Painted my motor!

[matholland]

Hey guys! So my motor was nasty (the whole 400ex is kind of rough but I traded a 2 stroke cr250 for it). I was originally going to polish it...but it was going to take forever...I had saw where some people had painted their motor, so I decided to give it ago...unfortunately I don't have any pics of it before I started as I already had the motor apart...but here is what it looks like without the clear coat...I decided not to clear it until after I put it all back together due to the fact it will probably get scratched as I am putting it back into the frame and putting the motor back together.

<a href="http://www.freeimagehosting.net/o8263"><img src="http://www.freeimagehosting.net/t/o8263.jpg"></a>
<a href="http://www.freeimagehosting.net/g7d3x"><img src="http://www.freeimagehosting.net/t/g7d3x.jpg"></a>
<a href="http://www.freeimagehosting.net/1smoi"><img src="http://www.freeimagehosting.net/t/1smoi.jpg"></a>

I am satisified with how it came out. Anyone else have pictures of their motor if you have painted it? How well is it holding up?

[Ryan02400ex]

Nice, did you use a high temp paint designed for it? Or just regular paint?

[matholland]

Yeah I went to Menard's and got a can of 500 degree primer, engine enamal which is paint, and clear. I put 2 coats of primer, 2 coats of paint and its been sitting for 2 days now.

[CJM]

if possible id clear it, so much as a rock or your boot rubs it the paints gone.

[Ryan02400ex]

Yeah I went to Menard's and got a can of 500 degree primer, engine enamal which is paint, and clear. I put 2 coats of primer, 2 coats of paint and its been sitting for 2 days now.

Sweet! I always wanted to paint mine black, but I thought I would wait until it gets bad haha

[matholland]

I am definitely going to clear coat it. But I am going to wait until I get the motor back together and in the frame. You didn't read it all the way :) Lol. I was originally going yo go with black but it shows everything and hard to keep clean so I went with a more factory look.

[CJM]

I would clear it now. If you clear it when its back together your NEVER going to be able to take it apart without forcing it. Seen it happen a few times when someone spray bombs the thing.

[Blodg]

I have only seen a few motors painted like that and they looked like snot after a while. But maybe yours won't look too bad if the paint scratches or rubs off if the factory color underneath is similar. I wouldn't paint mine but unlike many others on here I build my quads for performance and reliability and not for looks.

[matholland]

I have only seen a few motors painted like that and they looked like snot after a while. But maybe yours won't look too bad if the paint scratches or rubs off if the factory color underneath is similar. I wouldn't paint mine but unlike many others on here I build my quads for performance and reliability and not for looks.

Right, but it needed something done, and it looked like garbage....I am all for perfomance, but I don't want it to look like crap either...I have everything apart now anyway and was waiting on parts, so it gave me something to do. I am going with a 416 like you have went with, with a je 10:8:1, and a hotcam stage 1. Hopefully it wont turn out looking like crap later on...However, if it does, it is close enough to the aluminum color that it is still going to look better than it did.

I will clear coat it before I get it all back together then. Prep work is always key, and I took the time to clean the cases up and run it all over with a wire brush before painting it and started off with primer...Time will tell lol!

[Zakradu398]

Right, but it needed something done, and it looked like garbage....I am all for perfomance, but I don't want it to look like crap either...I have everything apart now anyway and was waiting on parts, so it gave me something to do. I am going with a 416 like you have went with, with a je 10:8:1, and a hotcam stage 1. Hopefully it wont turn out looking like crap later on...However, if it does, it is close enough to the aluminum color that it is still going to look better than it did.

I will clear coat it before I get it all back together then. Prep work is always key, and I took the time to clean the cases up and run it all over with a wire brush before painting it and started off with primer...Time will tell lol!


You are going to hate that stage 1 cam. They are no good.

[matholland]

You are going to hate that stage 1 cam. They are no good.

Really? Well I haven't bought it yet. I found it on craigslist for $40 bucks with a stock cam as well....I was going to pick it up when I dropped my truck off for service tomorrow....I had saw pretty good things about them when I was doing some research on them...It's definately worth picking up both cams for $40 regardless...the hotcam is worth double that on ebay.

[Zakradu398]

Really? Well I haven't bought it yet. I found it on craigslist for $40 bucks with a stock cam as well....I was going to pick it up when I dropped my truck off for service tomorrow.

Anything over stock compression your gonna hate your quad with a stage 1 ... Great bottom but totally kills the top end, my stage 2 improved the whole range significantly IMO.

[2001400exrida]

I think you did a good enough paint job that this will hold up just fine. I"ve seen spray paint jobs that don't hold up, but you've go this apart and sanded, primed, and clear coated it will hold up just fine.

Far as hating the stage 1 cam, that's simply a matter of opinion. They have killer torque, i ran one for 2 years and with my gearing it was a great cam. Stage 2 suited me better, but the 1 isn't bad if you're a trail rider.

[Zakradu398]

I think you did a good enough paint job that this will hold up just fine. I"ve seen spray paint jobs that don't hold up, but you've go this apart and sanded, primed, and clear coated it will hold up just fine.

Far as hating the stage 1 cam, that's simply a matter of opinion. They have killer torque, i ran one for 2 years and with my gearing it was a great cam. Stage 2 suited me better, but the 1 isn't bad if you're a trail rider.


He's getting it for $40 so may as well try it. I rode a friends 400 with the je 10.8:1 and a stage 1 and hated it...
I only ride trails.

[matholland]

I was originally wanting a stage 2, but I came across that on CL and thought what the heck, both the stock cam and the hotcam for $40...heck yeah! lol...Maybe I can find someone to trade me...the guy said that it has very low hours on it. Maybe I will just run the stock cam, pick up the stage 1 and trade it on here, or sell it on ebay to buy a stage 2.

You guys are probably right, I will probably hate it...the stage 2 sounds like it suits me much better.

[Zakradu398]

I was originally wanting a stage 2, but I came across that on CL and thought what the heck, both the stock cam and the hotcam for $40...heck yeah! lol...Maybe I can find someone to trade me...the guy said that it has very low hours on it. Maybe I will just run the stock cam, pick up the stage 1 and trade it on here, or sell it on ebay to buy a stage 2.

You guys are probably right, I will probably hate it...the stage 2 sounds like it suits me much better.

Absolutely, pick that thing up and flip it tho!

[DragonGunner]

I've painted mine engines a couple times at least, no clear coat, and no primer. I think mine was 1000 temp. paint, always stayed on, never rubbed off, pretty durable, I just sanded and steel wooled everything a little bit before painting.

[matholland]

Dumb question. How do you identify a hot cam? The 2 cams that I got from him have the same indention markings on the can but I don't see any numbers or anything. Now on my stock cam out of my four Wheeler it does not have any indentions or markings. So I believe they both may be a hot cam? Idk. The 2 markings are n and b

[Stickman400]

There are marks on the Stage 2 HC, I don't think there are any on the stock cam. Somewhere on here awhile back someone uploaded a pic of the Stage 2 HC which showed the markings, I can't remember where though.

[matholland]

Well I did some research and apparantly they are both stock cams...I told the guy and he said he did not know, and offered my money back...but I stuck it on ebay and sold one of the 2 for 50 shipped so I got my money back out of the deal. The complete cam still had the decompression stuff and from what I found, no aftermarket cam has the decompression setup....the one that was not complete had all the notches for the decompressor...so that told me that they were both in fact stock cams.