As opposed to polishing

[Coyote]

I have found that this Dupli-Color high temp aluminum paint does a very attractive job. Of course that's just my opinion. The paint is good to 500 degrees and the shroud will never see that kind of heat as it is insulated from the head itself. If you want to try some, it's Dupli-Color's part number DE1615. Looks exactly like bare aluminum.

[Fritz500]

Looks good. What surface preparation did you do? Did you use a primer?

Cheers

Geoff

[Coyote]

Had it bead blasted and shot it. No other prep.

[Suzukidave]

[d9canada]

That Duplicolor high temp stuff is awesome. Sometimes maintaining a polish finish can be difficult especially with a daily rider or a bike stored outdoors. I've experimented with self etching prime and zinc chromate prime, but I haven't really found any real advantage, one to the other.

For prep, I use paint remover and then powerwash to remove original paint and grease. Then if the thing is really smooth and no bad scrapes, I soda blast, otherwise wet sand and try to blend away the blemishes.

One thing to note if you use soda blast - it does leave a soda residue that really does penetrate into the microscopic pores of the aluminium. So a good wash in something like Lacquer thinner removes that stuff and evaporates leaving no residue. Soda residue is alkaline and will promote corrosion on steel and can mess with paint bonding.

[pearljam724]

Looks sweet. They make a lot of aluminum or silver metallic paints in a rattle can today that look brilliant after applied. But, none I have ever used stand up to any kind of chemicals being used to clean that surface. The surface will immediately and vastly lose it's shine. I would only wipe it clean with only water. Most of them don't even stand up to a mild degreaser. The paints I used turn into a gray looking primer if any kind of chemical is used to clean it.

[Coyote]

I have re- evaluated the situation and that nice silver will give way to black powder coat. It just doesn't look very good no the blasted cylinders and head. I have already had all the cases powder coated black. On my 550 cafe, I blasted the shroud and the got it powder coated with no gloss clear. At least it all looked the same when finished. This just looks wrong. I'll post a photo so you can see what I mean.
Well I just put it back on there and it doesn't look as bad as I thought. I guess I'll wait till it all together and check it out then. I can get it powder coated any time.

[pearljam724]

I'm glad to see you're still at it. Show's how much you truly are into bikes.

[joolstacho]

I wonder how resistant that paint is to chemical stains... Oil, fuel etc. (You really need a 2-pack because of the chemical curing). I've found that the best is to use a 2-pack urethane SS silver with some (maybe 30% -50%) matte additive for getting that original silver engine casing look.
I used Protec SS. SS stands for single stage, - you don't need to clearcoat over it, and if you prep the surface well you don't need primer. Just thoroughly degrease, use wire wool and/or wet and dry, thoroughly wash again, thoroughly dry, then spray thin coats. If you don't add matte to it it'll look too glossy, not authentic, and keep the coats thin.
Anyway, that's my method.