Cylinder Head Corrosion

[gregor]

While doing a spark plug change I noticed some paint coming away from the front edges of the cylinder head fins. Only on the kerb side (near side).
Scraped off the accessible damage and loose paint and coated with silver Hammerite smooth. Problem is not too extensive and the barrels are grubby but no obvious problems there.

I note on a GS forum someone has dismantled the bike and re-sprayed the whole of the engine with Hammerite black satin and silver.
Me - I'd rather buy a new bike than go to that level of work. I did have an old R1100R loan bike that had a lot of engine corrosion but went much better than my bike. Maybe there is a correlation between corrosion and performance?

I''ve also tried to clean off the baked-on black spots on the head and barrel but that needs too much effort!

[gregor]

Thank you for your email.

Hammerite direct to rust metal paint can take upto 80-90 Deg C. Aluminium must be primed with Hammerite Special Metals Primer which won't be able to take much heat. You need a specialized product from technical paint services on 01202 295 570 http://technicalpaintservices.co.uk

The Hammerite silver looks OK after a few hours riding. The above link is not very useful.
Nice to get a reply but will stick with what I have done pro tem.

[gregor]

Despite the dour reply , and after a few long idling sessions in road works and several hundred UK miles, the paint is still attached and silver.
Watch this space.