I am going to go pick up my frame, handlebar, and other misc. parts from the powdercoaters later this week. However, I am flipping back and forth on what to do about the engine coating - traditional paint job or powder coating. My heart wants powder coating (more durable) as I intend to ride the bike again when the restoration is done, but my brain says traditional paint so the aluminum parts don't get baked in an oven and possibly distorted.
My biggest concern regarding powdercoating is that close tolerance parts of the engine components (ie. bearing fits and the like) will be distorted when the powder is being baked on. On top of that, I had the jug re-machined and a cast iron sleeve installed. Should I be concerned about dissmiliar metals and their different rates of expansion when being heated?
My powdercoater claims he has powdercoated CI sleeved jugs in the past, and can heat the oven slowly enough that the metals expand at the same rate. I have to dust off the portion of my brian that used to be devoted to metallurgy, but I seem to recall that this can be done, and trust this guy to do it properly. I guess I would just like to know if any of you all here have powdercoated your engines, and how it went.
Any feedback would be appreciated. I really don't want to screw this up. As you all know, one of the neatest things about this bike was the red painted engine - and all the parts are original!
go to the search and type in (engine powder coating) theirs a couple of guys on here that do awsome resto jobs dooger315 and spannerman look up some of there work its unbelievable allso search back 5 or 6 pages. good luck jay
jay
jay