VERY oxidized engine.

Has anyone ever painted a valve cover (or their entire engine)? I am trying to buff out all the white oxidation on my engine and valve cover, but it looks like the chrome (or something) has has faded off the valve cover. Only the top corner ends appear to polish clean.

Maybe I do a complete engine 1075 overhaul and leave the whole oxidized bike "as is." Might not be stolen that way.
:laugh:

might be a candidate for soda blasting.

leon

I thought some of those 900 valve covers had chrome just on the ends with the center being black painted. In any case, my chrome was flaking off so I sandblasted the bejeezus out of it and painted that sucker black. Seems to be holding up so far.

I wonder, does painting the engine have any affect on the cooling ability?
I guess it depends on the paint / thickness.

Actually IIRC Pops Yoshimura discovered that the cooling fins transferred heat away better if painted black.

I'm soda blasting my bike to take off as much of the 30 year grime as I can. It's taken off some varnish brilliantly, but I had to cut the process short because of a thunderstorm. I plan to do some more this weekend to try to do the very thing you are talking about. I posted some pics in my previous posts, so you can see plenty of "before" shots if you want to try it out yourself.

Yes, I remember reading black can radiate as quick as it absorbs heat.

Prolly be a good idea to post before & after pics in this thread, both to be concise, & for anyone searching this thread in the future.
Pictures are always good.
I'm interested in the results.

Is the motor out of the frame?

An interesting bit of info I came a cross on another site (which may or may not apply to your oxidation), is the place you keep your bike.
Apparently bare concrete walls can have an oxidizing affect of chrome & aluminum (& speed up rust on bare steel). I guess because of the lye.
I'm sure the age of the cement/block is a factor too.

I was constantly polishing my soft tail clean when I kept it in my shop (bare block walls), but when I put it in my garage it stayed clean & shiny.
I thought it was due to the work conditions in my shop until I read one guys post on a similar topic.
Then it made total sense.

You can soda blast an engine in the frame. You just need to seal off the air cleaner or any entry into the engine (obviously). You'll want to mask off or avoid painted areas. I just removed my tank and side covers. You really need to clean out the soda in between the fins though.

I will shoot a bunch of stills of my bike's issues ASAP.

Funny, when one makes a living with video and still cameras, it is very hard to be motivated when I am at home. (like the plumber's leaking pipes).

It's not easy to document a process, especially a bike project because it slows your progress, but it makes for good reading, & people learn from your effort.
That's the genius of the internet, free sharing of ideas & knowledge for no other reason than the love of it.

Yes it does make for good reading for others like us trying to clean and polish our engines too. We really do appreciate the the extra time and efforts put forth to document these projects. I hope I can get my 76 A4 engine to shine like new.

I sold the engine on my bike and I was installing my spare this afternoon and that engine was half way through a cleaning when it was shelved.

The engine was painted black and it is going to be a pain to get it cleaned. Roy