Personally as previously mentioned I feel there may be not enough silicone in the actual paint, but rest assured that the company that sold it to you won't admit to that. The main thing is that it looks uniform all over the completed machine and that you like it.
As far as painting the engine is concerned they were originally painted fully assembled but that's probably not how I would do it as you have to take into consideration that the factories are all about speed and ease of production for themselves and definitely not about how it will affect the service personel at a later point.
Sand blasting is not reccommended for alloy parts at all. (I'm only mentioning this for the benefit of future readers of this thread) Bead Blasting is the only method for aggressive blasting. If you use conventional grit blasting you'll see the material dissappear before your very eyes and that's not the outcome we want is it ? Now as far as the steel parts are concerned that's not a huge issue but "NOT" the petrol tank as it has a sealing glue applied around the seam joint and you don't want to disturb that at all, so paint stripper is the best way to go on that part.
Now as far as painting is concerned I would paint the engine in much the same fashion as it was originally done and keep up the theme of not painting the areas that were not originally painted under the Cowling. I would though crib in a bit further than the original end of paint lines that are created by the air cowling, thus the cowling when fitted will slide over a bit of painted area. This is good should you have to remove the cowling at any future point and not split the painted seam that is created at the factory originally. BTW paint the Cowling seperately along with the Petrol Tank and Air Cleaner housing.
I would assemble the carby onto the side of the engine tightly using sping washers and paint it that way. (BTW Mask up the underside of the carby) This way you also create a good seal between the the two assemblies and avoid any air leakage. Try and leave the adjusting screws in the position that they were when it was last running and paint straight over but keep in mind not to shoot too much paint into that area as you don't want to glue it all up and restrict the movement of the governor parts and linkages etc. Just a quick point, don't paint surfaces that will have a gasket used between two assembled parts, mask those areas carefully.
My advice is to just think twice and do once, that way you'll come out with the outcome you are striving for.
Cheers, BB.
I live a 24 Hour lifestyle, but every now and again I seem to fall asleep, well at least that's what my wife tells me.
