MONDAY MAY 22nd….. ENGINE
As the different coats of paint were drying on the frame, I had been assembling what parts I could. But until the engine was painted, I couldn’t actually assemble the bike, as the motor has to sit on the floor, and the frame slides onto it. So it was time to make it look as pretty as the rest of the bike. As the engine was running perfectly when I took it out, I didn’t want to strip it, but it was looking a bit scabby. I decided to mask off the topend and spray it.

Now, there’s this fallacy that engines can only be painted with heatproof paint, which is actually a load of bollocks. Think about it. How hot does a car bonnet get in blazing sunlight? Bloody hot. And does the paint bubble up and blister? No! And how hot do the crankcases of an engine get? About the same. I took a sample of my gunmetal powdercoating to my local paint factors and got them to colour-match it in 2-pack. I’ve been using this for years to paint engines with, even the barrels and heads on Japanese engines and V8’s, although I wouldn’t use it on cast iron barrels. My barrels had been powdercoated by Aerocoat the previous year when the engine underwent a major top-end rebuild. Did I mention it’s race-tuned and overbored by more than ¼”?

In actual fact, there are no Indian parts up the top. It’s now running a pair of extensively machined 1951 Royal Enfield pistons. There are Peugeot valves in there, also extensively machined, and about 5mm bigger in diameter than the originals. The heads have been machined for the valves to clear, and the inlet and exhaust ports have been opened out and gas-flowed. It’s running copper head gaskets (the originals were fibre). All the machining was done by a chap called Robin Oakley, England’s top Indian tuner, down in Kent, and I rebuilt the motor in me shed.

Painting….as it’s all ally, it has to be etch-primed first, so the only preparation I did was to thoroughly degrease the engine with thinners, using a toothbrush to get in the crevises. A couple of hours of careful masking, and it’s ready for paint. The engine was in three large lumps. Motor, gearbox with inner primary, and outer primary. 2 coats of etch primer, 4 coats of gunmetal, and 6 coats of clear. Came up quite nice, and only took a day. Now assembly can begin!!!Phew….not much time left….will it be ready for the ball?