Paint removal-cylinder head

Seriously, yank the head off. Just buy a gallon of acetone at Lowes and use a 5 gallon bucket to dissolve the paint. Get some good stiff brushes.
Follow-up with a good washing in a tub of hot soapy water and compressed air.

I'd take the opportunity to remove and lap the valves. Bead blasting leaves such a dead looking surface on aluminum.
Soda blasting is slow unless you have a huge compressor.

I too polished the fins and cleaned-up the casting boogers on mine and it looks nice.
There is so much you can do to clean-up the casting but it's a lot of fiddly work with a file and Dremel.
And of course I gave it many hot soapy baths during the process.

Acetone will dissolve a lot of organic material, however if the paint contains certain polymers and is baked on, it might not come off easily. The trike degreaser will remove most paint especially if the liquid in it has become acidic through lack of maintenance. It won't eat the aluminium.

Ive been using this for years.

MS850 said:

Ive been using this for years.

Click to expand...

from msds sheet:
75-09-2 Dichloromethane {Methylene chloride; R-30; Freon 30} 60.0 -100.0 % PA8050000

67-56-1 Methanol {Methyl alcohol; Carbinol; Wood alcohol} 15.0 -25.0 % PC1400000

There we are again..... methylele chloride... but very bad if you have a bum ticker....

Is it OK for aluminum aircraft but NOT a norton head?

You may want to give a brass wire wheel a try.
They do a great job of cleaning up the cast aluminum finish of the head and cases.

Look up vapor blast. I saw a live demo and I was impressed. You could probably get it done with the head on the engine in the bike.

My 850 Commando jugs need a re-paint...they have surface rust, but not any apparent paint flaking. Since the engine is low original miles (8500) and runs well, I do not want to pull it apart just to do the painting at this point.
Any pointers on painting just the cylinder block in situ? I'm thinking a good degreaser treatment of the fins, some wire wheel work and then brake caliper or engine enamel applied from a tincan, not a spraycan, using those foam wedge type disposable brushes.

Watched a video of LunMad painting a Triumph block using tin can paint and a lengths of rag strips to pull between the fins. This was with the engine out of frame though.

I painted a set of Triumph cylinders with Rustoleum and a brush. Still look presentable after ten years. I use brake fluid to strip paint from plastic without it harming the surface. Maybe brush some on. Be sure an wear a suitable pair of gloves.

Having a hard time finding local source for heat resistant/engine paint not in a rattle can. Caliper paint in a tin can is on a local shelf in a kit with cleaner/prep'er solutions and for $25. Say's it's good to 500 F. I think this will do...I'm not going for a show room look here....just want it street presentable until a complete rebuild (hopefully a long ways into future....).

Re. brake fluid as stripper....I've heard/seen evidence that it seems to strip older types of paint like lacquers and not so much newer epoxies/enamels/polyurethanes.

I'm not too sure I really need to strip much, as what is still present is holding on pretty well...why not just prep it and paint over? Here's a shot of the bike showing the jugs condition...

You can do a good job masking everywhere and then spray can the barrel and use a Q-tip or small brush to touch up around the cylinder nuts. The best paint I've used is the black VHT caliper paint - about $9 a can (thank you concours). The head can also be done using a rag sprayed with aluminum exhaust header paint. You don't want a heavy sprayed coat on the head. The rag method makes it look like factory (almost looks unpainted).

Russ

In the FWIW department: I did mask everything off real well, made blanking plates for the intakes and exhaust ports and soda blasted them with a cheap Home Depot soda blaster with head still on the bike. Everything came out clean and shiney. Painted the cylinders in place with Rustoleum hi-heat spray. A year and several thousand miles later still looks and runs good.

Mask using cling film at the head joint, run it around the head/barrel and then take some string and wrap and tighten around the head/barrel joint so it pulls the cling film into the bottom of the joint between the fins and then pull the lower part of the cling film that stays over the barrel up to the head. You can now paint the top barrel fin and get no paint on the bottom head fin.