250 Engine...Paint, Powder, Polish???

[X2guy]

What have you guys done and how does it hold up?
I originally powder coated my engine and it looked great but now after about 10 hours of riding time this summer it has gone all crappy looking. The powder coat surface seems to have gone all porus and holds dirt and wont come clean. I need something that's going to hold up well to mud and water.
I like the look of a light polish but how does it hold up to the elements?

[oldsking86]

I personally I would go with some nice engine paint.. that car paint that holds high temperatures, you can get it at walmarts or any autoparts store.. works really well.. Get a glossy type paint if your looking for a nice coat of it to shine a bit..

I thought powder coat was good, guess not all that huh

[X2guy]

I think powder coat is good...Just the guys I had do it did a crappy job. The frame was done by another company and it has held up well.
I'm looking for a lower cost alternative. Also one that I can do without tearing the whole engine down.

[vintagemotorsports]

powder coating is the only way to go on engine cases , we do this on all our restorations and engine overhauls, I think your was not prepped right , on aluminum you must outgas the parts after beadblasting , we cook all our aluminum parts for a good hour at 500 degrees to outgas all the impurities and oils in the metal then it gets washed with acetone to get a perfect bond for the powder , if done right the powder holds up very well one thing with the powder is its not to forgiving with carb or brake cleaner. so many variations also between matte clears etc

[Yamahauler]

Its going to be very hard to strip that powdercoat without taking the motor apart, Not sure if you can sand the powder a bit and put an engine paint on there?

Im working on polishing my entire motor. It is completly disasembled so i have already glass bead blasted it.

This took me about 20 minutes, still havent got in to all the tight spots yet.

[Dammit!]

Polishing will dull after a couple of good rides so you have to be prepared for some upkeep. I use a dremel with an assortment of small polishing wheels and finish it up by hand with a rag and some mothers polish.

[ChrisD]

I'm with Dammit on this one. I also removed the paint from my motor. The motor does dull, but at least you don't have to repaint it every time you want to update it. I also use a dremel and occasionally a bench polisher to clean it up.

[jaykup]

Its going to be very hard to strip that powdercoat without taking the motor apart, Not sure if you can sand the powder a bit and put an engine paint on there?

Im working on polishing my entire motor. It is completly disasembled so i have already glass bead blasted it.

This took me about 20 minutes, still havent got in to all the tight spots yet.

When you polish the aluminum like that, doesn't it oxidize like crazy pretty quickly? Do you need some kind of sealer for it?

Looks great though!