I’m looking for a local (if possible) company to do some vapor blasting (not sand blasting) on the engine of the GS. I’m going to go with sandblast/powdercoat on the frame, but I was told to stay away from engine enamel and paint on the motor as it will discolor and crack. POR-15 and POR-20 apparently had mixed results and browned after a few hundred miles, and VHT engine enamel is garbage in my opinion.
I guess vapor blasting is the way to go since it seals the aluminum and prevents dirt from adhering to the surface.
If anyone can point me in the right direction for a local company (maybe Clarence Metal Finishing?) that would be awesome.
are you looking at soda blasting in other words? Jesse @ www.BlastoffNY.com can do that so you don’t get media that’s not water soluble anywhere you don’t want it. I’ve got an oven large enough to accommodate a bigblock V8 and we’ve done quad frames, brush guards, skid plates, jeep bumpers ect and so does Fred @ Clarence Finishing. He’s got a bunch of experience coating automotive engine blocks, swing by and ask him what your course of action should be. He does all his own media blasting, or sublets the work to Jesse and other vendors if it’s too large for his media capabilities, he likes to do all of his own prep so he can guarantee what he does will stick. I’ve done clutch covers, valve covers, and other engine parts for quads and motorcycles but never a head or case.
I’ve used Jesse before, he did the wheels on my Ninja and they turned out great. I think I’m gonna have him do the soda blasting, I just need to find a good powdercoater, Jesse and I ran into some problems with the PC he used before, so I’d probably try to find another company to go through.
did you have the black wheels that got botched? if so that was my fault, ran out of powderand couldn’t get enough in time to get enough coverage. Fred @ Clarence is the authority in the area, anyone who says otherwise doesn’t know better.