Is it necessary to paint motor?

5027 Views 35 Replies 13 Participants Last post by Doward, Aug 11, 2010

GoBears0305

Discussion Starter · Aug 4, 2010

In the process of prepping the motor to repaint it, I think I stripped almost all the old coating (with the help of paint stripper and the dremel). But now I really like the motor in it's stripped state and don't want to paint it. It has a nice "patina" to it actually

Is it really necessary to actually paint the motor? If I leave it unpainted, would it be enough to spray it down every so often with some kind of lubricant (like WD40)? Thanks.

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Sidecar Bob

· #8 · Aug 5, 2010

I painted the motor in my GL500 with PlastiKote Universal Gray. The guy who bought the 500 from me installed it in his bike left it gray. It looked really nice in the pics he sent me. The engine in my GoldWing is Pontiac engine Blue.

If you want the engine to be black (or gray or any colour they make) clean the engine really well, wash it with detergent and hot water, let it dry overnight, wipe it done with lacquer thinner and paint it. As soon as the first coat is dry (maybe 5-10 minutes) give it a second coat. Let it dry at least overnight before touching it.

I have found that the only part of the engine that the paint comes off of is the front where the wheel sandblasts it, and even the factory finish tends to be thin there. A quick spray (with the engine in the frame) and its ready for the next season.

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Sidecar Bob

· #16 · Aug 7, 2010

Shep said:
I painted a CX engine Satin Black and it looked great,better than matt black.

Yeah. I have always wondered why anyone would paint something that's so easy to get dirty and so hard to clean with matte black paint. The flat finish tends to give the dirt more to hold on to so it will be even harder to keep clean. I painted my winter machine's engine with gloss black and most of the dirt washes off pretty easily until it gets baked on for months because I won't wash it when its below freezing out, but it comes clean fairly easily when I get the brush and the hot soapy water out

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Sidecar Bob

· #20 · Aug 8, 2010

Yeah, but the difference is minimal and clean gloss will probably dissipate heat better than matte with a layer of mud... (those "micro level mountains and valleys" also give the dirt more surface to stick to)

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Sidecar Bob

· #23 · Aug 8, 2010

The black dirt bike engines I have seen are usually satin (semi-gloss) or gloss. At any rate, the bikes we deal with on this forum are all liquid cooled so the colour doesn't matter much for heat dissipation.

I have, on occasion, (usually when I'm washing it in the spring after baking dirt on all winter) contemplated painting the engine of my winter machine with PlastiKote Engine Enamel #233 Cummins Beige so the dirt will show less

http://www.plastikote.com/products/Specialty/Engine-Enamel.html

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Sidecar Bob

· #24 · Aug 8, 2010

Its way too easy to double post on this forum

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Sidecar Bob

· #29 · Aug 9, 2010

the last baron said:
oooh a beige engine would be nice. do they also do cacky brown ?

No, the Cummins paint is the only colour that would hide the dirt. You know that's why most motorhomes are beige, don't you?

i just accidentally gave you a brownie point for this post, meant to hit multireply and missed... clicked on the + button and the negative button then disapears so it's undoable, unlike the paintjob

The point showed up so I tried doing what you did on one of your posts and it went negative and didn't give me the option of changing my mind so I gave a couple of your other posts positive points

(as if they really mean anything to a bunch of gearheads like us).

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