VHT Paint

[keychange]

I inherited an 1982 TLR200 which was in pretty rough condition and so I went to work on removing the surface corrosion and I purchased VHT ( very high temperature) brand aerosol paint one for the barrel , another for casings and one for the engine pipe. Each paint is specific for their purpose.

Now I could never claim to be a perfectionist - but I did my preparation thoroughly bare metal, clean and dry. I dried the paint in our oven (don't tell my wife) about 30 minutes at 120 degrees C. The barrel paint has been fine. The first time I tried to start the engine the carbie flooded spilling fuel onto the casings and the paint just dissolved leaving a hell of a mess. Surely fuel spill on engine casings is common - you can't start my Montesa without tickling fuel from the Amal!

Edited December 20, 2010 by keychange

[belldane]

I painted the barrel and head on my 247's with that VHT stuff but left the casings in original polished alloy. I really don't know what went wrong but if I were you I would just pour some more petrol on the cases and bring them back to bare alloy.

[keychange]

I painted the barrel and head on my 247's with that VHT stuff but left the casings in original polished alloy. I really don't know what went wrong but if I were you I would just pour some more petrol on the cases and bring them back to bare alloy.

yes sorry for the confusion - I didn't paint the 247 cases I was just using as example of how impossible it is with some bikes to avoid petrol on the cases. It was the Honda TLR that I painted.

[1oldbanjo]

Sorry that you had such bad luck - way back around 1976 I painted the cases on my 1974 Kawasaki 125 with some hardware store silver and clear coat.....and the first time fuel hit the paint it ran right off. I feel your pain - although the pain has diminished after 34 years!

The new spray paints are kind of misleading these days and it is hard to identify if you are buying a lacquer or enamel sometimes. I have bought sandable primers only to find out they were enamel primers after I sprayed some lacquer finish coat and had them wrinkle.

Lately I have been using the Dupli-Color paints with very good luck. The exhaust paint is supposed to be baked at 350 degrees for 2 hours.....or 400 degrees for an hour and a half.....and I can usually find a time when the wife is away for that long and get it done before she gets home. When I first run the engine with the fresh exhaust paint I let it idle a bit and when the exhaust is getting hot I shut it off - I will do this about 6-8 times before I actually run the engine at speed and I have never had any of the paint peel off. Dupli-Color also has engine enamels that work very well on the cases and cylinders. I have never had any fuel related issues with these paints.

The Dupli-Color High Temp paint is listed as being good to 1,200 degrees, and PJ-1 makes a black exhaust paint that is listed as being good to 1,500 degrees.

Edited December 20, 2010 by 1oldbanjo

[old trials fanatic]

Sorry that you had such bad luck - way back around 1976 I painted the cases on my 1974 Kawasaki 125 with some hardware store silver and clear coat.....and the first time fuel hit the paint it ran right off. I feel your pain - although the pain has diminished after 34 years!

The new spray paints are kind of misleading these days and it is hard to identify if you are buying a lacquer or enamel sometimes. I have bought sandable primers only to find out they were enamel primers after I sprayed some lacquer finish coat and had them wrinkle.

Lately I have been using the Dupli-Color paints with very good luck. The exhaust paint is supposed to be baked at 350 degrees for 2 hours.....or 400 degrees for an hour and a half.....and I can usually find a time when the wife is away for that long and get it done before she gets home. When I first run the engine with the fresh exhaust paint I let it idle a bit and when the exhaust is getting hot I shut it off - I will do this about 6-8 times before I actually run the engine at speed and I have never had any of the paint peel off. Dupli-Color also has engine enamels that work very well on the cases and cylinders. I have never had any fuel related issues with these paints.

The Dupli-Color High Temp paint is listed as being good to 1,200 degrees, and PJ-1 makes a black exhaust paint that is listed as being good to 1,500 degrees.

My oven only goes up to 200 C do yo use an industrial oven or something?

[1oldbanjo]

My oven only goes up to 200 C do yo use an industrial oven or something?

Oooops. I use 350 Fahrenheit (176 Celsius) to 400 F (200 C). Looks like we use the same temperature for the exhaust curing.

[old trials fanatic]

Oooops. I use 350 Fahrenheit (176 Celsius) to 400 F (200 C). Looks like we use the same temperature for the exhaust curing.

Ahh gottcha will wait till erindoors is out then. Got some baking to do

[richty250e]

I discovered that weld through primer makes a good exhaust paint. I used the UPOL weld-through primer aerosol (from Halfords) on a TY250 front silencer after a quick sand blast to remove the surface rust. The colour comes out as very close to an aluminium silver matching the WES back box, so far it has not rusted, flaked or discoloured. I even tried burning it off a test piece with a plumbers blowlamp and it survived in the flame for a good 30 seconds before discolouring, but still did not blister. Obviously this stuff is designed to protect spotwelds from corrosion so it must be capable of surviving high temperatures.

regards

Rich

[twinshock giles]

I would go for PJ1 paints not the cheapest out there but they do last well and seem the most durable, their exhaust paint doesn't seem to have much body to it though and really needs baking on. Just wish PJ1 would do a non aerosol version so I can spray it with my gun.

I've had a lot of disappointments with other products on the market though - and i've yet to find something other than chrome that will stay on the first 3 inches of a well used exhaust front pipe!