Powder coating

Hey guys so i just bought myself a powder coating system and i am experimenting on random metal objects in my house and garage before i attempt much on the bikes. However i WOULD like to coat things on my kz eventually like the engine covers and such

my question is will the extra coating i put on effect the cooling abilities of the overall engine? or would it be only if i did the ENTIRE engine i dont know much about powder coating other than it looks great and is extremely durable and efficient.

any help on the matter would be great!

thanks

Powder coating is not as good of a conductor of heat as bare aluminum. So it will trap a marginal amount of heat, but I don't think it will make much of a difference. The coating is relatively thin. If you lived in an area where the temperatures gave you overheating problems, then I would avoid it on the jugs and head. I believe that a few members have PC'd engines without any trouble.

very cool thanks a ton, yea it shouldnt be a problem here in MN i rarely see 90 degrees, and then... im in the garage with cold beer

I would have to have myself powdercoated if I lived in Minnesota. BBBRRRRRR!

Sounds like you should be all right if your engine is fairly stock.

hahah yes we have a heat wave coming tomorrow through saturday, gonna hit 38! i may start up my bikes

and pretty stock, just pod filters, exhaust, jetted carbs, and soon to be dyna S and coils nothing internal

I don't know if those do it at home kits provide quality perfection. I wouldn't coat anything on engine save the cases and block. I don't think you will be happy with the results if you do the covers. But who knows? That stuff is really hard to remove if you change your mind.

I would not powdercoat any engine components. I did have it done in the past and it did trap a lot of heat in the engine. If the engine was liquid cooled than It would not matter but on an air cooled engine it matters a lot. After I did mine (which was stock at that time) I had to install an oil cooler to fix the problem which I created. Kawasaki made that error on a few bikes and they had to do the same thing. This is why I Gun-Kote my engine parts. Gun-Kote is .0005" thick and will not trap the heat in. Powder is a few thou thick and it holds heat in.

OOO KKKK well that kind of sums it up gun-kote good to know i will check that out, i just got super excited about the powder coater and when i get good enough i will start doing parts on my kzs and then my superhawk

I have powder coated all of the covers on 1 bike (valve cover, starter cover, stator cover, ignition cover, breather cover, exhaust holder clamps, clutch cover, shifter cover), no change in head/block temps, or oil temps. They still get damn sizlin hot on hour + runs, and heat blasts off the engine with the oil barely going over 190 most hot days, had it at about 210 once.

On another bike (not mine), greatly increased oil and block temperatures were seen when just the cases were coated though... not good

Looks ok - but cyl head melted the rim of powder coat closest to the valve cover gasket, so I had to clean it up a bit the following season, but it still looks great.

PC on engine casings seem to have different effects for different people, I knew a guy who did it on his suzuki and he ended up trashing the engine, but I have seen some show bikes with this and the owners said its thin enough they dont have issues, but then again they dont take long trips on them, so i think it depends on how long the bike will be running and in what weather.

I used CHT extra high temp paint for headers, bought a can of black and one of silver, did it up with both colours. Ended up not liking the black. Long story short Its now all silver, and looks great.

Instead of the engine casings try pcing other main compenents like the frame, wheels, plastics, anything that you know wont have a chance of mecanical issue and you wll be suprised at how well the bike will look!

I love the look of a stockish KZ myself, as I had the opportunity for a new CBR250, but went for vintage instead.

Whatever you decide to do, make sure to post some pics!

T.

hell ya man i am thinking for the headers i am gonna try the VHT paint first, if not then ill wrap the headers! i love the look, but small things first i dont have an industrial oven to do things like my frame... unfortunately

but here in MN the weather is usually pretty temperate, we rarely get days over 90 and then im probs sailing anyway, i have two 650 SR's 1 78 1 79 so i will experiment with the 79 motor (non-runner right now) and see what i like, the 78 is looking REALLY good its been about a 3 year project since it was my daily driver in high school, its now the cruising bike and when i want a ton of compliments

There is a special powder-coating they do for those parts I believe. I had mine done and they look to be pretty thin. It was EXPENSIVE! The gun cote is the thing to do and it's cheaper. This is it! I will post up the pics of my progress on my z very soon. Almost ready to get back together. I have the last component that I haven't decided yet about to be sent out. The head, then the bike will be completed minus a paint job and seat. Gunna getr dun.