My wife has an 07 883L in Vivid Black. The only thing we do not like about it is the rear fender and the engine color. The fender will be easily fixed when I find one from a nightster or get some body work done on the stock one.

Is there an effective and inexpensive way to paint or powder coat the stock silver motor black?

If they would have had the IRON out in 07 I would have diffiantly got her that instead and lowered it. But she will not trade it in on a new Fat Bob with the deal they have going on so I was just going to start fixing hers up.

I have heard of people just masking everything off and spraying with high heat black but if this ever started to peel it would look worse than the silver. I know you would have to prep it good but there is some oil around the spark plugs now that I can not get off. Other than taking the whole motor out and getting it powder coated is there any other way.

If you have done this with success please explain how, cost and pictures.

Thanks

 

Painting or coating the motor would be a bad idea. The silver coating thats on there now has additional stuff in it to aid in motor cooling. If you just paint or powder coat over it, you are adding another layer that will take away from heat dissipation. I would think you would have to strip the motor of its original coating, then recoat....more work and money than its worth.

 

Well... there isn't anything special about the powder coat HD uses except the silver color. That was created just for them. Otherwise it's a polyester based powder coat just like any other used on motorcycle or car parts. The point about adding another coat over the existing factory finish is valid. The more you insulate the engine, the hotter it'll run, even if only by a little.

 

No brainer dude...tear down & powdercoat...if you're confident with a wrench!

 

Bump!!!!

 

First you must look at cost...and is it worth it............. . . . . . .If you can do all of your own work...Then you could have it done for around 5-6 hundred bucks......depending on your market...........If you cant do your own work......then you should consider buying another bike if it is that important............ . .You can make a silver motor look good.ya' know.............. . . .. . . . Here's a pic of my two sporty's.....one black motor...one silver............ . . .I like'em both...............

 

You know I almost think it would be less trouble to buy a new bike then pull a motor, tear it down, have it blasted and coated then re-install. Of course I'm just trying to make some humor of it but there is some truth to it when you consider how much stuff has to be disconnected and the fact that the easiest way to pull a sporty motor and put it back is with the frame laying on its side (can't do that without stripping everything else).

 

There is no problem repainting the engine, the only secret is to get it clean and there is a crap load of taping to do.
Use a good cleaning product like S100 to clean the engine first then let it dry completely, the next step is use the right paint, I use a produce called Thurmalox Stove Paint it lasts about 10 times longer than any crap engine or header paint, you can only buy it on the internet, it cost quite a bit compared to engine paint but you only need 2 cans at most.
I did the top end on my bike 3 years ago including the chrome exhaust system and I have had no problems of any kind.
The beauty part of using a product like this is if you do have any problems with chipping or peeling you just sand the spot, tape it off and give it a fresh shot of paint.
Just so you know black engines disipates heat faster than any other color, NASCAR disovered this back in the 70's.

 

I was just looking at sportys and wanted the black motor also. I just bought a 06 883R which has the black motor and black fork sliders. It won't take much to powder the rest of the chrome and then it would basically look like a 883 Iron. It even has the same wheels and rear pully, minus the completely blacked out look.

Trade for a used 883R, going pretty cheap with all the sportster trade-ins happening

 

Just add powder