Gasket questions

[brecchi]

Stuart - long time!  You worked on a Ducati Monster 900 several years ago I picked up for a song in Las Vegas.  I came out to your shop in LA and you walked me through a full service on the bike.  I ended up riding it back to the east coast, and its currently with me in Washington DC.

Im pretty sold on painting it on the bike now.  Any particular method you use to clean and prepare the cases before paint?

Thanks,
Ben

[Duck-Stew]

Stuart - long time!  You worked on a Ducati Monster 900 several years ago I picked up for a song in Las Vegas.  I came out to your shop in LA and you walked me through a full service on the bike.  I ended up riding it back to the east coast, and its currently with me in Washington DC.

Im pretty sold on painting it on the bike now.  Any particular method you use to clean and prepare the cases before paint?

Thanks,
Ben

I remember you...  (in a good way.)

I just used simple green to remove the grease & shmutz.  Just be sure to get the simple green all the way off because it leaves a film (lots of water will do this.)

[brecchi]

Thanks Stu - Ill shoot some pics over when its finished.  Hope things are good in AZ!

[brecchi]

Hey Stu,

After removing the bolts, taping it off, and cleaning, did you spray multiple coats on, and then just run the engine to cure it?  If so, how long to wait between coats, and did you use any kind of primer to help the paint adhere to the cases?  If you wouldn't mind walking me through what you did in that regard, Id appreciate it.  I'm only being this nitpicky about it because a few years ago, I painted my headers black, and the paint burned off and disappeared in a week. I guess the Hi Temp paint I used wasn't rated high enough.

Any advice on header painting would be appreciated as well.  I plan to do that in conjunction with the cases. Im assuming Ill need higher temp paint for that. Id like to pick some up in a store ASAP, so any brand recommendations would be great.

So,  Im thinking of doing multiple coats on the cases and the headers at the same time (removing the headers first of course)  Then letting everything dry overnight, replacing the headers and starting up the bike and running it to cure the paint.   

[Duck-Stew]

I cleaned and scuffed the original paint to help the VHT engine paint adhere.  I put 2 coats on and then let the bike sit outside to dry.  I put the bolts back in and then fired it up (don't want an oil leak) to let the engine come to temp.

Header paint?  Hahahaha.....   Never paint an exhaust system.  ONLY take it off and send it out to be ceramic coated.  Anything short of that is a waste of time and money.  Anything.