Cooling fins/Cylinder Finish
 

Anybody ever strip (not for money..hehehe) the paint/finish off the cylinders and repaint them with wrinkle paint?

My cooling fins and the overall cylinders look like crap, course it is a '95 Heritage, and I'm wondering if this is something anybody has done, and if it has affected the cooling of the bike. All I need this summer is a bike over heating for a stupid reason like that.

Thanks.

My .02
 

My thinking is, as long as the paint is able to withstand the heat, go for it. I think it's the heat fins that keep it cool, so you probably won't want to paint that part too heavily, but my logic is they already have black paint on the cylinders, so it can't hurt. I don't know if anyone in here is a tech, but that's my .02.

Best of luck!

PHAT-BOY

Yeah, I'm just wondering if anybody has any suggestions for paint, like a wrinkle type found at jpcycles or something else. I do know you should use a paint that doesn't trap the heat, but I'm unsure...and the boys around here haven't really done this kind of work.

It's hard to paint 'around' the fins, so I think they have to be cleaned up after the painting is done with a remover or something.

This definitely isn't going to be a fun job, but a nice touch up will make a difference. I'll try to post before and after photos, but I can't promise anything. Thanks for the thoughts Phat-Boy!

Spent a little time looking at my bike last night, and thinking about this. I would think if you took them off, had the paint stripped, through blasting of whatever, careful to not break a fin, then paint the entire cylinder. Once it dries take a sanding block or something to that effect and sand the edges of the fins to take the paint off. I would think that would work for ya.

PHAT-BOY

That's what I was thinking....Bikerforums.org telepathy I think.

Anyway, it's definitely an off season project, so I'm just planning this out now.

Thanks again Phat-Boy, I'll keep you updated.

Hey Mongo...ya ever get yur motor painted?

Nope.

Well Mongo, I have painted my motor many years agao and believe it or not...I did it with house paint out of a rattle can! Now I don't recomend this procedure, but it worked and lasted for quite a few years (About 8 yrs). It is rather nasty now...but I am having motor work done myself and I am gonna have the motor powder coated. At the time I had no money and was in AMI here in Daytona. Anyway...the only time that it really affects the cooling is, if you do not clean the fins on the edge. I have seen motors painted that haven't done that but I would be willin to bet they run hotter. The wrinkle paint H-D has is the best, believe it or not and can be applied with the motor still in the frame. If you have to remover the motor for work, then by all means, do it while the mill is outta there. But if there is no real reason to remove the motor, the take care and mask everything that could have the remotist possibility of getting paint on or near it. Then paint away. When the paint dries...that a block of wood or whatever you deem nessary and some sand paper and carefully sand the fins till all the paint is removed. Some of the areas are hard to get to...so take care and take your time and the motor will come out lookin good!

I've got a Nightrain and the people I've talked to say that you must have it blasted with glass beads before painting. Sorry, but that's all the info I've got.

so Mongo have you tried this yet? I just blasted my heads and jugs, hoping to find out before i do this. either this or have them powder coated.

I did strip them down and re'paint' them with a engine coating that had a crinkle finish. It turned out really nice.

If you want to do it I can give you some tips on it and recommend what to use to strip it down. Let me know.

Mongo,

They are stripped allready. sand blasted them, they are off a 69 Iron head that need to be blasted. so was deciding on either painting or powder coating.

Well the hard part is stripping them...so you've got that covered. Guess the paint/powder is what you have to figure out. The paint is real easy if you have the engine out, never done the powder coating.

Years ago I repainfted the jugs and heads on my evo.First you have to bead blast,which seems to take forever .Tape off the mating surfaces ,paint the whole works.I used a womans nail file the spongy 1/8 in thick variety to remove the paint on the fins.Theres a ton of grits available on the files.I used the harley engine paint that came in a orange spray can and the castings themselves will give you some texture.They turned out better than the original factory job.This year I took the bottom 2 fins off my jugs and polished them and they look as good as a Sumax job.It was easy and it didn`t cost me a penny except for the cutter for the die grinder.

I know when I redid mine they looked better than the factory job too....maybe I'm just biased though..LOL.

Have you seen the diamond cut cooling fins? Pretty wild. Not something you could do with everything in tact, but if you're pulling the engine, it'd be cool as hell.

The only thing I see bad about the diamond cut is you know that after a matter of time they will not shine like they did wnen new and all those little dimples may be a pain in the a-- to polish out with your finger.

Didn't even think of that, just more shit to polish....no need for that....LOL....rather be riding.

I`ve got this thing for cleaning.Some say its anal.(oops)My 91` looks better than when I took it off the floor in Oct. 90`.People think its only a year or two old.Usually before a ride for the day I just get out a pail of water and a rag and just get the crud off the frontal facing surfaces.The white-walls get a quick wipe down with some Westley`s on a seperate rag.Plus this gives me a few moments to check if things need any special attention.Usaally takes half hour to 45 mins.Unless I get rained on then it gets the full blown clean job.If you`ve got white walls,don`t use armor-all they attract more dust that way and get all dingy.I`ve got this down to a science,been doing this for 12 yrs. now.Later Toby

I painted my Ironhead fins with black stove paint (wood stove paint). It's cool, it has these little flecks of something silvery in it and looks great. It's rated at like 1500 degrees I think. Goes on nice and thin so it doesn't build up. Lasts a long time too and is easy to touch up if needed.

Mine turned out a medium gloss and still look good.Ileft the jugs all black and only polished the bottom 5 fins on my heads to break it up and make my own look.Removing my bottom 2 jug fins and polishing from there down breaks it up more and gives it a more custom look.Wish I did it yrs.ago.

Before I decided to sell the '86...I was defineately gonna have the jugs Diamond cut. In their ads, they clain more cooling area, which seems resonable as the way they are cut...would have to increase the area.

I wouldn`t think that just by putting little dimples on every fin could make that much disipation in heat.Hey,but who am I.I would like to see there test for this and see how many degrees difference.But they do look nice.

diamond cut fins?
 

im courious about this any where i can view this? and good to talk to yall again.later REDNECK
________
Kawasaki A1

Redneck,can`t find any pictures of it right now but I`ve seen it a bunch of times in mags.Can`t think of the company that does it either.Any help from any of the forum breathren?????????Toby

a site and pictures
 

Did a quick search and came up with this. This place does all that good stuff pretty cheap $300. The also have some pics on the site. Pretty good looking stuff.

http://www.yourmachinist.com/new_diamondcutting.shtml#

Try this link...

http://www.diamond-heads.com/pages/21742/index.htm

Diamond cut fins
 

JUST A WARNING:

I saw diamond cut fins in the Harley shop in LaVale, MD and had to have it done on my '02 Sporty, 1200 Custom. To save cash, instead of taking the bike there I did a web search and found << yourmachinist.com >>. Beautiful website, nice pictures, good price, turn around time 7 - 10 working days. I had my jugs pulled at the local HD dealer and shipped to "Gonzo," who owns the business. That was in January 2003. I figured have him powdercoat it too, black satin finish for an extra $100. After many threats of legal action (on my part) and many, many excuses (on his), a set of jugs arrived at the lcal HD shop, COD for $144. That was the end of March, '03. Nice price, but they weren't the jugs I shipped him. They had many more miles on them than the 4700 mine did. They also were not powdercoated. They were painted with gloss black paint (and done very shoddy, at that). The diamond cutting ("Over 35 years experience, all done by hand like the facets on a diamond") was terrible. No where near the quality of what the folks at LaVale have done when they send them to << Diamond-Heads.com >> in Las Vegas. I had mine stripped, meticulously masked and powdercoated at WV Powdercoating. They did an excellent job and confirmed that the way Gonzo's product stripped off it was paint, not powdercoat. That was $600 because of all the labor. I tried to polish up the uneven, asymetrically cut grooves with a Dremel and jeweler's rouge, Simichrome and a few other polishes but still can get nothing like the ones I originally saw. When the engine is on the bike, the grooves are cut at such an angle that even when hand polished you have to squat down so your eyes are on the level of the engine or they appear "hit and miss" and very unimpressive.

A new set of Screamin' Eagle jugs is at the local HD shop and will be sent off (probably to Diamond-Heads). I don't want to re-do someone elses used jugs, so I have the added expense of parts on top of the diamond cutting.

So buyer beware: Diamond cutting looks great, if it's done in a real machine shop of repute, not out of someone's house, barn, garage or basement. I know from experience.

Todd

Thanks for the buyer beware Todd. Sorry you had to go through all this to warn us about it. Good luck, and post some pics when done, we'd love to see it.

Re: Diamond cut fins
 

WOW Todd...sorry to hear bout your bad experience with brand X. It just confirms for me, that it just doesn't pay to try to cut corners (Sorry for the pun) when it come to quality work.

As Phat Boy stated...post some pics when you get it done...sounds like it will be an awesome looking motor.

Todd's BlueSky & Diamond Cutting
 

I read the posting by Todd Standford with great interest. There's a few things Todd left out.

1. When Todd contacted me he claimed 5K miles on his `02 XL. On receipt of the parts he was called and told the cylinders had a lot of wear for 5K...he said they planned to bore & hone when returned.

2. Todd first wanted Satin Black (aka Wrinkle and Textured Black) powder coating.

3. Todd played heavily on being military and asked about military discounts; he was informed of a Special Price posted only on eBay, which he didn't know about, and quoted this price; he was also told he could save on freight by going thru eBay...which he chose not to do.

After being given a quote Todd had a Harley dealer ship the parts and the order requested Satin Powder Coating. Todd then called and asked that it be done in Gloss Black. Todd called a total of 3 times changing the Color. They were powder coated, not painted, Satin Black and he claimed I'd made a mistake; so, against my better judgment, I stripped and did them over in Gloss Powder Coat.

Between the redo and the terrible weather, couldn't drive on the roads near my shop for over a week due to ice & snow...TN not equipped for snow/ice storms, the work was delayed. But the job was finally finished and, since UPS was having difficulty getting to us, I loaded up all completed jobs and headed out to UPS' office in Clarksville TN. Regretfully, on the side road to the Interstate, an oncoming truck hit a patch of black ice, sideswiped me and put me in the ditch. This was on 2/28/03...I was in the hospital for several days and then out of work until March 13th but unable to do much for another week. Todd was sent updates on a regular basis by my daughter.

There was minor damage to some of the fins and Todd was notified that while I have others that can do diamond cutting none were experienced enough to make repairs so it had to be put off until I fully recovered.

Todd then began making abusive phone calls and sending demand e-mails. As soon as I could the parts were repaired and neither he, or anyone else for that matter, could see where the repairs were done. After putting up with all his crap I got angry and sent the stuff charging only my material cost and freight...shouldn't have done that cause I learned, from people I know in his area, that's what he hoped for.

All top end sets are tagged as they come in to avoid mix-ups...in Todd's case it was even easier as I receive very few XL orders...Todd got back exactly the same set he had sent.

I don't appreciate Todd's BS but realize that in business you're going to get clowns like this...yes, like everyone else I screw-up (averaging about a 1.5% oops rate) and I've always taken care of the problem...WHEN THE CUSTOMER LETS ME...Todd wasn't man enough to contact me, instead he hides behind his computer and writes a bunch of lies or calls on the phone and cusses out my daughter. Such is life...guess I'll have to get an attorney and start proceedings for the slander...what do you think?

I think I'll forget the attorney and Todd...life's too short to sweat little minds...and people who have a year old bike with only 5,000 miles...didn't know you could pile up that many miles pushing `em on & off trailers.