Vintage Dirt Bike Q & A

Has anyone found a close match for the brownish gray engine paint for the lower half of the engine? It appears to me that the case is that color and the cylinder and head are black. Is that correct?

What year? Elsinore's are red.

I have a 75 MT250. I thought the engine paint was the same for all the pre-1976 bikes.

Marbles Motors has the dark-brown MT engine paint - it's about 3/4 down the page:

http://www.marblesmotors.com/partsforsa ... erosol.htm

It looks pretty close from the photo. It's not hi-temp, but I've never seen temps above 260F on my air-cooled bikes' cylinders or heads, so I'm not sure that's really an issue as it would be with exhausts. He's also got two Honda silvers and the black frame paint. None of it's cheap.

Ray

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'74 CR125M (175cc), '75 MR175, '82 RM250Z, '08 YZ250F, '14 Zero FX electric, '14 Zero MX electric, '18 Alta MXR electric

That is pricey! Wonder if there is a duplicolor on the shelf at autozone that would be close.

Can anyone tell me what color the 1973-74 CR250M engines were painted? And, was the entire engine the same color or were parts (ie. top end vs lower unit) of it different?

Good question Super Honda. On my bike, the cylinder and head appear to be black. However, I saw a photo online of a guy's MT125 that he said he's owned since new and the whole engine looked brown.

I was looking at Duplicolor's site and they have a Magnesium Brown wheel paint. I may give that a try and see if it is close enough.

The first year of MT 125 and MT250 (1974) had brown engines; bottom end, cylinder and head.
After complaints about ugliness Honda switched to black the next year.

Has anyone ever powder coated their engine cases, side covers and cylinder? Can it be done and is it a better alternative to traditional painting? Appreciate anyone's thoughts on that.

I wonder if that would be advisable for the side covers, since they are magnesium? As for the cylinder, I would think the powder coat thickness would make it run hotter.

Rattle cans?

Duplicolor high heat black has a slightly brownish tint to it and a matte finish to boot. Cure it either for a day or two in a solar oven, for an hour on a hot plate over a 1/4" plate of steel, or a proper industrial oven. Otherwise it will get all soft and yucky at first running.

I'm thinking the Rustoleum dark bronze this guy used on his bike might work: http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=40404.0

Found this thread on a search, updating it to see if there any new confirmed matches for that MT brown paint. Marble Motors price markup won't be paid by me, and I don't know why he says a clear coat is required. Were the MT parts cleared originally? Seems wrong to me.

Or has anyone found a powder coat match?