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A little update
Well folks, I've been tinkering only a little bit on the project recently. I've decided to buy a soda blasting gun to clean the barrels and head and cases whilst still on the engine. In the meantime, I had a go at the black engine casing and cam cover.
An XSive in the USA, the very helpful Prisone6, pointed me to a product here in the UK...satin black engine enamel called VHT Engine Enamel and it seems to address the problem of PJ1 having been castrated for the European market. It looks good! And goes on well! It's half the price and also has a vastly better spray nozzle for applying it. Interestingly, it's clearly marked 'made in the USA', so those aerosols must have got to the UKsomehow... The product is sprayed on, then touch dry, then baked in the oven at 95C for an hour. The it takes a week to fully cure. So, to me, that sounds like a potentially durable and resistant coating.
In order to avoid a lot of work later, getting the shiny bits of the casings scraped clean of product (this really only applies to the Euro black engines, I suppose), I used a brush and painted latex rubber on the shiny bits....like so...in this pic, I've done the circular area that's alloy finish and the latex has almost dried....the latex clings to the raised bits naturally and doesn't try to run where it should go. Then, once the enamel coating has touch dried, you just rub off the latex which obligingly forms a ball as you run your finger along it. Then put the component in a domestic oven for an hour. I tried baking one casing with the latex still on but it turns to goo and is difficult to remove afterwards, so removal of the latex prior to baking is essential.
Here's what it looks like after coating....
Here's the camcover.....but this was using the neutered PJ1. It's more satin but very slightly kind of brown somehow, compared to the other product. So, I'm going to soda blast it and do it again so that all the casings are consistent.....
Well folks, I've been tinkering only a little bit on the project recently. I've decided to buy a soda blasting gun to clean the barrels and head and cases whilst still on the engine. In the meantime, I had a go at the black engine casing and cam cover.
An XSive in the USA, the very helpful Prisone6, pointed me to a product here in the UK...satin black engine enamel called VHT Engine Enamel and it seems to address the problem of PJ1 having been castrated for the European market. It looks good! And goes on well! It's half the price and also has a vastly better spray nozzle for applying it. Interestingly, it's clearly marked 'made in the USA', so those aerosols must have got to the UKsomehow... The product is sprayed on, then touch dry, then baked in the oven at 95C for an hour. The it takes a week to fully cure. So, to me, that sounds like a potentially durable and resistant coating.
In order to avoid a lot of work later, getting the shiny bits of the casings scraped clean of product (this really only applies to the Euro black engines, I suppose), I used a brush and painted latex rubber on the shiny bits....like so...in this pic, I've done the circular area that's alloy finish and the latex has almost dried....the latex clings to the raised bits naturally and doesn't try to run where it should go. Then, once the enamel coating has touch dried, you just rub off the latex which obligingly forms a ball as you run your finger along it. Then put the component in a domestic oven for an hour. I tried baking one casing with the latex still on but it turns to goo and is difficult to remove afterwards, so removal of the latex prior to baking is essential.
Here's what it looks like after coating....
Here's the camcover.....but this was using the neutered PJ1. It's more satin but very slightly kind of brown somehow, compared to the other product. So, I'm going to soda blast it and do it again so that all the casings are consistent.....
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