Painting an XJ750 engine

Has anybody painted these engines before? If so is there any advice you can give to make the process easier? Will I run into any issues with overheating? Any advice would be appreciated, thanks

 

Use a high temp paint. I believe Duplacolor makes one that withstands temps up to 1800 degrees. Comes in a few different colors. I painted mine mostly flat black and then polished some of the engine as an accent.

Good luck!
Rob

 

I used flat black BBQ paint on my engine just using a small 1/2" paint brush to apply it. I did it three years ago and it worked out very well. I tried to sand as much of the pieces I painted (hard to get to in some areas) It layed down quite well and left no brush strokes at all. And I didn't need to tape off anything like you do with spray paint.

 

i have painted lots of motorcycle engines as long as its clean. i use good quality engine enamel 500 degree never had a problem not even around the exhaust. i have allways cured it by starting it up letting it warm up a few min then let it cool off doing it a few times. as with all paint it will get tacky so dont just go ride it dust will stick. here is a pic before and after of 1 of my bikes about 15 years ago (sorry about the quality scanned pics)

 

Fabulous pictures. I see perfectly clear what you mean.
Thanks for saving my day, that was really fun.

 

So this is what I thinking of doing just for now so I didnt have to loose the bike for a week while I removed the engine. DO these covers just come off without much hassle other than losing some oil because I was going to change the oil this week anyways and figured it would be easier to remove them then. any input would be great, thanks.

 

Yeah i plan to paint my casing flat black on my 80 XJ650, but polish all the sides and valve cover, and maybe even the float bowls. But the jug will be left plain or painted aluminum color. :idea:

 

Yes, those covers come off with some effort and you will not lose all your oil (maybe a drop or two on the left side) so you should be alright. I removed mine to polish them with my buffer and they turned out like chrome!!

 

Hey PainterD what about the rest of the covers? ie tranny, oil drum how easy are the to come off without messing something up other than draining oil?

 

I've had all mine off, you'll have no problem on the right side once the oil is drained, the other is a the generator cover. go for it, nothing complicated at all 8)

 

Another idea that really looks good, is to polish the outside lip of the fins (with buffer/polishing compound, then paint the fins flat black. Before the paint starts to dry, carefully wipe off the outside edge of the fins (where you polished them)
It gives them a nice custom look and give the engine a custom look.

 

I definitely would do something like like but the PO dropped the bike so a lot of those fins are already looking a little rough so dont want to call attention to them lol, thanks for the suggestions though

 

go nuts man, just use a good quality paint and make sure its all cleaned down before you start. Personally i would do the head/barrel black and file back the edges to make it look nice, and polish all of ur covers up. When i pull mine apart again, im going to paint the whole top-end black, not just the head as i have done last time. Few pics attached for inspiration

 

Ooh, shiny! I'm going the lazy route... painting the whole thingy flat crinkley black, and picking up some polished hex-head cap screws for everything.

 

Yo PainterD I see you have one of the Harley seats on your bike, looks cool. Thinkin about do'in the same as you, with the quickbob fender and Harley seat. Any idea if most of the seat pans on the Harley seats are made close enough to work on the XJ frame?

What i've got in mind is one that drops down around the sides to blend in with my side covers.

 

Yo Streetmaster,
The Sportster seat fits perfect on the XJs. There is a slot (about 2" wide) on the front bottom of the seat that I used to hold it down on the front. I used a 2" scrap of aluminum bolted to the rear gas tank mount to shove it onto, then used one 1/4" bolt to hold it down to the fender in the rear. The seat sits on the frame rails like it was made for it. Looks good and is quite comfortable with my forward controls.

 

Yeah i wish i had the chance to try any seat on my bike to see which one i liked the most, but $200 to $300 a pop for a seat, and so many on the market i want to get it right the first time. Yeah i just dont want that big gap between the seat and the side covers, i want a seat that blends in with them. I suppose a seat off of a Fatboy might fit my XJ as well as a Sporster seat would :?:

 

Sportster seats are fairly cheap on Ebay or Craiglist. I paid $25 for mine.
Here's what it looks like on mine:

 

Yeah i decided to start hacken away at the double bucket seat that came on the bike, because what the heck, how bad could it get? Turns out the seat became a nice looking solo seat that looks like it belongs on the bike, just have to get it recovered now.