cylinder head paint or not

[goudreignet]

i'am restoring a '80
and the former owner had the engine painted black
i wish to restore in its original color, zilver
but i wonder are the cylinder head end barrles painted or just bare aluminium?

thanks
fred.nl

[NobleHops]

Fred,

Whatever you do, don't use hard media to blast that engine to prep for paint. You are in the Netherlands - Is there anyone that does vapour blasting that you can find? That would be a great way to prep that engine for paint. If not that then baking soda blasting.

There is an excellent thread by SanDogDewey on painting engines here:

viewtopic.php?f=27&t=6690

viewtopic.php?f=27&t=6691

I do not know if the valve cover was painted from the factory, I believe it was though. Most folks seem to do one of four things: Polish it (lots of tricky work), ceramic coat it, powdercoat it, or paint it. Mine was powdercoated silver a few years back and still looks excellent, and is durable.



Good luck and please post photos of your project!

N.

[Jeff Bennetts]

If you leave the plugs in and plug the intake, exhaust ports and mask off the alt after removing it plastic media blasting will work great without worry, even if a small amount were to enter the motor it will not affect the bearings.

http://www.tptools.com/p/358,183_Skat-P ... asive.html

Here's the soda blasting media Nils refers to which works and is safe also.

http://www.tptools.com/p/2899,18_Soda-M ... Media.html

[goudreignet]

thanks for pointing me out to this topic, it is a good guide

fred.nl