Powder coating engine

This winter's project is going to be taking the 2 1/2 engines I have laying on the floor and making one good running (and good looking) power plant.

The one that has the best parts also has a hole blown in the crankcase (the PO did all kinds of bad things trying to make it run)...but you can't compress gasoline very easily so something had to give.

I have a good set of cases and this is a perfect opportunity to either paint or powder coat them when it is little pieces.
It will take a little while but should look better than new.

Anyone powder coated an engine before?
It's an X (water-cooled) so I'm not worried about cooling problems.
It also doesn't seem to get nearly as hot as an air-cooled either. The paint shop asssured me that the clear-coat I bought for the tank could handle the temp of the engine so last spring I put clear coat on the engine that's in the bike now with no problems what so ever.

If the clear-coat could handle the heat, I'm sure powder coating will have no problems.

I also plan on replacing all the bolts with chromed ones when I put it together. (I'm sticking with the gloss black color of original)

It would be nice to add a splash of color to parts of it BUT if I ever wanted to change the color it would be almost impossible so, I'll stick with gloss black and not take the risk. The most daring I might get is polish the cylinder section and then clear powder coat it....
Which leads me to next question: whether the powder coating would stick to polished aluminum very well?

Lots of experimentation to follow

 

probably not stick to the wax in the polish if it has any


just my thought though i really don't know

 

i think the biggest problem with powder coat is keeping it off places you don't want it, like gasket surfaces, bearing surfaces, bolt holes, anywhere oil is going to flow or set

 

I agree Polock.
I think that will be the difficult part.

I'll see what kind of tape they have and do some experimenting before I dive in.

I know that I pretty much only get one shot...which on the flip side is great (until it gets somewhere I don't want it)

 

Desinger_Mike wrote: I know that I pretty much only get one shot...which on the flip side is great (until it gets somewhere I don't want it)


Actually if you have 2 1/2 engines you have at least 2 shots to get it right. One experiment (or 2 if you can practice on 1/2 of a part and reserve the other half for further experimentation) and then you have the final go! What a great opportunity to make something look really unique and special. If you are going to experiment much with powder coating you need to get tight with a powder coater and work a deal where you can experiment a little bit.

 

you have as many shots as you need.

if you missed a spot, put another coat on and cook it again. if you get powder where you dont want it, sand it off.

YOUR BIGGEST PROBLEM........will be outgassing of the aluminum, your best bet would be to get the parts hot and keep them hot throughout the whole process.

also, prepwork is key! wash and bake the parts several times to get 100% of the oil out before you even think about laying powder.

 

You'll probably want to get a fuel-safe powdercoat. I had my fuel rail and intake manifold done a few months ago, and the UV-safe glossy powdercoat the local shop had was not fuel-safe. They soaked the pieces in some stripper for a while to clean them off, then re-did them with epoxy paint (which won't take anywhere near the heat of PC, but takes enough heat for those parts and is fuel-safe).

 

Mike! Listen to Zookie! He sounds like knows of what he speaks!

Still thinking Charcoal Gray powder coated frame with deeeeep blue tank/sidecover paint for my 650.

Loren

 

Good tips Zookie.
I figured a little on gasket surfaces would be easy enough to remove.
It would be hard to sand a lot of the engine crevices though.

Damn...never figured the residual oil might be a big problem.
I figured I'd clean the parts and then strip and sand blast.
There are a lot of spots for oil to hide though and I don't think Aluminum would appreciate a dip in the acid tank.

Sounds like I need to do a bit more research about "fuel safe" PC....That would just piss me off if I had it perfect and a little splash of gas melts the stuff off!

I have lots of parts to experiment with tho!

 

Don't know about all of them, but for mine, the non-fuel-safe was nowhere near as sensitive as paint. It didn't "wash" off, but it did soften and lose its gloss.

 

non of our race quads have fuel safe powder, but the gloss doesnt last long on a MX quad so i wouldnt know if the gas spilled on it is doing anything. it certainly doesnt strip it off, and holds up to brake clean (chlorinated and non) and holds up to all the other abuses a race machine sees.

 

Go to http://www.eastwood.com/ , order a catalog. They have all the hot powder coating equipment and info, along with a bevy of other restoration products.

 

I would totally check out these guys for your coatings:

http://www.nicindustries.com/index.php

I have used their Cerakote products for firearms coatings for D9 Firearms (www.d9firearms.com)(An example : http://www.d9firearms.com/?p=310 ). They are amazing. If you pull the specs and compare to powder, they meet and exceed in almost all aspects. However, I have talked with guys that use their powders and they are all SUPER satisfied.

The site says these products are not available to the public, but that is a hoax, I call them and purchase them right over the phone w/ my Visa all the time. Be warned though, they are pricey, but worth it. A 125mL bottle of H series Cerakote is like, 80 or 90 bucks last time I bought some. Their High Heat application coatings are rated to 1200F. And their Super Slick is amazing. I know some guys that use it to coat INTERNAL engine parts. We used it on firearms internals so that a gun can be used underwater or run dry without oil. Anyway, give them a look, they are definitely masters of their craft.

As for surface prep, there is an ASME (WRONG: It was ASTM D 2200:Standard Practice for Use of Pictorial Surface Preparation Standards and Guides for Painting Steel Surfaces (AND ASTM D 609: Standard Practice for Preparation of Cold-Rolled Steel Panels for Testing Paint, Varnish, Conversion Coatings, and Related Coating Products)) standard for this. I am trying find my PDF copy for it, but I followed it before coating any of my heat cured applications. It boils down to this: (approximately)

1. Clean surface
2. Some sort of abrasive cleaning, sanding but I prefer sand blasting as it will give you a better substrate bond.
3. A 100% mineral spirits bath while scrubbing with a clean brush (I used new toothbrushes for guns, but upscale for an engine)
4. Air dry
5. Bake for 2-3 hours to off gas any remaining surface oils
6. Inspect and repeat for any areas you notice are not uniformly clean
7. Cool to the appropriate coating temperature (I usually like to this "warm" as I am going to be baking it at 400 degrees anyway)

Anyway, that is how I go about these things, not sure if it helps, but that is my two cents.

 

i forget the rules, but for hi-temp powder you can only use certain types of blasting media. others chemically react and peel the powder off. there is more info on this on the web...

 

Glass is usually a safe bet. I use sand for SS barrels, but that is not a high temp application.

 

I know this is an old thread but I am looking for a high heat internal engine paint. I glass beaded my engine and it was suggested to me to coat the inside of the engine with a high heat internal epoxy engine paint. Does anybody know what I am talking about?

 

Oh dear...beadblasting the internals of the engine is major BAD idea. The beads will get into the the oil passages and will be almost impossible to get out. Any grit will end up in the bearings, crank etc . The cleaning of the internal portion of the engine vapor cleaning is best option . This just my opinion

 

why would you paint inside the motor? waste of money.

 

Glyptal 1201, though it might not quite be heat tolerant enough for an aircooled inline 4. I've only used it to seal cast iron gearboxes.

At this point you have to paint it with that, however you will not be able to coat the insides of the oil passages, or any surfaces where the bearings contact, or the mating surfaces. You have to be sure that you don't add any thickness to any surface that has a tolerance assigned to it.

Next time use a different media. Glass beads are horrible on aluminum.
Hopefully the casting is oil-free enough to allow the Gylptal to adhere and not flake off.

IMO you should be shopping for replacement cases, or a whole engine.

 

I coated the mating surfaces with silicone I removed all bearings from the cases and coated where the inserts go with silicone. I used some walnut shell on the inside of the cases and glass on the out side because I had tried the walnut on the outside and it just wasn't cleaning it up very well. I did some reading on it before and everybody has a different opinion on what to use but I read glass was ok somewhere. So since I am on a pretty tight budget I'm hoping I can resolve this without spending hundreds of dollars. Thank you for your response and suggestions.