HexHead front engine cover corrosion the cause

[SteveM]

Do you store your bike in a beach hut over winter at Torre Abbey Sands or Babbacombe?

 

[Bendy toy]

Do you store your bike in a beach hut over winter at Torre Abbey Sands or Babbacombe?

Mine gets used all year. This is my brothers bike. He uses the Pegaso in winter.
It's stored in a dry garage attached to the house. Last year the garage in Stafford was brick but unheated. However if the storage was the issue why is the Aptilia Pegaso in such good condition. Italian and genuinely tough finish are not normally associated

it's salt or similar got under the paint at the raw edges where the cover is machined and where the bolt heads have ground the paint off as they were tightened.

Clearly the problem is due to weather getting under the paint but what is the point of paint that fails this easily. It's gone in plastic covered areas just as badly as open areas.

it's all about the cleaning, bearing in mind the shit finishes the BMW use nowadays.

Are the forensic cleaners suggesting the bike should be stripped down every time it's washed? And are we supposed to use non wetting water?
I believe bare aluminium would have been far less vulnerable The paint is worse than useless.

hiding the susceptible area up with a big chunk of stainless is an obvious mistake too

I've always said the crud catcher does nothing useful but paint failed just as badly under the alternator belt cover and not a lot less badly at the sides.
The main engine and gearbox cases are all pretty good including cylinder fronts which always end up with flaked off paint. Also the front cover M6 torx screws are all as new.

 

[Beemerman59]

I've always said the crud catcher does nothing useful

I disagree and that's because I can see the wear from road debris on my crud catcher that would otherwise have gone straight onto the alternator cover.

 

[autogs]

i have run my bike through the winter, commuting every day my bike is mint,no acf 50 or anything else but each and every day it has been rinsed off with cold tap water.

 

[beatmeier]

Does it have a impact on the riding ?


I never see it and if you worry just blast it and get it painted every five years .... It s poor quality like many other parts but there's ways to live with it ..... ride the bike ..it's brilliant

 

[TLSgazza]

Does it have a impact on the riding ?

It did for me in the end, the corrosion got to bad on mine the oil seal failed under the cover, it was seeping oil out down the front of the engine and onto the bash plate which in turn could end up on the back tyre, anyway Mikeyboy sorted mine out when he serviced my bike, lovely job too. .

 

[Bendy toy]

No impact on the riding (for a while) but a cover covered in bubbling cracked paint just looks horrible.

On mine the bottom of the alloy cover is protected by the exhaust cross pipe. I also use a fender extender. After 2000 miles there are no signs of any dinks in the powder coat.

Brother's has a Remus header with no cross pipe so benefits from a crud catcher. There are no stone chips but the corrosion has run from the cover screw heads and early stages are hidden by the catcher.

I believe that something smaller for example trapped under the belt cover bottom bolt would be as effective.

I must have damaged the oil seal when refitting the cover after painting. I used the drill and self tapper screw method to remove it. 50% of the seal lip was gone. A new seal taps into place quite easily.

I've used stainless socket cap head screws with copper paste all the way up the screw threads and M6 copper washers. Brother's original Torx screws are as new so they'll be staying on but again with lots of copper paste.