Best way to clean and paint a Furry engine???

[Stormforce8]

I'm stripping my 3AJ Tenere back to basics so that I can get the frame and various other parts powdercoated.

I'm going to drop the engine out of the frame, and plan to give a it a coat of black paint.

As you can see by the photo, it's really furred up after standing outside for the last few months.



What's the general consensus on the best way of cleaning and prepping this for paint? (wire wheel to get inside the fins????)

Also - after it's cleaned what do you guys recommend to paint it with (preferably black).?

I don't want to split the engine, just leave it all in one piece, so that I can bolt it straight back in.

As always, all comments, jokes, random musings, etc - greatly welcome

[SteveWilko]

I did the same to an engine of mine some some years ago and had it aluminium oxide coated.... the process used blasted the crap out and coated with aluminium oxide.... looked like new when finished...
you need to find somebody that works in a die casting foundry preferably aluminium...

[Tarka]

You can use a variety of wire brush wheels in an electric drill.

It won`t get ALL the cack off though....certainly not in the fin area.

Nor will any kind of stripping potion.


It kinda depends how good a finish you want afterwards really.


For ok...from most vantage points....use either or both of the above .


For a perfect finish you`ll need to get the engine blasted....but how good will your painting be anyway?

There`s a place in the Classic mags who specialise in working on complete engines and restoring them to 'fresh from the crate' condition.

[SteveWilko]

Used for the surface preparation of non-ferrous substrates to provide a clean profiled surface for coating application. Suitable for the preparation of thin gauge ferrous and non-ferrous substrates used at low pressure to avoid distortion. This media is often used to provide an aesthetic finish for architectural purposes and when coated with clear lacquer its gives an appearance similar to a metallic paint finish.

Try a company like these: http://www.bmspc.co.uk

[Dilbert]

Wire brush, brass wire if possible, by hand and then PJ1 fast black engine paint (other colours are available).



for a tip top, looks like new, bead blast or very light sand blast/ water jet blast and clear engine laquer (or Oxbones suspiciously expensive sounding version).

[Stormforce8]

Wire brush, brass wire if possible, by hand and then PJ1 fast black engine paint (other colours are available).

Now that sounds like just what one man is capable of doing in his shed.......

Love the idea of Ally Oxide, but don't want to strip the engine and send it away.......just want to spend a couple of weekends getting it looking better for the powdercoated frame.

Cheers for all the tips & info though guys.......PJ1 and brass wire drill bits it is then

[Jenna]

only true way to get it back to new is shot blast it, we shot blast all our rebuild components (ally and steel), these days you should be able to find a small fabrication workshop with a blaster or try one of the engine re conditioners for a blast cabinet.

once its clean it needs to be sprayed with an etch primer as the heat will just burn off most paints.

[Dilbert]

only true way to get it back to new is shot blast it, we shot blast all our rebuild components (ally and steel), these days you should be able to find a small fabrication workshop with a blaster or try one of the engine re conditioners for a blast cabinet.

once its clean it needs to be sprayed with an etch primer as the heat will just burn off most paints.

Yikes, Jenna, I hope you're using lead shot not steel?????

Steel shot will remove the aluminium right down to the liners if you're not careful and leave rust deposits on something that isn't supposed to rust

Best still is bead blasting (glass beads), works exactly the same, but much more gentle, also "heals" minor surface imperfections.

Most powdercoaters use one sort of shotblasting or another as a preparation, so you could take it to them for cleaning (complete intact engine), I just gave mine a gunking over and a good blast down with a pressure hose cleaner (the fins were nowhere near as furry though), you can get stuff to put in these to clean drives and the like, that would probably give a resonable clean and etch?

[Jenna]

we use rolled kiln dried sand on everything, it wont touch the ally only the crud on the surface.

[Rubberchicken]

Speaking of furry bikes...

http://furrybikes.com/