cylinder head guards

[tomsp]

as per ala Al -- I bought the Harper's cylinder head guards, sanded them with 600 wet/dry and coated with metalcast paint. Not so sure about the quality/durability of the paint job. Looks like it'll peel/chip to me, but who knows. Just how do you prep aluminum for painting? A "paint" guy told me to just sand and shoot -- ya think? (ok, so I can't stick my pic in here! I re-sized it down but for some reason it isn't cooperating with me! Try tomorrow!

 

I know, the quality pic matches the paint job!

[antonio carroccio]

Which colour have you painted it?

[MickM]

A "paint" guy told me to just sand and shoot -- ya think? 

41964[/snapback]

The only proper way to paint aluminium is to etch prime it first, then undercoat, then colour coat. Even then, for guarranteed success, you still need to sand or blast it and etch prime immediately. Aluminium oxidises very quickly when exposed to air and, like in alloy welding, it's the oxidation which is your enemy. There are some one-hit materials around nowadays which incorporate an etching base but these are, generally, satin or flat finishes usually only available in black or grey and which are designed as industrial coatings. Then there are the fairly new two-pack seal coats which are designed for one-hit application over polished alloy so that, in theory, you never have to buy Autosol again. I haven't used it myself, but you'd hope it's come a long way since the #*$@ they used to put on Japanese engine covers.

[tomsp]

color? as my pic is still not up! the color kind of matches the "porkchop" - which is....red. Like my decriptive use of color terms! I found a metalcast paint that fairly closely matches what I wanted, if I could be satisfied with how it adheres... which I'm not.

 

//corporate.ppg.com/ppg/refinish/matthews/documents/aluminum.pdf

 

is a link I just found with steps much like MikeM suggested (thanks too!).

[jrt]

Seems like cylinder head guards are a perfect candidate for anodization.

Just a thought.

J

[gallo_se]

has anybody tried the cylinder headguards with the teflon rubber?

[gallo_se]

On this web site you can find a lot of different cylinder headguards in different shapes and colors, and other racing accessories.

 

http://www.rossopuroitalia.it/v11.htm

[GuzziHutch]

For cylinder head guards and other speciality Guzzi parts check out Joe Kenny at: http://www.swva.net/jkenny/

 

Joe

[BrianG]

The only proper way to paint aluminium is to etch prime it first, then undercoat, then colour coat. Even then, for guarranteed success, you still need to sand or blast it and etch prime immediately.

41971[/snapback]

 

A decent (and much easier) way to prep aluminum is to sand/etch the metal then prime with zinc-chromate primer. It works very well and is readily available.

[stormsedge]

Gallo, I have the Rossopuro teflon sliders. They are a really well made piece. k