Modern Vespa

I'm restoring my 150 Sprint v and now the body is finished I'm working on the engine. Should I paint the engine with heat resistant silver paint to make it look pristine, or is that a bit too much?

It's unnecessary as it will be covered in oil anyway which kind of preserves it an an odd way.

I see folks do it, looks great.

But I'd advise against it because the aluminum oxidation gets hidden underneath and your crankcases end up becoming brittle.

Just worked on a crankcase which cracked as I took the bearing out. Surrounded by grey powdery aluminum.

I'd use the old method of WD40 and elbow grease to clean any aluminum.

Will it get you home?

Forgot to state, the cracked crankcases were painted silver…

I love shiny painted stuff as much as the next guy … maybe more … but no, don't do it.

You can powder coat. but no need. Best solution would be to vapor blast. Looks great, helps keep grime from sticking. The only reason your cases get grimy is due to running garbage mineral oil and not cleaning your scoot. This is what nice vapor blasted cases look like.

I find that paint doesn't hold up that well on an aluminum engine case. You could polish it out to almost a mirror like surface with enough time, but you would have to keep doing it. I'm happy with clean.

Vapor blasting is the way to go. It comes out beautifully.

No, you should not paint it.

Any bay area places you'd recommend for this?

There's a place in Santa Clara called Spray Technology. I haven't used them.

https://www.yelp.com/biz/spray-technology-santa-clara

I used a place called Scooters Originali in Portland. I just mailed the parts to them. They came out really nice!

https://scootersoriginali.com/pages/vapor-blasting


This was from Scooters Originali.

Wow, looks amazing!

Thanks for the rec's!

I also subscribe to the dont paint it camp... although I understand, because I love the look of a colored or black engine case. Others have made very good points. Here is my half penny thoughts

Silver paint will always look like silver paint, especially on a Vespa engine; and it will not last long. If you want the og aluminum look there are a few options:

1. Basic scrub down. clean it really well by hand & pressure washer & inox wire brushes. works great, and you'd be surprised at the potential for very clean outcome! I've had many engines which I though were hammered, and after a good clean they looked great; no expensive finishing required.

2. Vapor blast. Basicly a fancy name for "wet-mediablasting". Its pressurized water mixed with media. Much less harsh than dry blasting, and better long lasting finish. All done by hand, and is usually charged an hourly rate.

3. Tumbled media finish. Parts get 'tumbled' in a large media finisher. Slow process, but its basicly labor free. Toss in dirty parts, hours later pull out clean shiny parts! Tumbling supposedly helps to 'seal' up the pores of aluminum, and gives a dull-shine appearance. I think there are only 2 (scooterist) guys in USA that do this. Cost probably about the same as Vaporblasting.

4. Polished alum. Break out your sandpaper and prepare to get buff! sand down all the pores until its smooth, then buff it out to a shiny finish! Obviously more complicated than that, but this is ageat look! Also.... be prepared to ALWAY be polishing your engine. Oh and did I mention you'll always be polishing your engine. Looks rad tho!!

5. Powdercoat. This is about the only way to effectivley coat your engine case with a long lasting finish. Its not necessary at all, but the sky's the limit on color and finish choices!

** followup question, did you say your cases were already welded? How so... welding is not uncommon on these cases, I'm just curious

Whatever you choose to do, good luck!