Painting carbs?

I have an 82 550 ltd with tk22 carbs (they seem to be a mg of zn body, not aluminum?) and a 1980 750-4 with Kehien cv34's (these seem to be aluminum). Both bikes are cleaned and polished to look great, but I'm having trouble with the carbs. They are hard to polish because of the small grooves and such, plus the ones on the 550 just don't shine up well. I was thinking of throwing a coat of paint on them, kind of like the gpz's have, but silver.

Any advice on this? I'm worried it'll peel, look like hell and possibly gum things up. Plus, I'll most likely scratch them up putting them in... but still thinking about it.

im guessing theyre both die cast.
never tried painting carbs .seems like a major especially the first time you got gas on them,how about powder coating the bodies?

ah, that would be a better idea...

Just let them get oxidized and gunky. Then they'll look perfect.

Painting is discouraged by wiredgeorge:

Click > www.wgcarbs.com//index.php?option=com_co...view&id=19&Itemid=35

Powdercoat will also discolor from gasoline dripage.

Might investigate Gun-Kote as another option.

Good Fortune!

Patton wrote:

Painting is discouraged by wiredgeorge:

Click > www.wgcarbs.com//index.php?option=com_co...view&id=19&Itemid=35

Powdercoat will also discolor from gasoline dripage.

Might investigate Gun-Kote as another option.

Good Fortune!

The powder coat does still get screwed by gas if you dont get at it real quick, to that I can attest.

I have painted my carbs with regualar chassis/rollbar paint and a gas resistant 2-part clear. They look great, but the outside two need a touchup once in a while because of rubbing, debris, crud from the road - you know. Nothing major.

Oh yeah - best to make sure your carbs dont piss gas first! C'mon! :laugh:

Good luck.

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You guys are too much - I just want mine to feed fuel/air and make the bike go vroom.

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martin_csr wrote:

The carbs below were done by someone here on KZR several years ago.
I believe it's an electroless nickel plating, perhaps more commonly used on guns or something. It's neato.

Looks like only the bowls were done...?

I did the opposite: Painted carb bodies/rails gloss black, then polished the caps and bowls super shiney chrome like.

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I would go look at the kz1000r site and see what they use. Just my 2 cents. Those carbs are black from factory