Sandblasting my Trike.. What can/cant I sandblast?

[CodyRosa]

I'm going to give a list of what I want sandblasted and could someone tell me if I can or not? I've never sandblasted anything like this So i don't know what it does to the metal lol
Front forks (the bottom not the chromed metal part lol)

Triples - I want to polish them so does sandblasting screw this up?

85 200M motor. I mean obviously i'll plug my holes up so nothing gets in it but will this hurt my motor at all? Another random question- can i spray paint the motor with chrome heat paint? What temp resistance paint should i get? like up to 500 degree's? more? If i wanted to polish(probably will just paint) does this hurt it? Like if I sandblast I wont be able to polish.

Swingarm

Frame

Axle? can you even powdercoat these?

Sorry for the stupid question, I have never sandblasted before.. I have barely polished to.

Thanks everyone,

Cody


Edit: For sandblasting i'm guessing it brings it down to the bare metal so it could get rusty? Or no? I'm wondering for motor incase I can't paint it with spray paint. heat resistant of course.

[Flyingw]

Ok Cody. Here's a down and dirty explaination of media blasting.

First of all, media blasting is a mechanical means of stripping metal parts of paint, corrosion, and other coatings. When you media blast a metal part, depending on the media type and type of metal being blasted will dictate the effect to the metal. The more aggressive the media the more the metal will be effected. This effect is referred to as "profiling" the metal. Some media such as baking soda will remove corrosion and paint but it takes more media and effort than blasting with sand and won't profile the metal as sand does. With that said, picking the right media for any given metal is important.

For your effort, its important to know that you can sand blast the parts you mentioned but you will be creating more work for yourself. Sand blasting steel parts is actually a good media for removing old paint and corrosion. It ever so slightly profiles the steel which makes for a good substrait for paint but sand blasting aluminum parts is not a good thing. A media less aggressive is preferred for aluminum such as glass bead. I sand blast my frames but the aluminum parts get blasted with #10 glass bead. #10 glass bead is a medium grit media suitable for many kinds of metal but it does profile the aluminum. This effects you because if you are wanting to polish the triples and/or lower fork tubes then sand blasting is not a good option. Sand blasting or bead blasting these parts will rough up the metal and you will have to sand all that roughness out of the metal as part of the polishing process. If all you have is sandblasting, you will be creating 10x more work for yourself if your going to polish parts. Be careful blasting with just sand.

As far as painting your motor, it will need to be as clean as you can get it. I have painted motors with High heat engine paint with great success. I have painted motors with high temp silver but the silver is bad about finger prints and it doesnt like gasoline so I always put a high temp clear coat over the silver. The clear will matt the finish of the silver and give it more of a light grey finish. I did an 185S motor this way and it came out very nice.

In summary, sand blast the steel parts like the frame and swinger but I would not advise using sand on the aluminum parts. Polishing these parts is a progressive process of sanding smooth the metal all the way up to about 3000 grit before putting the part on the polishing wheel. Very labor intensive indeed.

I hope this helps you out.

Its also worth mentioning that the parts that appear to be natural metal such as the triples is not natural. There is a baked on industrial grade gray/clear topcoat to protect the metal. If you are going to polish the metal, that topcoat will have to come off either mechanically or chemically. This includes engine cases

[Flyingw]

This is an example of the clear over silver. This is a 185S I was given. It sat in a pole barn for 16 years uncovered and rotted. This is what it looked like when I got it.

[Flyingw]

This is what it looked like when I was done. I did the clear over silver on the forks too.

[Flyingw]

If you were very careful, you can sand blast the motor as a whole just to get the old clear and corrosion off. Then degrease, power wash, and rinse with rubbing alcohol to prepare it for painting. My 185S motor was completely disassembled and bead blasted but I have done whole motors with almost as good results. Clean clean clean is the key.

This is the motor I put in R Force One. same technique.

[Flyingw]

I should also add that when sand blasting an entire motor, the sand can damage rubber parts like seals. Don't dwell on those parts. For frames if you can find it, there is a media called Black Diamond. Its a synthetic sand with real good cut and its reuseable one or two times. Sand is done after one use. Black Diamond works great on steel parts but isnt recommended for aluminum though. Just remember, the softer the metal, the easier it is to profile it with aggressive media.

[CodyRosa]

Wow thanks Flyingw. I'm still reading your posts now. Thanks a bunch!

[CodyRosa]

Oops forgot to mention hubs.. Can I sandblast front and rear hubs? Or are they aluminum

[Honda_ATC]

hubs are metal so there good to sand blast

[CodyRosa]

Ok cool thanks!