powder coating engine casings

[chas]

Mike O what a great job how did you get such a good finish is that with a spray gun
and if its with rattle cans I cant get any where near that good a finish must be doing something wrong, that airhead engine looks as if its just been done top job

 

[MikeP]

Some info here:

http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=284842

 

[D6]

Will it?

Powder-coat is just another way of getting a pigment onto a surface. It has the same dirt repelling ability as paint and some disadvantages. It does last longer but only in as much as it's often thicker and takes longer for any corrosive action to break out. Meanwhile the protected surface can be corroding away unseen under that tough coating (until it gets so bad that it bursts out and by then it has done a lot more damage).

3 yr of use on the front of that engine? sorry, but u must use nicer roads than me, theres NO chips at all,? smoothright round here would be pebbledashed by now, (if its been used)

i have 2 cars, 1 has the wheels coated, it washes the dirt/brake dust off easier,,,my c90 has a coated frame, washes off easier than the paint too, ill admit ,if the paints been waxed etc recently, theres feck all in it, but if its been left, the coatings better

the newer coatings bond to the metal better and dont form bubbles underneath if chipped, smoothright does (fact)
if the bikes getting ANY abuse whatsoever,DO NOT USE SMOOTHRIGHT,its too hard , coatings more flexible too, a fact made by my 8 yr old suspension springs thats coated, and look like new,
my offroader had smoothrite frames, i had to get it coated,chipped like crazy,
now coated, its ok,
had to get new mudguards on my H2 also, they had been undersealed with hammerite, and had chipped, kept water in and rotted quickly,,,iv had massive probs with hammerite etc,over the years,looks great but rotten underneath, maybe ok for a road bike gently used on tarmac maybe,but even then iv had chipping probs with it,

dont knock coating till you try it,BUT use a good coaters, as most comments about poor coating comes from bad coaters, it doesnt corrode underneath as its freshly blasted and doesnt corrode at the gasket edgesif it done right, if it does, its the firm thats done it, not the new finish,
interestingly enough, this is the only forum i know that likes smoothright as much,,,,,
imo if your gonna use your bike, coat it, been doin it over 15yrs, NO probs

 

[(RIP) Mark H]

My vote is for paint / etch primer, found it durable enough but nothing lasts forever and fork legs timing chests ect need freshning up after 4/5 years, depends what your riding through I guess

Recommend Simoniz Tough Black Satin, with an etch primer on your engine (Assuming its black) most of the silver wheel paints are close enough for the forks.

Did a write up here some time ago, the work lasted well as you will see if you check out the later posts; (23000 views!)

http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=136102








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[MikeP]

3 yr of use on the front of that engine? sorry, but u must use nicer roads than me, theres NO chips at all,? smoothright round here would be pebbledashed by now, (if its been used)

I didn't say that the photo was after three years of use, I said that I painted it three years ago.

This:

is after three years. The photo was taken when I advertised the bike earlier this year. Looking at it now, I'm ashamed by the dirt that's left on the sump, behind the exhaust balance pipe.

 

[B4ndit]

I can't match Mike but a couple of bits of mine:

<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/y4-tn4wX9n85O9pH2cyhhsdIjVbFe8lpPsa0N09Tvn4?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-flLNHDKZRlc/TFGhh8eGNbI/AAAAAAAADfg/HaxWq2K1GVA/s800/IMG_5581.JPG" height="800" width="600" /></a>

All still looks fine three years on.

Matt,

Looking to do mine over the next few months. One bit I am worrried about is doing around the bolts. Did you remove all yours then clean, prep and spray it? Or did you do them one at a time?

Nick

 

[MikeP]

Matt,

Looking to do mine over the next few months. One bit I am worrried about is doing around the bolts. Did you remove all yours then clean, prep and spray it? Or did you do them one at a time?

Nick

You can safely remove all the screws without the front cover going anywhere. Just bear in mind that they may need some encouragement to come out.

 

[MikeO]

I didn't say that the photo was after three years of use, I said that I painted it three years ago.

This:

is after three years. The photo was taken when I advertised the bike earlier this year. Looking at it now, I'm ashamed by the dirt that's left on the sump, behind the exhaust balance pipe.

Happy New Year Mike...

Mike

 

[B4ndit]

You can safely remove all the screws without the front cover going anywhere. Just bear in mind that they may need some encouragement to come out.

That makes things much easier. Around the bolts is the grottiest bit on my bike. A job for the spring

 

[D6]

doesnt look like you use it much then? if i used hammer/smoothrite there on my old un ,itd be a right mess after 3 year, looking at the cleanliness of your bike, you have too much time on your hands,

 

[MattW]

That makes things much easier. Around the bolts is the grottiest bit on my bike. A job for the spring

Sorry - missed this earlier, but yes - what Mike says!

I replaced mine with stainless.

 

[Aidjay]

Great thread guys

Some great tips here, my GSA would greatly benefit from this treatment.

 

[Bendy toy]

doesnt look like you use it much then? if i used hammer/smoothrite there on my old un ,itd be a right mess after 3 year, looking at the cleanliness of your bike, you have too much time on your hands,

If you used Hammerite/Smoothrite it would be ok for about 3 months then rapidly chipped to death. The stuff gets very brittle and their fancy primers dont help at all. I did the exhaust hanger rod on an MZ 250. Cheap bike so just wanted to smarten it up. The rod was stripped, primed and painted with Smoothrite and looked fab. Within a few weeks it looked like it had been hit by a shotgun. I stripped it and tried again with profession quality primer for steel and the results were identical.

BTW - the bike front frame downtube was done at the same time and that went the same way. As did my engine mount plates on my Diversion 900. Unless the formulation has changed recently, Hammerite is way too brittle for bike parts.

I now get everything I can powder coated if only as a base to paint upon. Its not costly and MUCH more durable. Its great for engine covers , but not much help for major engine cases/cylinders/heads unless its 100% stripped.

 

[Paul Rochdale]

I love it when someone recommends a produce and the next post says "Don't whatever you do use..." followed by another showing that when applied properly it CAN work well. Made me smile.

 

[D6]

I love it when someone recommends a produce and the next post says "Don't whatever you do use..." followed by another showing that when applied properly it CAN work well. Made me smile.

it shows a bike that was painted a while ago, then barely used, not a good example really, is it?

 

[D6]

Some info here:

http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=284842

i notice on this post the oem powder coating, dont confuse that coating with aftermarket coating, its NOTHING like that, iv never seen splitting or peeling like that from the coaters, all my suspension srings are coated with no cracks etc,
the oem doesnt even look like properly done coating, it looks thin like paint, and not applied very well,
i didnt even think it was coating on my 1150, i took it as being a paint, as it was thin, and reacted like a paint (ie lifted and peeled)
as seen here http://www.pcsi-nc.com/powdercoat.htm ,,like paints, not all coatings the same,
the correct stuff on a bike, is pretty good, that in your pics is either paint, or crap coating,
i can see why people on here think coatings poor now...

 

[MikeP]

it shows a bike that was painted a while ago, then barely used, not a good example really, is it?

How the hell do you know what use my bike had between the repainting and when I sold it?

I get it. You prefer powder-coat and don't like paint (Hammerite in particular). No-one is telling you to change your opinion.

 

[D6]

How the hell do you know what use my bike had between the repainting and when I sold it?

I get it. You prefer powder-coat and don't like paint (Hammerite in particular). No-one is telling you to change your opinion.

no, im guessing as i said, but, judging by the condition, a good guess would be not regular and not a massive amount of mileage,


no ones telling you to change yours, im just pointing out that coating as YOU call it, isnt the same as the coating most people use,
no way in hell would your bike look like that with hammerite after all those years if you used it regular in all weathers,
bikes dont stay in that cond long if used all the time,fact,
i do like paint, but it appears you dont seem to know what powder coating is,,
most folk that knock coating has never used it,
hammerite is a great paint, in its correct application, but its a brittle paint, not good for impact

 

[Earache]

You realise that you'll have to completely strip the engine down to bare cases, no internals, no oil seals, remove all the bearings etc. BARE cases. It's a shit load of work!

Very true.
I'm in the middle of doing a 1973 Honda CB-750 motor for a Customer right now.
Stripped down the head and cylinders and masked them off for media blasting. Then they have to be cleaned and masked off for powder...

Went with glossy black on the head...

 

[MikeP]

no, im guessing as i said, but, judging by the condition, a good guess would be not regular and not a massive amount of mileage,


no ones telling you to change yours, im just pointing out that coating as YOU call it, isnt the same as the coating most people use,
no way in hell would your bike look like that with hammerite after all those years if you used it regular in all weathers,
bikes dont stay in that cond long if used all the time,fact,
i do like paint, but it appears you dont seem to know what powder coating is,,
most folk that knock coating has never used it,
hammerite is a great paint, in its correct application, but its a brittle paint, not good for impact

Once again you are leaping to conclusions and making guesses.

You don't know what use my bikes get, nor do you know what experience I have of powder-coat applied by specialists.

Stick to what you do know about your experiences and give up speculating.