Engine paint

[roryd]

Hello all. I'm in the process of painting my engine. I was wondering what kind of paint I should use.
Any advice would be very helpful.
Thanks

[Capn Ron]

When I rebuilt my engine, I sent the cylinders out for an application of Cerakote Transfer Black, C-187.  It's a heat dissipation ceramic coating...  The blurb on it:

"Transfer Black is formulated to provide an increased thermal transfer from a surface to a free flowing air environment. When applied to metal substrates, this coating is proven to increase thermal transfer of up to 35-40% versus uncoated metal substrates. This increased thermal transfer results in components operating at lower temperatures, thus creating gains in efficiency, and extending part life."

I wanted to give my engine the best fighting chance against hot SoCal riding days...this coating should allow the engine to rid itself of heat better.  I also applied the standard ceramic coating on the down pipes to keep the hot air where it belongs...IN the pipes and pushed out and behind the engine.

Cap'n Ron. . .

[X-Ray]

I had great results with VHT Engine Enamel recently. Nice and easy to spray, looks great and lasts a long time out on the road.      When I first did the engine a few years back I skipped the primer stage and it flaked off within a couple of years. This time I used primer and I think it will last much longer.

[~JM~]

Some of the Thermal Coatings are the way to go if you can swing the expense. Here is a shop that I used to do some headers.
http://www.finishlinecoatings.com/engine.htm

I've also used VHT with fairly good results. It all depends on the prep & cleanliness of the parts being painted, plus the temperature outside. I primed & painted a pair of headers that turned out real nice. I tried a trick that I really have no idea if it helped or not. It didn't hurt though. I took my heavy duty battery charger to the painting area & hooked up one lead to the part to be painted & the other lead to the bottom edge of the paint can. The hope was that the electrical charge would pass through to the paint being sprayed & be attracted to the part being painted. It seemed to work, I think.

The other trick & a requirement if you have a ceramic coating done. Is to gently heat cycle the part once it is installed. Using headers for an example, fire off the engine & let it run for less than a minute, then shut it off & let the part cool. Repeat this process several times while increasing the amount of heating time each time. This will cure the paint or coating slowly instead of burning it.

Good luck
~JM~

[Zwartie]

When I had my engine top end redone last winter Mike Law (the engine guru) insisted on Beauti-Tone High Heat Paint from Home Hardware (a Canadian chain of hardware stores). He's been doing engine work for something like 30 years and says he has yet to find anything that holds up as well. I've since put over 20,000 km (12,500 miles) on my FJ including riding through the US Plains in 38.5C (101F) and some of the dirtiest, dustiest roads in Northern BC, Yukon and Alaska and the paint has lived up to Mike's claims. He also was quite adamant that I heat-cycle the engine as has been previously mentioned in this thread - turn the engine on for a minute, let it cool for a few hours, turn it on again for a minute, let it cool, and so on. The paint needs to cure properly before you can really let the engine heat up all the way.

http://www.homehardware.ca/en/rec/index.htm/Paint-D%C3%A9cor/Paint/Specialty/Hi-heat/340g-Black-Gloss-High-Heat-Alkyd-Paint/_/N-1z141vd/Ne-ntc74Zlqar/R-I1820514

Zwartie