Doing a cosmetic makeover later this winter, have everything planned out and decided on except the engine cosmetics. So I have a few questions for those experienced.

What temperature is powder coating baked at? I mean you can't powder coat items with seals intact due to oven temps can you? I just need to make sure I order everything I need for the re-assembly, and most of the seals like around the shifter and clutch lever and all that jazz will most likely be torn up during removal.

I'm powder coating the side covers due to boot wear, but it won't match the OEM paint of the engine so I wanna spray paint the rest of the motor too. How well does automotive engine paint hold up? The OEM paint is apparently a spray paint, and it is very durable, this is what I want - durability, solvent resistance, hard shell, heat resitance - do you guys have any high temp auto paint recommendations?

 

Powder bakes at 450 deg F or atleast the process we use does. The conveyor takes the parts through our bake oven which takes aprox 15 minutes at 450 I've heard 450 to 550 depending on bake time.
You don't want anything attached to the parts being coated or the company doing the coating may charge you to remove them. The part has to be either sand blasted or run through a costic soda base chemical treatment in order to strip any forign material from the base metal before coating. I would ask if it would be safe to powder coat the cases before handing them over. There are different costic soda mixes used for this purpose, the mixture we use will absolutely eat aluminum. Others may also eat the aluminum and sand blasting would certainly damage them depending on the shot used. You may want to look into anedizing (sp?)your covers instead of powder or spray paint. It can be expensive but It holds up better and it looks in my opinion.

I've had good sucess with heat paint durability though. The trick is to heat the part under a heat lamp or the like untill its too hot to touch. Then the paint will bake on and not run so easy as heat paint is very thin. As far as recommendations, I usually stick to the better brands like Crylon, Rustoleum, etc.

sounds like you are shooting for perfection and there is nothing wrong with that. You'll have to post some pics when you get her done.

 

thanks for the poweder coating info, very good to know.
I've got buddies who have had cases powder coated, they sand blast the surface to be coated, and mask everything off that shouldn't be coated. Don't know what they use to mask, but like if you have hubs and stuff like that coated they mask off the bearing pockets and studs, whatever is necesary.

anodizing would be sweet, but very costly. not just the anodizing, but the stripping and polishing before hand too.

I'd really like the clutch and stator covers to be powder coated for the sake of durability, but I may have trouble matching the spray paint for the rest of the motor with the powder coat. the motor came from the factory sprayed, and it has held up well. maybe I'll just spray the whole thing, and not powder coat. then I don't have to replace all the seals.

when you say Crylon, Rustoleum, etc., do they have paint made for higher temps like motors, and the finish is nice and hard and durable like automotive paint? I know the auto parts stores carry various auto paints in small cans, and also some high temp paints for exhaust too. Maybe this is a place to check, they may very well be a brand you mentioned, I have not looked close yet. But what I don't want to use is a regular can of rustoleum from the hardware store for general purpose stuff, its just a little too soft.

 

I'll shoot a picture of mine...

I JUST...and I mean just tonight got it all back together after doing a COMPLETE makeover to my (new) DS. My last one was stolen... and this one I bought from a buddy. Decided to make it like my last one with a few different touches. One of them was to PC the side cases. And I did.

The good thing to it is it looks nice. I did a crinkle black on the grey motor. But I've got many gloss black and crinkle black parts on the DS. So it looks nice and with a little bit of diversity in color and texture.

The bad this is taking it all apart. Removing ALL the seals and bearings. Then, putting it back together. Worst off, if they don't mask all the bearing races...etc. It's a pain, but it looks nice. Painting them (with a nice car paint and clearcoat) would look nicer or be easier I think as you could mask off things like bearings instead of removing them. I had to dremel out my shifter hole, and bearing race ... pain!

Like I said... it takes hours and hours to take it all off and have it done, then to put it all back together. There's a couple big things to know when taking it apart... like one washer on the stator side thats on the rod below the starter gear. And, the small spring pin between the two seals on the water pump shaft. If you don't have a CD with the parts listing... get one. It'll help. It's not fool proof... but it's better than nothing.

... I'll let ya know when I take some pics of it close up and complete (so you get a better idea). For now, here's some;

Here's how far apart it came down;
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...e/IMG_2913.jpg

Just some of the parts coming back from the powdercoater;
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...e/IMG_2919.jpg

And here it is yesterday... almost together;
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...e/IMG_2935.jpg

 

Damn Jonny, I'm doing some very similiar stuff. lots of black wrinkle, and lots of gloss black. but also some gloss red, metallic silver, and staying with yeller plastic and my yeller/red seat cover. I can't wait to start it, seeing other projects in the works makes me anxious to start it all! Nice bike man.

where'd ya get the seat foam?

 

Thanks High...

The seat foam is from CEET in San Marcos, CA. (about 20 min from my house).

I drop the seat off... and it's done in a day or so for $125. Foam and cover installed. And Custom.
I ride Baja Mexico a lot and the distance kills (at times 300 miles) so the seat makes the knee not so bent and the butt more comfy.

...and THANKS... I worked on this thing for a long time.
I'll put some pics up of it tonight. If you look, you'll see I added 'my personal' touch to the a-arms, bumpers...etc. It'll say "JenFab" on them. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]
I fabricate stuff on the side for fun... and I wanted to add some customization to the Bomb. I love that thing.

Your's sounds like it'll be sweet too.... I try and not get too flamboyant with my ride. Also my girlfriend likes it as only a couple colors. I'd still like to PC my brake calibers red however. Someday. Time had run out... here comes desert season!!

 

When I had my tranny in Florida to be Back-cut and Cryo-treated I decided to paint the motor Black to match my frame and seat( I really like black,LOL!)

anyway, it took me several hours to sand all the side cases,cylinder,head,valve cover,block cases. Their is a ALOT of small nooks and cranny's that will kill your fingers. When my fingers would cramp up and get sore, I would just start sanding on larger parts to give them a break. I did not want any flakes and so it was worth the effort. I then assembled the motor back together(without the crank and stuff inside of-corse) and put a couple bolts in each part to hold everything together. I then was able to clean the motor meticulously(sp) and sand some of the places that looked like it need it, then cleaned it again wothout having to worry about water and solvent getting all in the inside. After I was satisfied with the sanding process, I bought some Duplicolor 1000 degree high heat Satin Black w/Ceramic paint.


I took the motor back apart again and painted each part with several coats. I then baked each part for 4 hours @ 400 degrees in the over(it really smells up the house)[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img] the wife was not happy[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img] But she had to sacrifice for the DS aswell, like it or not...

After baking the paint It really does set-up HARD like Ceramic coating on a exhaust pipe. After a year of riding and several gas spills, oil spills etc... The paint still looks great, and holds up just aswell as the stock paint. you can power wash the motor and not have to worry one bit about the pressure flaking the paint.





Bigger.

 

my new pics will be up this week . i just had powdercoat added to my heat sheild, tie rods, spindles, ct shrouds, motor mounts, and footpegs. all silver vein to match the armadillo a-arms that came done in silver vein. just got new black plastic, 04 headlight upgrade and a red alba flame graphics kit to match the already powdercoated red frame and black swingarm. it looks pretty sick.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img] anyway cjg. you cant go wrong with powdercoating.

 

Wow... some nice pics... nice quads!!

I'm not trying to 'thread jack'... but I'll shoot over my "quick pics" as I was in a rush out the door this am. Like I said before... powdercoating looks so nice... esp. when new. I have been clear coating all my powdercoating, and it stands up so much better to abuse. Plus, gives the dull look a nice shine.

Here ya go; (Notice the engine cases - for the thread topic)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...EW/Bomb007.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...EW/Bomb006.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...EW/Bomb005.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...EW/Bomb004.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...EW/Bomb003.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...EW/Bomb002.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...EW/Bomb001.jpg

 

awesome, thanks a million guys!

and no don't worry about thread jacking, this is all the stuff I was wanting, pics really wake a thread up!