Painting engine?
Cruiser
Joined: Apr 2012
Posts: 150
Likes: 2
From: Kansas
I just got done doing this myself, and am pretty happy with the results. Mine is a 2002 FXST. I got tired of the silver engine
1. taped/covered everything I did not want painted
2. dry wiped anything that was loose (i.e. oil gunk)
3. sprayed gunk max strength degreaser and let it soak for about 15 minutes or so
4. wiped it down, then used a scouring pad on everything to be painted
5. used 320 grit sandpaper (dry) on everything to be painted
6. used a tsp (degreaser) and hot water solution to re-degrease
7. two light coats of primer, one medium coat (10 minutes in between) - set overnight
8. two light coats of paint, one medium coat (10 minutes in between) - set 30 minutes
9. three very light coats of clear coat (10 minutes in between) - set overnight
10. lightly wetsanded (2000 grit) then gave it another light coat of clear coat
I'm also painting the inner/outer primary covers, cam cover, and the side/top transmission covers. Same process for everything
I used the engine enamel line from VHT. I went with gloss black because I wanted all of my blacks to match and I only see the flat or wrinkled black on other people's bikes
This is the only decent picture I have right now. My phone's camera isn't very strong
ETA - I went back and painted the rest of the bolts black and plan on putting chrome caps on top of them. I decided it would look better than way rather than having a chrome cap, silver washer, and black engine behind it
1. taped/covered everything I did not want painted
2. dry wiped anything that was loose (i.e. oil gunk)
3. sprayed gunk max strength degreaser and let it soak for about 15 minutes or so
4. wiped it down, then used a scouring pad on everything to be painted
5. used 320 grit sandpaper (dry) on everything to be painted
6. used a tsp (degreaser) and hot water solution to re-degrease
7. two light coats of primer, one medium coat (10 minutes in between) - set overnight
8. two light coats of paint, one medium coat (10 minutes in between) - set 30 minutes
9. three very light coats of clear coat (10 minutes in between) - set overnight
10. lightly wetsanded (2000 grit) then gave it another light coat of clear coat
I'm also painting the inner/outer primary covers, cam cover, and the side/top transmission covers. Same process for everything
I used the engine enamel line from VHT. I went with gloss black because I wanted all of my blacks to match and I only see the flat or wrinkled black on other people's bikes
This is the only decent picture I have right now. My phone's camera isn't very strong
ETA - I went back and painted the rest of the bolts black and plan on putting chrome caps on top of them. I decided it would look better than way rather than having a chrome cap, silver washer, and black engine behind it
Last edited by Strahley; Jun 6, 2014 at 12:27 PM.
Outstanding HDF Member
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 2,555
Likes: 3
From: Clarksburg, PA
We did my brother's silver Superglide...removed motor and tranny from frame since we were doing bore and cams anyway.
We used a semi-flat black...looks good.
He has several rides on it and it still smells...to others who have painted your engines, how long does that "curing" smell last?!
We used a semi-flat black...looks good.
He has several rides on it and it still smells...to others who have painted your engines, how long does that "curing" smell last?!
Cruiser
Joined: Apr 2012
Posts: 150
Likes: 2
From: Kansas
Nice work Mascman. My curing smell hasn't been lasting very long at all. I've been leaving my side garage door open at night with a fan blowing out, so it moves the fumes out fast. I shot a few coats of primer and paint last night and I expect the smell to be gone by this evening
6th Gear
Joined: Jun 2014
Posts: 13
Likes: 0
From: Oregon
I have never done it on a motorcycle engine, but when we would paint V8s we would heat the block up with a torch and paint it while it was hot. The theory is that the paint will set up when its hot and stretched out, when it cools down the paint shrinks. This way when the engine is running and heats up again, the paint has plenty of room to stretch without cracking. We did the same thing with headers, but we would put them in his wife's oven. My bosses '31 Roadster had a 350 we painted gloss black with a clear coat. Last time I saw it it had over 30k miles with no cracks in the paint.
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