Topic: chemical cleaning my case

[cb(r)]

recently  I tore down my 550 engine.  typical look of a bike that has been sitting in a barn for years.  I stripped the engine down completely with only thing left was the two halves of the engine. 
I debate on sending it out to get cleaned by a pro.  since I am to cheap to pay the $45.00 u.s. dollars.  I decided to do it myself.  I used a store bought paint remover for aircrafts, which turns out to be the same as spray on gasket remover.  to make a long story short, the store bought stuff worked really well on the paint.

I went to my friends business set up by pressure washing the grease and dirt off the cases.   then I sprayed the cases with the remover.  I waited about 30 minutes for the paint to bubble and dry.  then I pressure washed again very methodically.  I air dried the engine with compressed air.  there was still some very minor areas of paint left.  I was very pleased.  about 99% paint free.

the bad part is that this does not work well on the paint on the cylinders and head.  this is probably form the old paint being baked on over the years.

 this is a messy job and you need chemical gloves, mask for the chemicals.  a rain suit for the pressure washing.
if you ask me if I would do it again I would say no.  the 45.00 dollars to have someoe else do the job is definitley worth spending compare the the time and the mess I had.  on the other hand now I have the 45 bucks towards my new gasket kit.

just thought I would relay this to anyone who might be pondering the question...

... to strip alone or have someone else do it for ya?

[Bob Wessner]

... to strip alone or have someone else do it for ya?

Stripping alone sounds somewhat perverted. 

[clarkjh]

Always nicer having someone else

[cb(r)]

... to strip alone or have someone else do it for ya?

Stripping alone sounds somewhat perverted. 

ya and I didn't even metion the power tools. whoa.   

[cb(r)]

Always nicer having someone else

I will tell that story the next time I do one of these projects.

[Raul CB750K1]

Thanks for the info, I will be soon doing it.

I called a shop about it. I thought first about bead blasting it. As they told me, the problem is that bead blasting is low-pressure and it won't remove the varnish -as it is somewhat "elastic"-, so the beads simply bounce. If you raise the pressure, then the aluminium is badly marked. They warned me about using chemical strippers, as they can attack aluminium and blacken it.

I have also bought the gasket remover so I was planning on using it as paint stripper, but I'm concerned about wether it will mark the aluminium. As long as it is used for engines I don't think so, but who  knows...

Then the question is: once the engine has been cleaned and the old paint stripped, what to use? New clear laquer or engine enamel?

Raul

[dusterdude]

raul,call you blaster guy and ask if they can use walnut shells or some kind of plastic media.

[cb(r)]

raul,

I have heard about walnut shells.  a few of the car builders I know use them on cast steel, but I have not yet seen it on aluminum. the same is true with plastic beads.

as far as your question on laquer or enamel.  my plan is using a heat paint 500F degree just because the 500 deg. had the color I was looking for.  this time i am using "duplicolor" although in the past I have used "V.H.T. and it works great.  when I was building car engines I used to sand blast the bolt head and spray them with enamel.  I had bought an old electric oven for cheap.

*Note* it is an electric oven not gas oven you do not want to make anything explode.
*Note*  use as a "paint baking oven only"  and in a well ventilated area.  Do not use your regular kitchen cooking oven for many reasons.  also wait till you are done painting and all the aerosol has cleared before turning oven on.  again no explosions.

 I would bake bolts at 350 deg F. for about an hour.  this would harden the enamel an make it look nice. I do not know how if this process will work on a large case though, or if you want to even try.     
besides after you start the bike up and run it for a while the paint will bake it self into the metal anyway. as you will see when pressure washing or blasting you head or cylinder block.  tough to get off.

going back to the type of paint I am using this time, if you are interested.  It is dupli-color 500 deg. F engine paint with ceramic.  it says it is oil and gas resistant.  only time will tell.  hope your project turns out well.

[SteveD CB500F]

There are a few posts here on engine paint.

I used Sperex VHT 1200F paint on my 500 in the avatar. Red on the head and black on the barrels - everyone thought I'd done major engine work! In reality, just a coat of paint, cured in the oven for a few hours.  It was resistant to oil, petrol, stone chips and English winter roads.

[Jim Shea]

Biffta,
That does look good; what process did you follow? how much and what prep was there?