SRJ999 Posted April 8, 2010 Share Posted April 8, 2010 Having got a ratty pre-Divvie XJ600, I want to try and clean it up a little. The alloy fittings are showing years of environmental abuse now. Any lacquer that may have been applied at the factory is long gone, to be replaced with a delightful furry, bloomed finish. So, I think that while copious amounts of Solvol Autosol might make it shiny, I may have to resort to other methods. Can alloy fittings be painted/stoved? Or does anyone have any other suggestions for making them look better, other than throwing them away and buying new? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gas up - Let's Go! Posted April 8, 2010 Share Posted April 8, 2010 Can alloy fittings be painted/stoved? Or does anyone have any other suggestions for making them look better, other than throwing them away and buying new? Anything can be painted, it's all a question of prepairation, choosing the right paint, prepairation and finish. Prepairation is quite important too. It really depends what paint you are using, but you need to get the surface sanded down and keyed with a fine grit wet'n dry / sandpaper / emery cloth - whatever you choose to use. Of course you could have it bead blasted, sand blasted or any other kind of prepairation treatment that leave the surface clean, keyed and ready to apply the base coat. Some paints don't need a basecoat and some do - Check the tin ! Apply lots of thin coats, leave lots of time for the surface to dry properly, read the instructions ! I've sold a whole heap of lamp brackets for the Tenere and I've used Plastikote paint on them, nice high gloss finish and as tough as old boots, but it does take 3 days to paint them! Of course there are other paints available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pilninggas Posted April 8, 2010 Share Posted April 8, 2010 following on from ^, a lot of the classic bike and car mags have adverts for engine paints that are close/the same to the finish of the engine brand new - some you see on classic bikes at shows and often it looks like the bike just rolled out of the factory. As with any paint-on-alloy use acid etch primer, U-POL #8 seems to be the a-e-primer of choice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speedshop Posted April 8, 2010 Share Posted April 8, 2010 For automotoive parts, if you are going to subject them to more use in winter, Id get the parts blast cleaned, this will remove all the corrosion thats there.Yes you can do it with abrasives but it takes forever and on diffeicult shapes you never get rid of all the corrosion totally. Blasting on the other hand will. I very much doubt you'll find anodising kits on the commercial market, but you will find chromate based etch primer in aerosols (look on aviation sites). This stuff reacts with moisture and releases chemicals on the metal's surface to kill any further corrosion. Then finish with normal top coat. This is no good if you want to use clear laquer, unless you like militray looking yellow or green as a finish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator Airhead Posted April 8, 2010 Moderator Share Posted April 8, 2010 Nice one for getting mobile again Steve. its not a smart condition bike but naturally you want to improve it. if it were me I would clean up the affected parts and simply paint them. Dremel tpe tools have lots of brushes and abrasives available, obviously along withe wire brushes and wet / dry paper. i see Darren (gas up...) has recommended plasti kote paint, I can vouch for that with regard to their BBQ paint for use on black painted exhaust. Available cheaply from wilkinsons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts