Cylinder head cover: from grotty to gleaming

As I wrote in my second blog post, the paint dear old Ruby's engine covers had not faired well from being left outdoors. The cylinder head cover in particular looked like it had the mechanical equivalent of a severe skin problem.

A previous owner had made an attempt to tidy it up a bit with silver spray paint from the timing side but without removing it or the fairing - hence the overspray on a fairing infill panel.

Well anyway, that makes for an interesting challenge, thought I. With all those grooves it's bound to be tricky stripping it clean. So off it came.

I wasn't wrong - it needed three treatments with paint stripper and some Scotch abrasive pads. These pads are a plastic alternative to wire wool. I have found wire wool clogs quickly and rusts in paint stripper. They worked well - it was easy to swill the painty gunge out under a tap and then to rub some more. After a good hose down, I cleaned up some pitting on the embossed Triumph logo with wet-and-dry abrasive paper on a  rubber sanding block.

 Another hose down and then time for paint. I used VHT silver in approximately five light coats (left picture), followed with a two light and then one heavy coat of VHT clear (right picture below).

VHT is heat curing. I knew it would be ages before the bike would be ready for me to run the engine so I *carefully* suspended the cover from a hook in my garage ceiling and then heated it up a bit at a time with a hot air gun. This is a tricky business to do - too hot too fast and the paint will fail and flake off. It all worked out well. I'm very pleased with the finish I have achieved, as hopefully the photos show.

These pictures were taken at different stages of the other work I've been doing with the rest of the bike, especially to do with the swinging arm and rear suspension.