Being that I'm mostly a lurker and a noob, I'm not sure if this is in the right section or not. I want to paint the engine and fork lowers on my 04 883. The grey in the engine is killing me and the clear on the forks is starting to peel.

I plan on using the Harley textured paint for the engine but want to know if it's a safe move to put the paint on the forks after a sand? I assume the paint is going to need to cure, is a heat gun ok to use ok the forks while still intact (my tools are limited right now some I'm keeping everything on I can and masking off)

Along with this, I'd like to paint the polished aluminum on the engine too (I think it's the primary cover on one side correct me if I'm wrong). Would I need to put a primer on that to get the best results?

Anyone have any experience in this? Help would be great. Thanks guys

 

You should be able to mask off and paint the fork lowers just like normal.

For the primary cover, I would scuff it up with some sand paper (don't gouge it though, scuff) then shoot it flat black as a primer, then shoot it whatever color you want. Don't wait for the primer to get super dry either. Wait like 5 -10 minutes to where it's still tacky and then shoot your top coat so it has something to stick to.

 

Sweet, that's kind of what I planned on. So if I used the same paint on the engine and forks it should match up or would I need to do a heat curing on the forks? Thank you btw

 

You could do the heat gun thing that you mentioned if the paint needs curing. It should tell you or you can look it up. Just hit it enough until it crinkles...I'm pretty sure that's the paint you're referring to.

 

You the man Maverick

 

I just sanded my forks and painted with black hammer coat paint. I kind of looks like cast iron when dry, not super black. Like a new cast iron frypan.

John

 

I painted the heads and barrels on my wife's bike while it was apart and I used the the HD Wrinkle Black with great results. The key is making sure the parts you are painting are clean. I used a light acid bath for paint prep. Then the other secret is heating the parts before you paint them. You can use a heat gun or a heat producing lamp. That way the paint "migrates" better. I've used this method on rifle barrels and other parts too! People ask me how I did that to my rifle and are amazed when I tell them it's Harley engine paint!