Red is the colour - Painting a cam cover

Sorting out scabby cylinder head covers

I've been disappointed with my attempts to repaint the original engine covers of my 1991 Trophy 1200. Although I did my very best to strip off all the old paint, I was unable to get every last spec of failed silver paint off of the clutch cover because the casting has some tricky recesses for its retaining bolts. The cylinder head cover (or cam cover, if you prefer) and crank end covers are not as bad but still quite a bit less than nice. Time to do something about it - but how without being off the road?

'No' to being without working wheels; 'no' to scabby covers for Ruby

Dirty scabby sick 2001 engine

Cleaned but no less scabby 2001 engine

The new paint I'd applied to my 1991 Trophy engine has not adhered properly over the old failed paint. Result: new failed paint. Also, the VHT Clear lacquer has gone yellow and started to come away in some places. I used this clear coat over the silver heat resistant paint to get a finish that was close to the original. I now regret trying to repaint this with rattle cans and am going to go for a powder coat instead. However, I don't want to be without my 'triffic Trophy any longer than necessary, especially as the weather has been getting better. So I've been in a quandry about hating the insult of scabby cases that currently adorn my beloved bike and hating the idea of being off the road. Meanwhile, I hadn't done anything with the sick 2001 Trophy engine I'd bought last year, since stripping the top end. So maybe there was a solution here to my quandry?

Borrowed covers

I decided to use the cam, right-hand and left-hand crank engine covers from the 2001 Trophy engine as a temporary measure, plus the clutch cover from by Daytona engine. Yes, another piece of Daytona is temporarily migrating to the Trophy! Even then, the 2001 covers are even more horrible - and would need refurbishing anyway sooner or later. I decided I'd start the process off by working on the cam cover. It is a large casting and, as the picture above shows, had lost a considerable amount of its original black powder coat. I thought it would be a simple matter to shift the rest of it.

Paint stripper is rubbish, wire wheels are harsh and hard work ...

Well I was wrong. I used two types of paint stripper with Scotch abrasive scourers (fancy nylon scrubbers). Despite multiple applications, even leaving the cover in a plastic carrier bag with stripper over night, there were still some patches  that just wouldn't budge. Also, I was left with pitting and quite a number of blotchy dark grey areas in the casting where corrosion had wormed its way into the alloy.

After a lot of work with scourers and paint stripper, most of the powder coat has gone but pits and corrosion remained

In the end I had to resort to a wire brushes and a rotary ginding wheel on a drill and minigrinder (cheap Dremel clone). It took hours. I wouldn't do it again - taking it to a blaster would have been the smart thing to do. Oh well.

Washed down with degreaser

Belt sanding ribs

Ultimately, I was pleased with the finish I obtained although to get rid of pitting I had to remove quite a lot of aluminium from the ribbing that runs across the top. I used a belt sander for that - very harsh but much more helpful than a rotary wheel for keeping the surface flat. A good wash down with degreaser and I was content to get the paint out again. This time, I decided to go red because I had a can in my garage and, as a spare, I am looking at the 2001 engine as an opportunity to experiment some more.

Shiney Red Cylinder Head Cover: Mission Accomplished

After the first coat of red, I could see that the dark grey areas were not covering over very well. I had a tin of VHT Black so I gave the cover a blow over with that as an even colour  - like a primer - to work with and then started again with the red. This time, the red enamel was covering evenly. I built up the coverage in thin layers, each time using a hot air drier to partially cure the paint as I went.



Finally, I decided to use up the last of my VHT Clear. Yes, the same lacquer that had failed on my other covers, Clear lacquer makes such a difference to solid colours I thought I'd risk it. Also, if it does yellow, the effect will be less noticeable over red than over silver. We'll see. 

Red enamel and VHT Clear - a bit of fun

The result looks good to me for now. So I'm ready to swap the cam cover over, maybe this weekend, and to take the originals to a local coater.

A bit of love for my Daytona

 My Daytona has been remarkably robust against the rigours of year-round biking but was overdue for a bit of TLC. Although the headers are supposedly stainless steel, they had a black-chrome overlay from the factory. The 1994 Daytona's exhaust system is three-into-two-into-one-into-two and is in five parts: three-into-two header, two central link sections that join beneath the sump, and two silencers.

 The finish of the headers and central link sections had suffered pretty badly over the 71000 miles and 18 years. It was actually fine close to the exhaust ports, where the radiator has shielded it from the weather. Beneath the line of the oil cooler, the headers get a torrid time with road muck and spray blasting at them from the front wheel.

Stainless headers? Doesn't look like it here

My Trophy's exhaust is clearly stainless and had responded well to a rough polish with a brass wire brush on my drill. I remember they had a reddish brown deposit in places, especially around the link pipe that runs under the engine. It looked like rust but it came right off with the drill brush treatment, leaving a shiny silver finish. I hoped I might get a similar effect on my Daytona so got busy. It wasn't anywhere near as satisfying this time. It appeared as though the plated finish had been mainly corroded away, leaving a rough surface over most of the forward downpipes and the two collectors.

 To shift some of this, I had to use an angle grinder with a steel wire brush. This combination made good progress  - not perfect  but the metal work so revealed was perfectly sound and maybe could qualify as stainless steel.

Exhaust downpipes and central collector after angle grinder treatment

I had previously refurbished my Daytona's silencer link pipes with VHT black topped off with VHT clear and was very pleased with the result. It looks a lot like the original black chrome finish and had come through last winter intact. The finish I obtained is obviously nowhere near as hard as chrome but it does seem to be reasonably robust so far. I had some VHT clear left over from another job. I would have used VHT black again but didn't have any left. 

I'd read somewhere online that barbecue paint can work if it is cured properly so decided I'd give it a whirl - seven pounds from HomeBase on a 15% off weekend. The VHT clear might help to keep it in place. If it doesn't work, I'll try something else. As it happens, my home painting efforts on the Trophy haven't been a great success. Maybe I'll get lucky this time.

Headers coated with BBQ paint

 Before applying the VHT clear over the barbecue paint, I wanted to make sure the thinners were gone and the black coating was at least partially cured. So I used my hot air gun on its low setting to heat up the pipes from the inside. I blew air in through each of the five openings (three headers, two silencer exits) in succession, switching each one as soon as I saw smoke coming off of the pipe concerned. I went around each one twice and then left it to cool for an hour.

Refinished headers: will they cope with the heat of normal running? And winter salt?

 I painted the VHT clear over the BBQ paint by applying just enough to get a shine first pass and then immediately going over the whole thing for a second time. I made sure I got plenty around the collectors. Then I left it 24hours before using my heat gun again in the same way as with the BBQ black. After cooling again, I reinstalled the three M6 bolts that blank off sensor holes with copper grease, torquing to 10NM per the factory manual.

Three exhaust pipe sections back together with stainless clamps

The exhaust pipes are in three sections held together with stainless steel clamps. These clamps came up beautifully. I used a smear of copper grease around the joints of the header sections and inside the clamps to help it all go back together with minimum fuss.

I'm almost too pleased with the way the whole thing has come up. I might try to make up a shield for the headers to stop direct spray from the front wheel blasting them next winter.