engine paint

As the saying goes - "In for a penny, in for a pound".
Started cleaning up the engine side covers that I had put on to "mask off" the engine for painting. The VHT caliper paint wiped off with a bit of Lacquer Thinner which is troubling. I had hoped that it would have been tougher but its not. Anyway, the clutch cover cleaned up ok but I wasn't happy with it. The aluminum was dull so I figured I needed to get at it with the wet and dry sandpaper before clear coating.

OMG !! It had clearcoat on it that was tougher than bullets. 6 hours with 320 wet and dry and I still have the side of the cover to clean up. I don't know what they put on it at the factory but if I had to guess, It's some kind of epoxy. Reminds me of 5 minute epoxy like the stuff I used to fabricate the wing (duck tail) on the rear tail piece.

 

Clutch cover  after 6 hours of wet and dry. I also went to 2000 wet and dry to see how well it would clean up.. Still needs more work at 2000 to remove the scratches.

 

I'm going to try this 2 component polyurethane  clear coat and see how well it stands up. It's the only 2 component rattle can paint that doesn't have a shelf life. There are 2 component aerosols that once mixed can be used up to 48 hours, but for small jobs like engine covers, doesn't make sense to mix the can and only be able to use half of it before throwing it away. So I'll try this Car-Rep 2 K clear coat for shits and giggles. NOT cheap at $32.99 CDN a can. It's also not advertised as "high heat" paint so that's another issue maybe? VHT makes a high heat caliper paint in clear coat that's good to 1200 F but I'm a little gun shy after cleaning up the cover removing the over spray of the cast aluminum VHT caliper paint that I put on the engine casings. Mind you, that paint hasn't been cured yet  at 200 F for one hour (as in running the engine for an hour) as  required by the instructions.

Regarding the engine paint choice, after your experience with Cerakote on the cylinder liners, did you consider using it on the engine crankcase / head/ cylinder block?   The YouTube guy on Superbike Surgery uses Cerakote on some of his projects, with great results on calipers, suspension components, engine covers.

Concerning the lacquer removal on your engine covers, would it be worth trying a chemical paint stripper?

Cerakote would be an interesting choice but it requires sandblasting with 100 grit aluminum oxide and my work area shrank due to winter and having to put a car in the garage. Cerakote is also only 3 mils thick and im thinking not enough protection ??

Chemical stripper? What's on the covers now I think is epoxy. Not sure if a chemical stripper would cut through. I think I'll just persevere.