Repainting the front of the engine.

[vinnyb]

  At some point in the near future I'm going to be taking the exhaust and radiator off to repaint the front of the engine, do they all flake badly at the front? I had briefly considered removing the engine but it's a lot of arsing about so I'll just everything mask off. The front support bracket could also do with tidying up, So I was wondering, it looks like if I support the engine and take the bolts out, the bracket can be wiggled free and taken out. Does anyone know if this is possible?

[darrsi]

http://foc-u.co.uk/index.php/topic,8354....l#msg82143

[vinnyb]

Thanks for the thread Darrsi, nice paint job but the sides look ok on mine, It's the front, mainly around the downpipes and below the cam cover where the paint is flaky and horrible and the alloy is corroding quite badly underneath where the paint is flaking off, so everything needs to come of to get to it properly so I can clean it up and repaint it. I think it'll be worth the effort when it's done but it'd be a bonus if I could remove  the support bracket for repainting while I'm at it. I'm surprised at how bad it is cos the bike in general doesn't look like it's ever seen a winter.

[daviee]

getting the down pipes off without snapping the studs is the hard part

[vinnyb]

So I understand, I'll be trying the acetone/atf mix for a while before I try to get it off and keeping my fingers crossed. I'm surprised at how bad the paint is on the front, do they all do that or is it unusual?

[daviee]

they all eventually go that way

[Andy1970]

Part of the question was whether it's possible to remove the front engine mount without moving the engine. The answer is yes, you can.

[vinnyb]

Thanks for that Andy, I thought it looked possible but it's good to have confirmation. Is it fairly straightforward?

[Jules-C]

Should be simple, steps 1, 2 and 3 of removing engine in official workshop manual.  This assumes the hoses have been removed but don't suppose they will be a problem.  Might have to slacken the rear mounts with jack under engine to get the holes to line up when putting it back together before tightening everything up again

[vinnyb]

Yeah cheers for that Jules.

[GhostCat]

Also could anyone say whether its advisable or necessary to prime the metal before painting, and do I need etch primer


thanks


Ghostcat

[vinnyb]

I'm going to be using U-pol Acid#8 etch primer on mine. A very helpful guy called Steve at Paragon paints did a temperature tolerance check on an alloy sheet for me and got it up to 200°C with no ill effects. He told me that a waft coat is all you need, Before I spray it though I need to remove the loose paint and the white fuzz, a company called Raceglaze make a deoxidizer called Alubright that they reckon is designed specifically to do that. I've also found some bubbling under the paint on my radiator so I'm gonna need to do that too. It really is never ending isn't it