Griffon 380cc engine rebuild - barrel & piston

[garybam4711]

Hi Martin our barrels are sprayed with barrel paint not powder coated
gary

[John Wakefield]

Greeves used to sell the paint known as DAG in aerosol cans, there are probably alternatives out there or you could use https://granvilleoil.com/prodInfo?pID=252

[Martin H]

Thank you for the replies.

Many years ago I used "rattle cans" of "barrel paint" and made a complete mess and had to have them redone professionally.

And I still have a brush on tin of barrel paint paint similar to the website of John, but never achieved a good uniform coating
especially on barrels.

Surprisingly, many years ago I painted a Norton Commando petrol tank with specialist "rattle cans" candy apple red (yellow base,
then clear silver metal flake and then clear red lacquer) that is still much admired.

My Griffon barrel and head is being blasted and coated by a small company specialising in blasting and coating motorcycle
and small car parts. They are not a large industrial powder coating company doing garden furniture etc. The stuff I have seen
there includes motorcycle frames, exhausts, barrels, engines etc all excellent.

The owner of the company has owned and raced several Greeves and still owns a Greeves MX? scrambler.

They will be using a "powder coat" suitable for barrels and heads.

But that still leaves the questions
- does a coating affect the heat dissipation ?
- what was original ?

[Stan Nicholson]

I don't want to interfere here but a matt black surface will dissipate more heat than a plain aluminium one will. That is why Greeves painted the barrels and heads on the competition bikes, as John says, with a graphite based paint. This was a very thin coat so did not affect heat dissipation which a thicker coat of paint will do, to a certain extent.

Powder coating uses a plastic medium which is applied electrostatically and this is then fused into a coating by heat. I cannot see any plastic coating that is suitable for barrels and heads that will not prevent maximum heat dissipation. A thin coat of matt black heat resistant paint from a rattle can is the way to go in my opinion, especially on a 2-stroke, and one with as big a bore as the 380.

Stan