Painting / coating heads and barrels

[Roger486]

Hi

Just getting back started on a loooong paused restoration of a GT500. I am sure that it is here somewhere on the Board, but I can't find it... What are the recommendations for heads and barrels?

I could go the bead blasting route if I can find a good operator... or I could paint or coat.

Any recommendations and/or recommendations on paint? I could use a exhaust pipe rattle can (type/brand?) or I could go to a high temperature POR-15 and brush it on?

What have others done and what works well that I (with my meagre skills) could try?

Regards
Roger

[alanr]

have a look at my t350 rebuild.I dismantled the head and barrells and bead blasted and painted with heatproof paint.I also masked and painted the engine casing before polishing the covers.I tried to find a color that looked like natural metal.If you have any questions I will try to help.

[Wingspan]

I bead blasted then painted mine with Dupont ceramic engine paint (rattle can) then cured with an oven. Seems to be holding up very well, even after a dousing in gas courtesy of a stuck float.

[Roger486]

Both of those look great, thanks. Is it necessary to bead blast if you are going to paint? I was originally intending to just bead blast, but I have been finding it difficult to find someone to do it?

Roger

[Wingspan]

No, it's not necessary.

[barko1]

No, it's not necessary.

What would be a good surface prep? Beside the blasting.

[Wingspan]

No, it's not necessary.

What would be a good surface prep? Beside the blasting.

Do it yourself would probably be Simple Green, scotch bright pads, and a lot of elbow grease. Gun cleaning kits have small brushes that can get in between the fins.

[Roger486]

I presume that after painting you would re-drill all the (2.5mm) water drain holes between the fins in the heads? All of the holes on mine were clogged with gunge... has anyone (and/or should I) widen these holes a touch when I re-drill them?

R

[Roger486]

Do it yourself would probably be Simple Green

The POR-15 folks push there products 'Marine Clean' followed by ''Metal Prep' to set up the surface for taking paint... does anyone have any experience with these?

Thanks for the gun shop suggestion for brushes! Such shops are not so common, or frequented, in New Zealand, so that is a good suggestion.

R

[smoketriples]

Have POR 15 for years, but never for an engine. I like their products, and now that I have the '74 down to a bare frame I'll be doing the POR treatment to it, after I blast all the gunge off with the pressure washer.

[Roger486]

I am going to use the POR paints as I have had a good run out of them. I have a choice of two… their POR-20 high temp paints of the POR-15 based engine enamel. The engine enamel is supposed to be better at self leveling and more chip resistant. It is good for 200C. The high temp is good for 700C.

How hot do bike barrels and heads get?

They say that neither are suitable for expansion chambers.

Any thoughts?

[titan performance]

We use heat proof powder coat on our expansions.....it gives a nice fluid resistant hard wearing finish.

[Roger486]

Thanks for the powdercoat advice... and they will also be all set up to do proper preparation as well. When they do powdercoat, do they do the inside surface as well, as I would really like to make sure that that is protected from corrosion!

Any suggestions on how hot T/GT500 barrels get?

[Roger486]

Well after some research I have found a local firm that does spray ceramic coatings.

For the expansion chambers they recommend a ceramic header coating that comes in a range of colours (black, grey, polished aluminum and galvanized look) with a temperature range of –190°C to 700°C for NZ$98 each. What are people's preferences for colours on expansion chambers... traditional mat black or polished aluminum, which from the photos looks indistinguishable from stainless steel?

For the barrels and heads they recommend a lower temp (up to 300°C) ceramic (HiPerColour) that comes in a range of wizzy colours. The cost will be heads - NZ$74 and barrels NZ$135 each.

For the engine case I think I will use POR-15 engine paint, no sense getting really carried away.

Will let you know how it goes.

Roger

[Wingspan]

I don't know if this will help you at all, but my expansion chambers are polished stainless steel and my headers are ceramic coated: