How to restore front of engine

[Mark Darlington]

Hi everyone. New to the forum - just bought an 95 R-RS a couple of days ago and took it out for the first time today. Great fun!

Anyway, my question. Looking at the front of the engine under the fairing (I guess the engine chest?), it looks as though it has been painted, and that the paint is bubbling and peeling. Is the engine painted from new, or has that been done later?

How am I best tackling the issue of improving the finish? Should I strip and repaint, or can I strip the paint, get some aluminium cleaner, and buff really hard?

All help gratefully received.

Regards,
Mark

[breyfogle]

Welcome to the RS board.

WRT your question, it would help if you were a bit more specific about just what part of the "front of the engine under the fairing" you were referring to. Most if the front of the engine case (not the cylinders) is an unpainted black plastic cover held on by half a dozen or so small Allenhead bolts. Everything else, i.e. the entire aluminum engine, (cases, heads, valve covers, tranny, etc) is painted and clearcoated.

[Skyenet]

I suspect this is the type of corrosion you are talking about. Wouldn't mind knowing how to get rid of it myself.

http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/bmw-bikes/corrosion_left.jpg

http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/bmw-bikes/corrosion_right.jpg

[Wayne Dowers]

hmmm, I've never seen anything like that with bubbling of the finish. I think these parts are power coated, regular touching up might be possible, but difficult. The only way I know you could really do it right is disassemble and strip the old finish off and resprary or repowder coat.

What causes this? Road salt?

[Terry]

I'd post a picture of mine but I'm too embarrassed.


In my defence, my bike lived in Portsmouth for the first few years of it's life so the rot may (literally) have set in then.

If my bike looked like any of those pictures I would be delighted.

At £25 ish from Sherlocks s/h (if memory serves), I may just get a replacement one - sandblast it completely clean, and paint it with silver UHT.

OTOH, I may just ignore it - Winter's on its way.

[Mark Darlington]

Sorry if I wasn't specific enough. The corrosion is much like the pictures posted. Squinting under the fairing from the front, I can see a black plastic plate facing forward. Underneath that, there is a squarish expanse of aluminium where the paint is bubbling/peeling.

I guess the answer to the question is that it is painted from new, and I'll have to look at how I can carefully improve the finish.

As an aside, I once painted up the cylinder block of a Yamaha with UHT paint, then at a later stage took the block in for a rebore at my local parts place. They were less than impressed with me because the paint came off the block/fins and blocked their boring machine!

Cheers,
Mark

[breyfogle]

Mark

I kinda remember reading an old post about repainting and matching the engine finish. Don't remember if it was on this board, the old version of this board, or the RT board. A search might find something.

Is anybody else's memory better than mine :bang:

[arneng]

My 93 R1100RS has the same problem. Hope someone suggests a good solution. If I were to do something right now I would just peel off the loose paint and spray on some similar-looking paint. Must be heat-resistant I guess. On mine there is also rust on a section of the exhaust pipes. It looks like the heat damaged the chrome and then rust set in. I doubt that spraying will be a good repair, but it can't hurt and it cant look worse than now, so I guess I would spray there also.