[HAT Rider]

The paint on my engine is peeling. Any advice for a half decent repair? I am not at the point of taking the casings off so looking to make the best of a bad job. Would like to keep the colour very close if possible. Any advice welcome.

 

[steinberg]

You could always take the lazy option and stick on some Rugged Roads case guards until such time as you take off the cases to strip & repaint, albeit they won't hide the pitting around the outer edges of the cases.

 

[HAT Rider]

Thanks for your suggestion. I was thinking more about spraying when still on the bike. Do you have any advice about prep, primer/undercoat and top coat/colour? It may be that I will take the plunge and take them off to make a better job of it but need to investigate what's involved.

 

[Wicky]

Here's a guy prepping and painting his corroded covers on a Beemer

R1200GS Front Engine Cover Corrosion

R1200GS Front Engine Cover Corrosion See HERE for some photographs of more areas to keep an eye on for corrosion. It seems that BMW R1200GS motorcycles suffer some quality issues with the finish of BMW motorcycles in general not being up to the standards of old. Have a look at this recent thread...

motorcycleinfo.co.uk

Recommend this as a good lacquer

ProXL ProSatin- Satin Lacquer Aerosol

A high performance 1K Satin lacquer giving a crystal satin finish. It can be applied over solvent based basecoats and is ideal for smart repairs.

www.pro-xl.co.uk

 

[HAT Rider]

Here's a guy prepping and painting his corroded covers on a Beemer

R1200GS Front Engine Cover Corrosion

R1200GS Front Engine Cover Corrosion See HERE for some photographs of more areas to keep an eye on for corrosion. It seems that BMW R1200GS motorcycles suffer some quality issues with the finish of BMW motorcycles in general not being up to the standards of old. Have a look at this recent thread...

motorcycleinfo.co.uk

Recommend this as a good lacquer

ProXL ProSatin- Satin Lacquer Aerosol

A high performance 1K Satin lacquer giving a crystal satin finish. It can be applied over solvent based basecoats and is ideal for smart repairs.

www.pro-xl.co.uk

Thanks Wicky, that's exactly what I had in mind! I didn't think about removing the bolts and leaving the casing in place. This looks the best way for me. I will have a proper read through.
Any advice on paint colour rather than just a basic Silver?

 

[Wicky]

Looking at the pic yours is bubbling with oxidisation corrosion under the paint - unless you prep it properly it'll continue corroding whatever you put over it. Best take it off to address the problem. If doing a rough touch up wouldn't worry about a precise match up.

To get the best match clean up an area as best you can and take the bike to a local vehicle paint factors where they'll have colour swatches to compare and mix up a spray can.

Luckily I live 5 minutes away from this handy trade shop.

https://www.gramic-supplies.co.uk

 

[HAT Rider]

Looking at the pic yours is bubbling with oxidisation corrosion under the paint - unless you prep it properly it'll continue corroding whatever you put over it. Best take it off to address the problem. If doing a rough touch up wouldn't worry about a precise match up.

To get the best match clean up an area as best you can and take the bike to a local vehicle paint factors where they'll have colour swatches to compare and mix up a spray can.

Luckily I live 5 minutes away from this handy trade shop.

https://www.gramic-supplies.co.uk

Thanks again Wicky. Yes I will remove all the paint when I do this job but not sure why it has got so bad. Also, thanks for the link, I live in North Suffolk and often travel to Essex so I might be able to use them if I can't find anyone closer. Also noticed on the BMW refurb that he leaves some bolts in.

 

[Wicky]

Thanks again Wicky. Yes I will remove all the paint when I do this job but not sure why it has got so bad. Also, thanks for the link, I live in North Suffolk and often travel to Essex so I might be able to use them if I can't find anyone closer. Also noticed on the BMW refurb that he leaves some bolts in.

Try

Granville Supplies | Automotive, Commercial & Industrial Paint

Granville Supplies is one of the regions leading suppliers of paint to the automotive repair and commercial vehicle industries.

www.granvillesupplies.co.uk

Norwich / Kings Lynn

https://kettautopaints.co.uk

Wisbech / Peterborough / Norwich

I can see bubbling at the back of the cover behind the exhaust which will be hard to access to prepare and paint without some dismantling.

 

[HAT Rider]

Try

Granville Supplies | Automotive, Commercial & Industrial Paint

Granville Supplies is one of the regions leading suppliers of paint to the automotive repair and commercial vehicle industries.

www.granvillesupplies.co.uk

Norwich / Kings Lynn

https://kettautopaints.co.uk

Wisbech / Peterborough / Norwich

I can see bubbling at the back of the cover behind the exhaust which will be hard to access to prepare and paint without some dismantling.

Cheers Wicky, I will give it a try when we have some warmer weather (for painting) and yes the exhaust will have to come off so hope the header nuts are not seized! Kett Auto Paints are not far from me so will give them a try if I decide for a perfect match. I appreciate the advice.

 

[steinberg]

I'll be interested to hear how it goes refurbing your cases in-situ - my '98 AT has a bit of deterioration on the clutch cover so prepping & spraying without removing the cover could be appealing. I think I'd probably keep all the bolts in place to avoid any risk of oil seepage, which i suspect could remain a risk even keeping some in place.

 

[HAT Rider]

I will let you know as and when I do it. My next priority is water loss in the coolant system, which I think is a head gasket! Getting the coolant checked for carbon monoxide tomorrow so we will see. If it is then I will probably have to take the exhausts off anyway to see which one 'smokes' more so a good time to do it maybe.
I agree about keeping all or some of the bolts in place and I will be concerned about oil seepage although with the bike on the side stand it might help.

 

[steinberg]

Interesting re. coolant loss.... we had an issue a while back, when we were in southern Chile. There were droplets of water beading on the sidecar subframe adjacent to the gear lever, and checking the coolant reservoir showed it to be nearly empty. There was also some staining to the rear face of the front cylinder block, directly under the head gasket, to the left of the coolant bridge which connects the front and rear blocks. I suspected a faulty head gasket, but to check this would have been an issue as replacing the front head gasket is an engine-out job, not that we had a spare gasket to hand!
Luckily, we'd packed a bottle of Holts Radweld Plus so added this to the coolant in the hope it would get us to the nearest big town. However, the Radweld worked brilliantly..... no more loss of coolant at all, so we pressed on and finished our trip without further hassle. The Radweld is still in use, 15k miles and 3 yrs later, still with no coolant loss at all. Having spoken to various folks in the biking world, opinions are split on whether to leave things as they are or check out the head gasket. I feel slightly lazy leaving things as they are, and will probably wait until the coolant needs renewing before making a decision on whether to check out the gasket.

 

[HAT Rider]

Interesting re. coolant loss.... we had an issue a while back, when we were in southern Chile. There were droplets of water beading on the sidecar subframe adjacent to the gear lever, and checking the coolant reservoir showed it to be nearly empty. There was also some staining to the rear face of the front cylinder block, directly under the head gasket, to the left of the coolant bridge which connects the front and rear blocks. I suspected a faulty head gasket, but to check this would have been an issue as replacing the front head gasket is an engine-out job, not that we had a spare gasket to hand!
Luckily, we'd packed a bottle of Holts Radweld Plus so added this to the coolant in the hope it would get us to the nearest big town. However, the Radweld worked brilliantly..... no more loss of coolant at all, so we pressed on and finished our trip without further hassle. The Radweld is still in use, 15k miles and 3 yrs later, still with no coolant loss at all. Having spoken to various folks in the biking world, opinions are split on whether to leave things as they are or check out the head gasket. I feel slightly lazy leaving things as they are, and will probably wait until the coolant needs renewing before making a decision on whether to check out the gasket.

That was a result with the Radweld, it would have been very awkward to sort a good repair in Chile! Difficult decision but to be honest if your AT is not getting hot (radiator is working well) and you are not loosing any coolant then I would leave well alone.
I had the coolant on my AT checked this week for carbon monoxide and all seems ok but they tested the expansion bottle that I had only recently filled up so I am not 100% sure. Anyway, I had already checked the water pump and now have replaced the radiator cap, flushed the system and re-filled with new coolant so I will be watching the level carefully. I was/am concerned that my leak was into a cylinder bore.
Next job is to sort the Tripmaster, which has been working intermittently for a while, making tank ranges awkward. I am thinking of sending to Joerg in Switzerland for a refurb along with the speedo signal unit. My main concern is what if it gets lost!
The engine casing will have to wait a little while.

 

[Hoppicker]

I can recommend Joerg. He did a great job on my Tripmaster, for a resonable price considering too. Quick turnround as well.

 

[HAT Rider]

I can recommend Joerg. He did a great job on my Tripmaster, for a resonable price considering too. Quick turnround as well.

Thanks Hoppicker, its good to know you had a good experience. I will be sending mine + the speedo sensor over next week

 

[catfordjohn]

Just a thought.
If you are concerned about oil seepage you could drain the oil and remove the filter and bolts a week or two in advance of beginning the prep work.
The engine will be fairly dry by the time you come to start the job and you could pop the new oil filter on and a few bolts before any sanding takes place to avoid dust ingress to the motor.
Maybe cover up the air filter before setting to with the sandpaper.
Good luck.

 

[HAT Rider]

Just a thought.
If you are concerned about oil seepage you could drain the oil and remove the filter and bolts a week or two in advance of beginning the prep work.
The engine will be fairly dry by the time you come to start the job and you could pop the new oil filter on and a few bolts before any sanding takes place to avoid dust ingress to the motor.
Maybe cover up the air filter before setting to with the sandpaper.
Good luck.

Thanks Catfordjohn, some good advice.

 

[AnotherHonda]

Was thinking of taking mine off getting them vapour blasted as I know someone who does that and sending the casings off to get Cerakoted in burnt bronze.

 

[HAT Rider]

That will look great but might make the rest of the engine look shabby!

In the end I took the easier option of sanding down, masking and brush painting with Autotek Very High Temperature Enamel - Silver.

The bike is a bit tatty anyway after a long expedition so it fits in ok and saved me a lot of hassle!