Rear Caliper Powdercoat - Masking?

[Guest]

I would like to powdercoat my rear caliper, an '82 850G. The front calipers were easy, but the rear caliper has to be cracked in half by taking out two big hex bolts, and a big flat rubber seal keeps the halves from leaking brake fluid. Any advice? Do you send it to the powdercoater screwed together, and then deal with slicing the thing apart after you get it back? Or is there some way to send it in halves to be powdercoated, masked with something that withstands 350 degrees of heat? Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks for the help.

[almarconi]

I would remove anything made of rubber before having it powdercoated. Remove the piston and any rubber seals. Mask off the bore and any other openings.

Another option is to paint it. I used duplicolor caliper paint on my bike. Cheap and easy to apply.

[ShortyzKustomz]

All rubber would need to be removed and everything dissassembled, I worked in a powder coating shop for over 2 years. Those seals will melt and and traces of brake fluid will smoke up the entire shop when baked a 450 degrees

[Nessism]

All rubber would need to be removed and everything dissassembled, I worked in a powder coating shop for over 2 years. Those seals will melt and and traces of brake fluid will smoke up the entire shop when baked a 450 degrees

What do you mask with? Some sort of high temperature tape?

[ShortyzKustomz]

They have a green high temp tape you can use, Alot of the time depending the situation I used good reg masking tape, Sometime it can make a mess but if you pull it off hot it works ok, once it cools it becomes brittle outside and slimy underneath. On a caliper I would use high heat tape, just a little more difficult to get it to stick right. Biggest thing is clean metal, powder coat is all done with charges, so powercoat wont stick to anything other then bare metal unless you heat it up first and then coat it hot, Then it kinda melts onto the part, but for best looking reults clean metal all the way

[tejasmud]

yep!

Like this stuff here. Just one of 1000s of material suppliers out there. Dots, tapes, and silicon plugs.

http://www.viadon.com/tapes3.htm

Most colors go on thick, and usually have seam once masking is removed.

Main thing is to seal it well. Best if DIY, unless one knows the masking will be done very well, and not shotty.

P coat is a PITA to remove. Permatex gasket remover can remove overspray. Just apply locally with a swab.

Powder coat was one of my past lives too.

[Hammered]

A good Powder Coater will do the masking for you. Just let them know what is and is not to be coated. Not everyone knows all parts that theey may run across. Just make sure its clean and disassembled. Course best thing to do is call the PC place and ask what they require without an extra charge.

[ALB80-850]

I, as most of the members are DIYers. I did my own powdercoating for my bike more or less for practice. I did the rear caliper and front master cylinder. I can't remember the exact process,but I totally dismantled the parts and bead blasted them, masked or plugged everything I thought that needed it, and got to work. I had done some test parts prior to this to get used to the equipment. If I do say so myself, the mastercylinder and caliper came out rather well. I did, however forget to mask one surface on the caliper and had to remove the powder afterward(PITA) All in all, it wasn't a bad expierence and look forward to doing more in the off season.

A buddy of mine had a powdercoat book from Eastwood, pretty basic but informitive. I also found my equipment and powder on the Eastwood forum. They too have a "for sale" section on the forum. I picked up an Hotcoat gun, filters, tape, plugs and about 20 pounds of various colored powder for about $150 shipped.

Good luck!

Andy

[Hammered]

Check Caswell.com they have a forum with guides there. Good prices. I havent compared them to Eastwood so...

[ShortyzKustomz]

After personally using the eastwood kits, I didnt like them.... But thats after using really nice guns at work and seeing how much better results you get with good equipment, thats my personal opinion... Plus my old shop would have only charged like $35 for a caliper

[jwhelan65]

What do you mask with? Some sort of high temperature tape?

Actually painter blue tape works fine, they actually coat over it, you can than cut it away when it's done.

[jwhelan65]

I, as most of the members are DIYers. I did my own powdercoating for my bike more or less for practice. I did the rear caliper and front master cylinder. I can't remember the exact process,but I totally dismantled the parts and bead blasted them, masked or plugged everything I thought that needed it, and got to work. I had done some test parts prior to this to get used to the equipment. If I do say so myself, the mastercylinder and caliper came out rather well. I did, however forget to mask one surface on the caliper and had to remove the powder afterward(PITA) All in all, it wasn't a bad expierence and look forward to doing more in the off season.

A buddy of mine had a powdercoat book from Eastwood, pretty basic but informitive. I also found my equipment and powder on the Eastwood forum. They too have a "for sale" section on the forum. I picked up an Hotcoat gun, filters, tape, plugs and about 20 pounds of various colored powder for about $150 shipped.

Good luck!

Andy

I would plug the holes with another set of bolts, getting PC out of threads is next to impossible..