Engine painting

[Ron1000]

Hi everyone,
My engine casings, particularly the LHS are starting to suffer from paint flaking.

Has anybody taken both sides off and had them painted / power coated? Or painted them themselves?

If so any pit falls i should be aware of! High temp paint, colour code, how to remove the casings etc etc.

Thanks again in advance guys.

Much appreciated.

[PPuxley]

Just about to do this. I have the casings off and stripped of all bearings, seals and sight glasses etc.
I will be removing all previous coatings. theyve been hammerited I think so that will be chemically stripped, then I will lightly grit blast to give a uniform corossion free key
Thats as far as Ive decided.
The choices Im thinking about in no particular order, are:

• Hammerite silver
• VHT silver
• Silver 2 pack epoxy
• Xylan (like Ceracote) See photo

So will be following this

[Luddite]

Crawsue did an excellent spray job on his Evo crankcase, Ron, using Techniq caliper paint in Audi Thunder Grey. Looks like a really good colour match to the original.



[url=https://postimg.cc/GTysnJCh][/url

Full details here http://www.ukmonster.co.uk/monster/showthread.php?t=58544

[Ron1000]

That’s nice that. Crawsue did you take them off or just try to fade it in?

[Luddite]

He removed the case for repair and repainting, Ron. I lent him the puller, which you're welcome to borrow too, if you want it. Note that, if you buy your own, you'll need to adapt it slightly to work on the Evo cases. I posted details here; http://www.ukmonster.co.uk/monster/s...d.php?p=567799

If you need any more information from Crawford that isn't in his thread, drop him a PM as he may not see your question here.

[Ron1000]

Originally Posted by Luddite

He removed the case for repair and repainting, Ron. I lent him the puller, which you're welcome to borrow too, if you want it. Note that, if you buy your own, you'll need to adapt it slightly to work on the Evo cases. I posted details here; http://www.ukmonster.co.uk/monster/s...d.php?p=567799

If you need any more information from Crawford that isn't in his thread, drop him a PM as he may not see your question here.

Ahhhhhhhh. Right, thanks lud.

That’s a winter task me thinks. I’ll be in touch later on the year about the puller, thank you kindly for the offer.

Side question: the casings are magnesium right? How does magnesium stand up to corrosion? Wondering if bare flat metal would look nice…probably too cafe racer / hipster tbh or if it went really awry it might look steampunk

[Darren69]

I never heard or read that they were Magnesium on those models but they do actually look like that and for a long while I thought they might be..I think it was a deliberate attempt to make the bike more attractive but actually the factory race bikes only used magnesium in the early years. In later years when the weight penalty increased for the factory Superbikes they were ally in order to add weight. Magnesium is a very difficult metal.

[Terryphukwit]

Hi, with the bike off the road for a few days im dealing with the base gasket oil leak, all stripped but the oil has killed the paint on the top of the engine, I want to deal with this, I read on here that silver smoothrite is a good match on some models, i assume this is Hammerite smoothe finish, would this be the S4 as well.

[Terryphukwit]

The other thought I had was to paint the engine black, a lot more work I know but I have a bit of time, if anyone in the room has a good reason why Ducati engines should not be painted black please raise your hand.....

[Darren69]

The engine paint on my '02 S4 is original and has a subtle metal flake appearance. I'm not sure if the Hammerite would match exactly, but truth is I don't know. If you're gonna paint the whole crankcase then it probably won't matter.

[slob]

Ron: (a bit late, sorry) Magnesium can’t be left exposed, it oxidises like Aluminium but worse. It’s also quite porous in cast state. The baby-poo/mustard coloured paint you often see on race bikes is a chromate treatment that not only protects the surface but also seals any pores. I’ve also come across Mg safety critical parts with a quoted service life (eg 5 years on some wheels). Generator covers on water-cooled Ducatis should also be inspected periodically, since coolant gradually eats them from the inside.

Terry: rear base gaskets are a common issue, certainly on pre ‘07(ish) models. I don’t think they were using enough 3-bond on them at the factory. Obviously there’s a finE line between sealing effectively and blocking oil-ways in the barrel.

[Darren69]

Originally Posted by slob

Ron: (a bit late, sorry) Magnesium can’t be left exposed, it oxidises like Aluminium but worse. It’s also quite porous in cast state. The baby-poo/mustard coloured paint you often see on race bikes is a chromate treatment that not only protects the surface but also seals any pores. I’ve also come across Mg safety critical parts with a quoted service life (eg 5 years on some wheels). Generator covers on water-cooled Ducatis should also be inspected periodically, since coolant gradually eats them from the inside.

Terry: rear base gaskets are a common issue, certainly on pre ‘07(ish) models. I don’t think they were using enough 3-bond on them at the factory. Obviously there’s a finE line between sealing effectively and blocking oil-ways in the barrel.

As Rob said magnesium is a weird metal and making wheels from it may have seemed like a good idea at the time, but now would I trust one? I have a genuine Ducati magesium clutch cover which I had intended to fit, it needs cleaning and chromate coating but i was kinda waiting to get a matching alternator cover but anything that had water in it will be scrap by now, you just don't see them execept on the no expense spared works racers these days.