Suzuki 2 Strokes

I am looking at coating my AllSpeeds with a ceramic heat insulator by Techline and some of their coatings have heat tolerances that when breached start to discolour. I have been advised to measure the heat off my exhaust, but it is kind of hard as I am rebuilding the engine and was in the process of restoring my exhausts...this included getting them coated.

Anyone done this before? Apparently the Aluminum compound one of the coating I am looking to use will melt at 1300 f approx 1600f EGT. I will have an undercoat that takes it to 1800-1900f... so I am just a bit concerned that this isnt very high...I'd rather coat them in Waxoyl then spend £££ and have them fade...

Should I bother with thermal insulators and ceramic? I just wanted to strengthen my old pipes and possibly improve performance.

Plating painting and other coatings will do exactly zero for performance. They may make them look nice and stay nice though. Pipe temps at teh center of the pipe will average somewhere around 1100-1200F but the skin of teh pipe should never be that hot. It's shedding heat to the air continuously.

If you dont want to plate them .. if you can find it a couple of good coats of Mop n Glow floor wax will keep them pretty nice .

tz375 wrote:Plating painting and other coatings will do exactly zero for performance. They may make them look nice and stay nice though. Pipe temps at teh center of the pipe will average somewhere around 1100-1200F but the skin of teh pipe should never be that hot. It's shedding heat to the air continuously.

Ok great thanks for the information. It is good to know that their products shouldn't fail if they can actually resist up to their maximum temperatures.... Do you really think there is no performance benefit from such products? It makes sense that if you can retain heat within the pipes then surely the gases would move faster, similar to using exhaust wrap? It would be interesting to understand if it would have a significant impact to the blow-back cycle of an expansion chamber, I guess that is reasonably possible too...

I am not chasing performance though, I just want to repair some very old 1970 AllSpeeds and to give them a heat resistant coating that will add to the overall durability of the surface.... I was rudely surprised when I stripped the paint to find they were covered in filler hiding some horrible welding....

I have a guy here sorting them out for me, hopefully they will be good....but I don't think keeping them exposed will be a good option, doesn't match the look of my bike.

Suzukidave wrote:If you dont want to plate them .. if you can find it a couple of good coats of Mop n Glow floor wax will keep them pretty nice .

Yeah, need to paint them...thinking that if the temps are OK I will go with the ceramic based paint...or just buy a DYI VTH paint. This looks like it will do the job:

http://www.frost.co.uk/automotive-paint ... -333g.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I have heard people say that VHT paints don't work, but I am guessing they have used the wrong ratings or applied to poorly prepared surface...

Is there an advantage to brush applied vs rattle can?

Hi Nick, glad to see you made your way to Sundial.
In my opinion, vht from a rattle can gives a lovely finish, but lacks durability. It scuffs and marks easily, and the finish can be spoiled by fluid spills. I'm not sure that brush painting will ever create a satisfactory finish, I may be wrong. Regardless of which paint you select, it struggles to stay on the headers for too long.
We have used heat proof powder coat, and I thoroughly recommend it. The finish is superb, and it is fluid resistant and very durable. Most coaters will have preparation facilities too, which saves you a pile of work.

titan performance wrote:Hi Nick, glad to see you made your way to Sundial.
In my opinion, vht from a rattle can gives a lovely finish, but lacks durability. It scuffs and marks easily, and the finish can be spoiled by fluid spills. I'm not sure that brush painting will ever create a satisfactory finish, I may be wrong. Regardless of which paint you select, it struggles to stay on the headers for too long.
We have used heat proof powder coat, and I thoroughly recommend it. The finish is superb, and it is fluid resistant and very durable. Most coaters will have preparation facilities too, which saves you a pile of work.

Hey Paul! Yep, good to be amongst other two stroke fanatics!

That is a good point on the VHT. I am not sure if I saw an oil/spirit resistant point for these paints, they can reach the temperatures so wont flake off, but wash off with a drop of oil! Sigh! nothing is simple. :-/

I'll look into the heat resistant powder coating, I just didn’t think it had temperature tolerances, do you know what its rated up to?

I was going to get Techline's MCS + Cermakrome coating, but its maximum temperature was about 1,300F after this point the colour would trun GREY (it wouldn’t fail though)!! It has the corrosion, oil and impact resistance, a shame! Seems pointless to have such a low tolerance!

If the heat traveling through my pipes is about 1,100 - 1,200F I'd be gambling my AllSpeeds wouldn’t reach 1,300F or near to it..

One other thing was to use a plasma coated ceramic. Zercotec have what appears to be an amazing product line, but not cheap! I'm not sure that putting £264 (most expensive coating £432 for my pipes) on a pair of old patched mild steel pipes would be wise.... :-O But they are originals!?

But have a look at these!
http://www.zircotec.com/page/--performance-colours/47" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Copper looks soooo cool! However, I'd be keeping it real with a matt or metalic black!

Check out my Zircotec options... would love to do the copper, but would it clash with Sheene gold?

Wow....some of those prices are pretty imaginative.
We were paying £30 GBP for a pair for chambers to be heat proof powder coated. I'm afraid I can't now remember the heat rating, as it was a long time ago that it was discussed, but we obviously thought it was adequate at the time. We sold a good number of these pipes and have had no complaints at all about the finish. Maybe there is a board member who has some, and can report on the durability?