For ddannen - Black Engine Info (pics)

[Licketty_Split]

Hi ddannen:

Thanks for the PM about the black engine. Here's the story...

During the 2006 monsoon when I had the bike apart for valve adjustment and cooling system service I got tempted to paint the engine.

http://bigbikeriders.com/photopost/data/503/3551TornDown-med.jpg

To get an idea of what was involved, I read ims598's black engine paint thread (Thank You!) over at VTXOA and checked out all the links he posted to others that had done same, (Thank You All!). I located some VTX engine photos at VTXOA and made a comparison shot in PhotoShop to help me decide.

http://bigbikeriders.com/photopost/data/500/3551BlkEng_Compare_Sml.jpg

Decided to go ahead, but wanted to do things a little different. I was inspired by the "rest of the motor," the other 308 degrees. IMO, we have 2/7th's of a radial motor. I've always been a big fan of radial engines on aircraft. The VTX's 52 degree 80 cu. in. twin reminds me of the Continental W-670 668 cu. in. 7-cylinder radial used on classic biplanes from the 1930's. A common aircraft you'll see at airshows with this engine is the Boeing Stearman.

http://bigbikeriders.com/photopost/data/503/3551Stearman-med.jpg
http://bigbikeriders.com/photopost/data/503/3551Conti_Rad-med.jpg

Looking at the pic of the Continental motor, only the cylinders are black. Using PhotoShop again to get an idea of what it would look like...

http://bigbikeriders.com/photopost/data/500/3551Conti_VTX13.jpg

So I decided on metallic black for the cylinders and to leave the engine case and fin edges stock silver metallic. I found a high-temp black metallic stove paint that matched the stock silver metallic pretty well. I spent about $60 on materials; some stuff I already had. I also painted the radiator mounting plate, because the factory paint was super-thin.

http://bigbikeriders.com/photopost/data/503/3551Materials.jpg

Materials List:

(2) Thurmasol Metallic Black - Part# 270-70M
(1) Scotch 3M 218 1/16" Fine Line Tape Part# 06306
(1) Scotch 3M 218 1/8" Fine Line Tape Part# 06300
(1) Scotch Plastic Tape 471 1/2" Blue Vinyl Tape Part# 06408
(1) Scotch 3M 1" Painters Masking Tape
(1) Scotch 3M 2" General Purpose Masking Tape
(1) Plastic Painters Tarp
(1) Reynolds Aluminum Foil
(2) 3M ScotchBrite Imperial Scuff Pad - Maroon Pad
(1) JASCO TSP Surface Prep Solution - Available at Home Depot
(1) Office machine compressed air duster
(!) Lots and lots and lots of Q-Tips

The really hard part of the job was taping off the fin edges... not so much the upper fins since they're removable, but the lower cylinder fins. The other hard part was getting the paint prep solution between the fins. I ended up using 1 Q-Tip for every space between fins, ...front, back, and sides. Used a lot of Q-Tips, but it was the best way to get the solution in there and back out. Time-consuming, but worth it.

http://bigbikeriders.com/photopost/data/503/3551Fins_Taped.jpg
http://bigbikeriders.com/photopost/data/503/3551Fins_Done.jpg

Masked off the entire bike, all but the lower cylinders. Then I spent hours getting the lower cylinder fin edges taped with the 1/16" and 1/8" Fine Line tape. Kept telling myself, "Just Think Chip Foose." :icon_roll

http://bigbikeriders.com/photopost/data/503/3551Bike_Maskd-med.jpg

Finally it was time to paint!

http://bigbikeriders.com/photopost/data/503/3551Left_Engn-med.jpg
http://bigbikeriders.com/photopost/data/503/3551Rite_Engn-med.jpg

I let the paint dry overnight. The next day it took about an hour or so to get the mask off and put everything back together. I then added the UltraFlow, remote Crankcase Breather, new clutch cable, Deep Dish Kury Bezels, and Kury Magnum+ mirrors.

http://bigbikeriders.com/photopost/data/503/3551Road_Redy-med.jpg

Here are some close up shots...

Left Side

http://bigbikeriders.com/photopost/data/503/3551Left_Close.jpg

Left Side Top

http://bigbikeriders.com/photopost/data/503/3551CloseUpL1.jpg

Right Side

http://bigbikeriders.com/photopost/data/503/3551Right_Close.jpg

Right Side Top

http://bigbikeriders.com/photopost/data/503/3551CloseUpR2.jpg

[tashlin]

Totally Awesome and Inspiring....nuff said.

[SilverVTX]

Absolutely beautiful.

And just as important, excellent documentation on how to do it.

[RcBigAl]

Sweet! I have been thinking about doing this.... Nice!

[pastordave]

Very very very nice!

[mscales]

Very nice. For me, the silver engine looks good with the silver bike but if I paint it all I will have to do something. Thanks.

[Goldsmith]

Very nice. For me, the silver engine looks good with the silver bike but if I paint it all I will have to do something. Thanks.

Feel the same mike. Dont think the black would look better on our color of bike.

[Dapper]

What a great post, thanks for all the pictures. It really helps because I would like to do something like this myself. Thanks again!

[Scotrod]

Looks MY-T-FINE! And no better time than when you already have the bike 'tore down' doing the maintanance and fluid exchanges!!!! Definately 'melds' the color of the motor to your ride without makin it 'disappear',,, Thanks for the pics and instructions!!!!

[Goldenlion]

Looks great! Congrats! I have thinking about doing this to my black 1300c, too. I thought it might work to paint the cylinders, fins and all, and then go back and sand the paint off the fin edges (rather than mask the edges). Anyone tried that, or have suggestions about it?

[RcBigAl]

The more I look at these pics the more I want to do this to my bike. I too was thinking about painting the fins and all then going back and sanding off the fin edges with a sanding block and sandpaper spray glued to a paint stick or something.

[Beastie Boy]

I thought there was a thread here somewhere about painting the whole engine case and cylinders, and the part for the fins had either filing them down, sanding, or taping.

I love the look, which is one of the features I love about the Spec 2 & Spec 3 1800's. with the right color bike, the black engine looks awesome.