine. I power washed to parts, scrubbed them with WD-40, and rinsed with paint thinner or brake cleaner. I didn't make any special efforts to remove oxidation, but I tried to get every bit of oily residue and dirt off. I masked off the inside and gasket surfaces.

The PJ1 dries very hard, so there's no worries about chipping when re-assembling. However, it gets very soft and stinky when you run the engine for the first few weeks. After a couple dozen heat cycles, the PJ1 finally stops outgassing and stays durable when the engine is hot.

If you chip the paint or miss a spot, the black paint is very forgiving -- just spray on another coat in the problem area, and it will blend in nicely.

The OEM black engine paint is shinier, so PJ1's gloss black might be closer if you're going for that look.


Here's my bike -- the engine is actually an '81, painted black to mimic the original '83.



Here's a '79 engine I painted in the same way -- on this one, I painted the whole thing instead of polishing the side covers, since it was for a friend's streetfighter project. This one was also painted part by part completely disassembled:

[82gs1100]

hay you stole my idea

[aruyle79]

lol, well, i ended up taking it all the way apart today.

[Florida Guy]

If you already have a black motor, I suggest not painting it.
I have used a product by S100 called Engine Brightener and it makes and older motor look like new. It works like magic.
Search online for other opinions - that's what prompted me to buy a can.

[ricksgs750es]

Chroming the engine

I'm assuming chroming the engine isn't good either? I would LOVE to get the engine in a really high shine.. I have DREAMS about that!

Be careful if you have it powder coated it will cause over heating.

[renobruce]

If you already have a black motor, I suggest not painting it.
I have used a product by S100 called Engine Brightener and it makes and older motor look like new. It works like magic.
Search online for other opinions - that's what prompted me to buy a can.

S100 is the best! I just finished doing a detail on the 1150:

[TheCafeKid]

S100 is the best! I just finished doing a detail on the 1150:

Damn Bruce, even your BLACK motor is shiney enough to shave in! LOL. Does this S100 work on the silver motors too, or is it only for the black ones??

BTW, youre low on oil...KIDDING!

[renobruce]

Damn Bruce, even your BLACK motor is shiney enough to shave in! LOL. Does this S100 work on the silver motors too, or is it only for the black ones??

BTW, youre low on oil...KIDDING!

S100 is for black.... anything black. I use it on the engine and all the other black parts. Use it anywhere you would use Armor-all.

She's not low on oil, just on the side stand.