Paint for engine?
- Thread starter Dragbikemini
- Start date
There's a lot of ways to do this. It depends on what you have available. If you want to spray, and spray using a compressor, two part urethane clear with a color basecoat seems to be what people like here. Personally i don't like that "look", but that's me. Also i don't like those urethanes, they are terrible for your health.
if you just want to shoot something from a spray can, Home Depot sells a nice Epoxy spray can paint. You have to really let it dry, like at least 48 hours. but it works well and it resists gas really well too (providing you let it dry at least 48 hours.) Pretty much any other spray can paint will come off with gas. So unless you're using Epoxy stuff, it's not worth the trouble.
for the exhaust you need high-temp paint. but no matter what you use, it's pretty temporary. it will burn off at some point, no matter what it sez on the can!
if you just want to shoot something from a spray can, Home Depot sells a nice Epoxy spray can paint. You have to really let it dry, like at least 48 hours. but it works well and it resists gas really well too (providing you let it dry at least 48 hours.) Pretty much any other spray can paint will come off with gas. So unless you're using Epoxy stuff, it's not worth the trouble.
for the exhaust you need high-temp paint. but no matter what you use, it's pretty temporary. it will burn off at some point, no matter what it sez on the can!
Last edited:
This really depends on how nice you want your finished engine to be, and how far you will go to get it there.
If you use hardware store spray paint from a can, I don't care where you get it, or what it says on the can, gasoline will eat it. Still, many do use it, and deal with the ensuing fuel stripping, and ugliness that develops a year after sitting on a mini bike. The paint works fine however if your engine is going to sit on a shelf.
I use a 3M 6000 series respirator and filter cartridges OSHA-Approved for spraying isocyanites in paint.
For a primer, I and others use a rattle can "etching" primer by Rust-Oleum. I use it in very light coats on the aluminum and steel, while the engine is disassembled. (I like to paint the final color with it assembled, as they did originally)
Paint choices are two stage, with a dull finish color coat followed by a urethane clear top coat. Generally, this makes an engine far too glossy when compared to original, but it works on some projects. It is fuel proof and easy to keep clean.
Another choice is referred to as a single stage, consisting of acrylic enamel, which is an enamel color coat where reducer and catalyst (accelerator) is added. It also dries glossy, and is fuel proof.
Another choice is model aircraft spray paint. I have never used it for mini bikes or karts, but I have used it on RC aircraft. I know it held up well against the fuel, which is mostly methanol and some nitro methane.
I did some experimenting with Rust-Oleum oil-based paint, an enamel. I added a bit of reducer and one part acrylic enamel catalyst and sprayed it. The result was a finish that looked more "old school," without the high gloss of the modern high tech paints.
The automotive paints including the clear urethane top coat, can be mixed and put into rattle cans by many paint shops. There are also vendors who will sell the clear coat in a rattle can that some of the members here have used. Eastwood for one.
There are vendors on line, and ebay who will sell you single stage rattle can paint in your choice of paint code as well. You type in an automotive paint code, they mix it, and they send it. I used one of those vendors to paint a small area on my wife's car, because I didn't want to purchased a quart of paint. It has held up well, but I have not fuel tested it. It does have an old school luster, not a high gloss at all.
This is more depth than you required, however I did want to give you some choices and answers based on many years of painting, and a few years of painting small gas engines.
Here are some codes used by some of the talented members here who regularly restore these engines. Most of these colors are available in rattle can, or can be found on websites for "touch up" and sold in $25 each rattle cans. Again, I don't know how fuel proof those are. If you have your own spraying equipment, chances are you didn't need the verbose crap above, and just needed the codes:
Honda Passport cream white (Code W101)
GM Dover White (WA3967)
GM Arctic White (WA9567)
If you use hardware store spray paint from a can, I don't care where you get it, or what it says on the can, gasoline will eat it. Still, many do use it, and deal with the ensuing fuel stripping, and ugliness that develops a year after sitting on a mini bike. The paint works fine however if your engine is going to sit on a shelf.
I use a 3M 6000 series respirator and filter cartridges OSHA-Approved for spraying isocyanites in paint.
For a primer, I and others use a rattle can "etching" primer by Rust-Oleum. I use it in very light coats on the aluminum and steel, while the engine is disassembled. (I like to paint the final color with it assembled, as they did originally)
Paint choices are two stage, with a dull finish color coat followed by a urethane clear top coat. Generally, this makes an engine far too glossy when compared to original, but it works on some projects. It is fuel proof and easy to keep clean.
Another choice is referred to as a single stage, consisting of acrylic enamel, which is an enamel color coat where reducer and catalyst (accelerator) is added. It also dries glossy, and is fuel proof.
Another choice is model aircraft spray paint. I have never used it for mini bikes or karts, but I have used it on RC aircraft. I know it held up well against the fuel, which is mostly methanol and some nitro methane.
I did some experimenting with Rust-Oleum oil-based paint, an enamel. I added a bit of reducer and one part acrylic enamel catalyst and sprayed it. The result was a finish that looked more "old school," without the high gloss of the modern high tech paints.
The automotive paints including the clear urethane top coat, can be mixed and put into rattle cans by many paint shops. There are also vendors who will sell the clear coat in a rattle can that some of the members here have used. Eastwood for one.
There are vendors on line, and ebay who will sell you single stage rattle can paint in your choice of paint code as well. You type in an automotive paint code, they mix it, and they send it. I used one of those vendors to paint a small area on my wife's car, because I didn't want to purchased a quart of paint. It has held up well, but I have not fuel tested it. It does have an old school luster, not a high gloss at all.
This is more depth than you required, however I did want to give you some choices and answers based on many years of painting, and a few years of painting small gas engines.
Here are some codes used by some of the talented members here who regularly restore these engines. Most of these colors are available in rattle can, or can be found on websites for "touch up" and sold in $25 each rattle cans. Again, I don't know how fuel proof those are. If you have your own spraying equipment, chances are you didn't need the verbose crap above, and just needed the codes:
Honda Passport cream white (Code W101)
GM Dover White (WA3967)
GM Arctic White (WA9567)
I prefer GM Dover White over Arctic White. Arctic White was too bright for my liking.
If you don't have a gun and don't want to learn, Duplicolor's Dover White is about as close as you can get to original Tecumseh White and lays down pretty easily. To make it fuel safe, hit it with a 2k urethane clear coat afterward. The Eastwood that Dave mentioned runs about $25 a can and has enough to do 2 engines. However, once it's mixed, you only have about 30 hours before it hardens in the can, so be sure you're ready to start spraying it when you pop the seal.
If you're going with a sprayer, use the GM Dover White code above and you'll be set.
If you don't have a gun and don't want to learn, Duplicolor's Dover White is about as close as you can get to original Tecumseh White and lays down pretty easily. To make it fuel safe, hit it with a 2k urethane clear coat afterward. The Eastwood that Dave mentioned runs about $25 a can and has enough to do 2 engines. However, once it's mixed, you only have about 30 hours before it hardens in the can, so be sure you're ready to start spraying it when you pop the seal.
If you're going with a sprayer, use the GM Dover White code above and you'll be set.