My 12A rotor housings are painted silver with engine paint.

 

When I overhauled my engine I first glass bead blasted all the aluminum parts, steam cleaned them and then shot a coat or three of DuPont Imron clear epoxy on them It is holding up perfectly so far.

I have used Imron clear on Harley Davidsons for years and have had no problem with it staying on aluminum. I have never tried to shoot it on polished al. though.

 

does it give the aluminum the polished look??

Justin

 

The Imron clear will give the aluminum a shiny wet look. If the metal is shiny to begin with then the Imron will enhance it. It will not make dull metal shine.

The main benefit to shooting the clear Imron on the aluminum is that is prevents the darkening of the metal with age, and seals the pores of the metal so dirt, oil and other contaminants do not stain it.

Imron can tolerate a fair amount of heat. I do not believe it would hold up around the exhaust ports. I painted my end housings with black Imron and it is holding up perfectly also.

The nice thing about Imron and other epoxy paints is that gas, brake fluid, degreasers and virtually all other common chemicals will not affect it. Even common types of paint stripper will not affect it.

 

where would i get that and how much does it run$$$

Justin

 

Imron huh? Anything to do with Enron?

James

 

Imron is a trade name for a two part paint made by the DuPont Corporation. It is sold at automotive paint and body supply stores.

Imron mixes with its hardner (catalyst) at a 3:1 ratio. This means that three quarts of Imron would need one quart of hardner. This is fairly expensive paint. It is used mostly on aircraft and big trucks. When dry Imron is essentially a plastic shell.

The price depends on the color. Metallics and for some reason red are well over $140.00 a gallon. The hardner comes in quart cans and costs about $60 to $65 bucks. If my memory serves me correctly the clear costs about $30 to $35 a quart.

You might try visiting a few body shops, especially the ones who do a lot of overall painting and/or a big truck body shop. Since the amount of paint needed to do an engine is fairly small you may be able to buy enough to do your motor from them.

Imron sets up in about 3 or 4 hours once it is mixed. This will happen even if you haven't sprayed it on yet. What I am trying to say here is it will cure inside your paint gun, so do not leavit in there thinking you can come back in a few hours and clean it.

On my engine parts I shot the clear onto bare VERY clean aluminum. The end housings got a coat of epoxy primer first.

 

it sounds more expensive than powder coating....

Justin

 

Is this the same as 2k car colour?

I am a Car painter by trade but i have never tryed clear coating an engine? I do know if you polish it you will have to give it somthing to key to or it will go flaky.

 

Aluminum is porus enough for the Imron to find a tooth to hold onto. I have shot Harley rocker assemblies, primary chain housings and covers, wheel hubs,engine cases and trannys. I have some bikes out there that are going on twenty years since I painted them. The Imron clear has survived and looks good to this day.

For painted surfaces I use a primer called Super Koropon. It was developed by Boeing for use in the space industry. It mixes 1:1 and thirty minutes after it is applied nothing will cut it.

I am sure that powder coating would be better, but I haven't seen a clear powder coat. Also remember powder coating is a relatively new process, and the equipment to shoot it is still fairly expensive. I have used Imron since 1978. Powder coating is on my list of things to get into next.

The only thing that makes Imron a poor choice for overall paint on a car as far as I am concerned it that you can't repair it. There is no way to make a fresh coat of Imron "burn in" to the old stuff. You have to paint the entire surface.

 

I will have to look into it? i have used Dupont before but we are on Glasurit at the moment.

Do you know what type of clear it is? Synthetic,Celulose or some thing newer like Solvent 2k?

Sorry for all the questions its just i cant imagn most clear coats withstanding the sort of heat of the engine. Is this Dupont Imron Heat resistant?

 

I do not think you could call Imron heat resistant, but it will easily survive the heat on the engine anywhere except in the immediate area of the exhaust ports. AS I said, my end housings are painted with black and it is holding up perfectly.

DuPont Imron is Imron. I don't know how else to describe it. It is a urethane enamel, but since it is an epoxy it will cure rapidly in warm weather. The DuPont number for the activator is 192S. The reducer is 8485S, but I never thin my Imron. It is ready to shoot right after the two parts are mixed. The number for black Imron is 99U. I don't have any clear on hand so I can't give you that number. Any automotive paint store that handles DuPont paints will have it in stock.

Clean your gun with MEK immediately after shooting the Imron. It will cure very quickly especially in the summer time. After it cures there is no readily available solvent to cut it off. You must remove cured Imron with a high dollar very strong alkali aircraft paint stripper. I have tried sand blasting parts painted with Imron and even that will not cut through it.

 

just paint the apex seals

 

Thanks it is lots clearer now. Enamel is alot beter for this type of thing i will try to get hold of some and have a play.

 

powder coat it is then

Justin

 

Imron is some bad *** paint. I painted my baja Bug with it so that trees and stuff wouldn't scratch it to the bare metal. It worked too. As many times as I went off the trail and ran through bushes and crap, the paint never got scratched through.

 

hopefully i wont be running my engine block through trees and bushes.....

Justin

 

Have you done anything yet? Send pics...