As an initial work of caution, test out the product on some small stuff. Learn how it works. It is difficult to get off to redo short of sand blasting or resanding. It is actually easy to work with but it is not rattle can paint and products so learn it and your equipment before starting to spray the engine for example. It will be less frustrating and (IMHO) the results will be superior.
First, Por 15 is more expensive, but for the time/effort/Labor involved in prep work, I can't see much benefit in NOT using the best paint you can get. Por-15 makes several products (check out their website).
I don't know if Por-15 is better that powdercoating, it might be because you control it , don't need the heat ovens (the paint curing is water activated) and you can still repair it. With the Por-15 rust inhibitor paint you are supposed to be able to seal in any rust and prevent any further corrosion/rust/oxidation. As paint it is the best I have ever used. Actually it really doesn't compare to any rattle can paint I have used. Por-15 is much better!! Thicker, Harder, Flows Better.
So far I sparyed my engine with the Por-15 rust inhibiting paint and the Black engine paint. It is a very thick and wet black looking paint. You do the Por-15 first and within about 4-5 hours finish with the engine paint. If you want something more OEM looking get some "Magic Black" and top coat it for a final semi gloss look.
I have also used the manifold repair kit on some old vintage Yoshimura 4:1 exhaust. It is turning out pretty well (after sandblasting) except I did most of the finish by brush and I need to respray for a cleaner top coat. I did this before getting teh gun. I used the high heat filler material as well to fill some road rash. It is a different product and does not seem to be as hard, but it has not been cured yet either so don't know yet, but I'm not using anything else and will go to new V&H chrome models if this doesn't work.
I plan on getting the engine aluminum to paint my GS1100ED frame silver. I'm going to setup a little paint booth. I also bought the clear and assume it is a good product but have not used it yet.
I will use an automotive PPG paint for the body/tank/fairing so won't use it there. Checkout the products there are several depending on what you are trying to do and the colors you want.
REMEMBER The corrosion inhibiting Por-5 is UV sensitive so it has to be covered. In this case I used the engine paint. I could have used something else.
There is also a Por-15 "Hard Nose" paint that is supposed to be that, but the colors are more limited but Black, Dark Gray and Light Gray are avaliable.
When I first got the sample kit, I used a paint brush and it is remarkable how well the paint smooths out after using a foam brush, but you just don't get the coverage and it is nearly impossible to avoid drips at the bottoms of the surfaces, and the paint is really hard. So the only thing where the Por-15 worked well was on my frame near the battery box where I did not want to spray, and so I brushed it on.
Later I came back and sprayed with a rattle can to improve the finish from brushing.
When you paint with Por-15 put a bolt into any threaded holes or you will have to rerun a tap or thread chaser to get the Por-15 paint off as the threads; the bolt will not cut the por-15 in the threads (actually I don't even know if the thread chaser will but it but I have to assume so). I know that I now have some very stiff frame bolts that are only starting to loosen after repeated bolt removals.
On my valve cover I taped off the Tach gear housing, but some paoint got into the hole and so I'm going to have to scrape it out as teh housing is really tight getting in. Not a problem for here and there but you dont want to find this out and have to chase threads on 100 bolt holes in your engine block.
I would strongly suggest getting a cheap Harbor Freight touchup sprayer for the Por-15. Practice a little with a cheaper paint so you know how to control your compressor and gun. I bought two different guns Both guns have nice small cups that you fill to about 2/3 and you get a massive amount of coverage
Touch-Up Spray Gun Item #00086 (about $20) 7 oz cup
This looks like a nice gun, but for me it spit a lot. Even when I used pure thinner through the gun. I'll use it to paint a fence.
Adjustable Mini Detail Spray Gun Item #92126 about $15) 4 oz cup
This gun is cheaper and is part of the "Professional Series". It seems much more adjustable and performed much better. When I sprayed it responded well to all of the adjustments defined in the manual. I would stay away from the #00086 and only use the #92126 or something small that you already have. Nothing special required here you just want something that a 120V compressor can keep up with. These sprayers need about 20-50 psi working pressure. The Pro model is 3 CFM at 50 psi.
In the pictures you can see some significant orange peel. I was doing this is a race with a rain Storm at nite and could not see exactly what I was doing. I will repaint all of the covers after the motor is back in the bike. The Pro sprayer doesn't have the same problem. I used it for some "Stirling Silver" medium gloss silver/aluminum paint I sprayed on the GS750 valve cover and it is a very nice natural aluminum looking paint. Not nearly as glossy as the engine paint. Once my GS1100ED is back together I will use that on the whole GS750EX engine.
For an engine of this size you will make a pretty good mess if you do anything buy spray it.
Posplayr
1983 GS1100ED blacked out engine
Comment