Jug deck on newest engine build

[mapbike]

Well I mean look at the fin work on it! Looks all uniform and good!

Yep like Dave said, you can get the same results with the right paint and a little practice, I painted the entire bike with rattle can, the frame is a spray equipment enamel from tractor supple and then several coats of a clear enamel made by Valspar which is an excellent clear coat, best Ive seen for a single system rattle can clear, only thing better is the stuff that is a two part clear in a can because it has a hardener that can be released into the mix, Dave is the one who turned me on to it.

Even the chrome wheels have a couple coats of the Valspar clear to help prevent rust since the chrome wheels we get now days have very thin chrome plating.

I clean all my engine pqrts with either CRC brake cleaner or the cheapo Johnson carb cleaner I buy at big lots discount store here for $1.80 per can, let it dry good avoid finger prints, get parts in area where you have good lighting and start with light coats, let it dry 30 minutes in between coats in warm weather and you can end up with a nice looking paint job.

Just be patient and take your time.

 

[mapbike]

Yes it is... and you can most likely do just as well... just do the surface prep and use good paint... it's really not hard to paint an engine. it's all in the prep and masking work that'll give you those type results, that and spraying it on with several thin coats vs one or 2 thick coats... Most these paints have those fan nozzles on the spray head that'll make it even easier to get pro like results at home.

Just get a can of engine paint and try it out on a used or scrap jug, you'll see how easy it can be.

If not, I'm still planning on buying a powder coat setup real soon and may need a jug or 3 to practice on... I went to harbor freight today to buy one but ended up spending over $180 on shop supplies and decided to get it next time... lol... But if I do buy one next time I'll do one for you at no charge if you send me the jug and cover the shipping both ways. I'll need to order some gloss black tho since all they sell there is matte black, red, yellow, and white... The other colors are gloss, but the only black they have in stock os the matte.

one of my brothers has one of the poweder coat rigs from HF, he hasnt used it yet but I've hearx they do a good job.

 

[mapbike]

Yes it sure does maniac, all the aluminum really stands out with the black paint in the background.

 

[Davezilla]

one of my brothers has one of the poweder coat rigs from HF, he hasnt used it yet but I've hearx they do a good job.

yes they do... one of my friends powder coats Harley parts and does it for the local dealerships as well and guess what gun and equipment he's using...

He has 2 HF powder coat gun setups and his ovens are both made by him... one is made from a commercial refrigerator he gutted out and used rock wool for insulation and his heater is a set of coils from a ceramics kiln with a small fan to circulate the heat along with an automatic thermostat, it's big enough to fit a full size Harley frame in and it heats up to 400 degrees in less than 15 minutes. He also added a timer to the heater circuit so he can do the powder caoting, place the parts in the oven, and go home, the oven will heat up, stay at temp the required time, then shut it's self off when done. His other oven is for the ceramic exhaust coatings and he made it pretty much the same way except for more heating coils so it can reach the 1200 degrees required to cure the ceramic coatings.

But all his guns and power supplies are good ole HF.

 

[Davezilla]

I gotta say, black does look pretty good....

I really like that look too... it's got that "well used" patina to it that really looks cool

 

[mapbike]

yes they do... one of my friends powder coats Harley parts and does it for the local dealerships as well and guess what gun and equipment he's using...

He has 2 HF powder coat gun setups and his ovens are both made by him... one is made from a commercial refrigerator he gutted out and used rock wool for insulation and his heater is a set of coils from a ceramics kiln with a small fan to circulate the heat along with an automatic thermostat, it's big enough to fit a full size Harley frame in and it heats up to 400 degrees in less than 15 minutes. He also added a timer to the heater circuit so he can do the powder caoting, place the parts in the oven, and go home, the oven will heat up, stay at temp the required time, then shut it's self off when done. His other oven is for the ceramic exhaust coatings and he made it pretty much the same way except for more heating coils so it can reach the 1200 degrees required to cure the ceramic coatings.

But all his guns and power supplies are good ole HF.

Back when craft ceramics were such a big deal my wife was big into it, even had a shop with a couple of employees back then, but now we're haunted by about 1500-2000 molds, and all the other equipment including two nice big kilns..... I've thought about seeing if I can talk my wife into letting me have one of the kilns for doing small parts powder coating.

This may be something I will have to bring up to her before long since I could do all kinds of small engine related parts in it.

 

[Davezilla]

That would be perfect for powder coat curing if they can heat to 400 degrees... I know kilns can heat to around 2000 degrees if I remember right... but the ceramic exhaust coatings need to cure at 1200F so a kiln would do perfect there...

 

[mapbike]

That would be perfect for powder coat curing if they can heat to 400 degrees... I know kilns can heat to around 2000 degrees if I remember right... but the ceramic exhaust coatings need to cure at 1200F so a kiln would do perfect there...

Yeah these kilns are about 3.5ft tall and at least 24" across, 220 with regulator for setting temp, these were used for firing the glaze and baking the ceramics so I know they will get very very hot maybe up to the 1500-2000 degree range, I can ask my wife and see if she remembers for sure, we have these in storage but eventually one of them may be coming out for doing some powder coating projects.....

I had thought about this once before but have just had it in the far back of my mind for a while now, but I blame it on you Dave and YesimLDS for bringing the idea closer to the mind front again... as if I need a new project...LOL!

 

[Davezilla]

Lol... I'm bad that way... I'll most likely get the powder coat setup next time I go to HF and I can use an old toaster oven to bake the parts since it'll fit just about any China Doll engine part inside and reaches just over 400 degrees... I've used the same toaster oven before to heat cure high temp paints for some of my Harley parts or to help un cloud a clear coat that blushed on me because I shot it on when the weather was too humid. Luckily I was using a laquer clear so it did just fine in the oven but on an enamel clear it'll ruin the paint by heating it past 200...

 

[mapbike]

Lol... I'm bad that way... I'll most likely get the powder coat setup next time I go to HF and I can use an old toaster oven to bake the parts since it'll fit just about any China Doll engine part inside and reaches just over 400 degrees... I've used the same toaster oven before to heat cure high temp paints for some of my Harley parts or to help un cloud a clear coat that blushed on me because I shot it on when the weather was too humid. Luckily I was using a laquer clear so it did just fine in the oven but on an enamel clear it'll ruin the paint by heating it past 200...

Thats a good idea Dave, hadn't thought about using a toaster oven.

Yeah it seems that even the good VHT high heat paints aren't carb cleaner proof until a good heat treating.

 

[Davezilla]

Yeah it seems that even the good VHT high heat paints aren't carb cleaner proof until a good heat treating.

I know all about that one... My 67 Ford truck got a transplant after the 302 it had in it from the previous owner started to develope a knock... We took a 460 and C6 trans out of a 78 Lincoln Town car and shoehorned that into this truck. I didn't have a way to cure the block paint that was in the color I liked so I was constantly touching up the paint job on the engine to keep it good looking. The paint I was using said it needed to be cured at 500 degrees before it reached full strength but that's impossible to do to an assembled engine so anytime I needed to clean the carb or clean anything under the hood with carb or brake cleaner it would take the paint right off.
I know better now and won't use heat curable paint on an engine block since there are better ways to get the color you really want as well as a LOT more colors available.

I got the powder coat setup yesterday but couldn't use it today since I didn't have a regulator at the shop that would drop the shop air pressure down to a usable range, not to mention I wanted to put in a filter to clean AND dry the air going into the gun since these are Very sensative to humidity. We stopped at Harbor Freight again on the way home so I got a good sized filter and regualtor setup I can trust to keep the air feeding the gun nice and dry as well as the ability to get the working pressure below 15 psi etc. Hopefully I can get to the shop early enough to set up the filter system and set up a space to try out my new toy... I'll need about an hour to get the filter mounted to it's own outlet etc, then clear out a space in the back of the shop where I can apply the powder coat, and hopefully have time to shoot a practice piece... I'm still going to need to find a source for the colors but I'm sure a quick text to my friend who has been powder coating for years will get me a few places to buy the stuff I need.

 

[mapbike]

I know all about that one... My 67 Ford truck got a transplant after the 302 it had in it from the previous owner started to develope a knock... We took a 460 and C6 trans out of a 78 Lincoln Town car and shoehorned that into this truck. I didn't have a way to cure the block paint that was in the color I liked so I was constantly touching up the paint job on the engine to keep it good looking. The paint I was using said it needed to be cured at 500 degrees before it reached full strength but that's impossible to do to an assembled engine so anytime I needed to clean the carb or clean anything under the hood with carb or brake cleaner it would take the paint right off.
I know better now and won't use heat curable paint on an engine block since there are better ways to get the color you really want as well as a LOT more colors available.

I got the powder coat setup yesterday but couldn't use it today since I didn't have a regulator at the shop that would drop the shop air pressure down to a usable range, not to mention I wanted to put in a filter to clean AND dry the air going into the gun since these are Very sensative to humidity. We stopped at Harbor Freight again on the way home so I got a good sized filter and regualtor setup I can trust to keep the air feeding the gun nice and dry as well as the ability to get the working pressure below 15 psi etc. Hopefully I can get to the shop early enough to set up the filter system and set up a space to try out my new toy... I'll need about an hour to get the filter mounted to it's own outlet etc, then clear out a space in the back of the shop where I can apply the powder coat, and hopefully have time to shoot a practice piece... I'm still going to need to find a source for the colors but I'm sure a quick text to my friend who has been powder coating for years will get me a few places to buy the stuff I need.

Yeah I messed up a little this time on the paint, it looks good but I forgot what I had had such good luck with on the last engines I painted, I remembered today.....lol

Last engines I used se rattle can Lacquer I got at AutoZone, I think it was Plasticote but Id have to look again to see if that was the brand or not, all I know is that it dries very quick and once its dry carb cleaner or gas had no effect on it.

Hope the powder coating works out good for ya Dave, Im gonna have to get me one of those rigs, one of my brothers has had one for several years but has never used it.

 

[mapbike]

Here is what the Jake Head looks like, combustion chamber is similar to other after market heads but the squish area is where they're different.

I'm not saying its a better design, since I dont know it the difference will actually improve combustion or hinder it compared to the Fred Head and some similar heads we have to choose from nowadays.

Just wanted to share some pics of the head and show how three different head gaskets I have will look when place in position around the squish ring area which is where they sit rather than just flat on the head.

I must make a correction here also, I had said that the squish ring will actually sit down in the bore with a thin gasket, although this is true that it will sit slightly into bore, it is limited to how far it can do this because after taking a good measurement of the squish ring its actually 48mm in Diameter and if you remove the gasket completely the squish ring wont go down in the 47mm bore, I ordered head in the post from MZmiami because I wanted to make a direct comparison to the one I got from Jake, there is little doubt in my mind that both of these heads are being made by the exact same manufacturer, it isn't a clone in my opinion, side by side every single detail in the machining matches perfectly...so anyway fro ahat thats worth I just thought Id tell that like I'm seeing it.

And NO I'm NOT..... saying that someone shouldn't by from Jake, I like Jake personally and I will still buy parts from him in the future.

Some people can afford a $80 head and others can afford a $45 head, MZMiami like this vendor or not is offering people good parts, good service, very quick FREE shipping at a very good price.

Fred is selling the 6cc Fred Head for $45 last I looked which is also a darn good deal and Fred is a good fella, so that is always a good option also.

Just don't want anyone here to think I'm not supportive of our local vendors because I am.

 

[mapbike]

Remaining pix of gaskets actually on the head so all can see how each thickness matches or reveals more of the squish area, this head came from MZ with the 0.040 gasket, and I had the others from other vendors.

Cylinder deck height is gonna be more critical with this head design, I put the Jake Head on my Taffy bike engine and I almost shaved the deck to much for the gasket I used since I have a squish clearance of less than 1/3 of a MM, I may have to add an extra thin base gasket or a slighly thicker head gasket if compression is simply to high or if the piston were to slightly tic the head once engine heats up and things expand.