Engine cowling paint

[DougNZ]

I'm sure I'm not the first to do this... but the black and grey plastic engine cowling has always bugged me. Literally. Bugs and tar on the grey part make it look horrible and the catalytic converter behind looks grotty. So off the cowling came, converter was cleaned up and sprayed with CRC Hot Black and cowling with Rust-oleum 2X flat black, an almost perfect match to the factory paint!
I'm very happy with the result

 

[the Ferret]

I'm sure I'm not the first to do this... but the black and grey plastic engine cowling has always bugged me. Literally. Bugs and tar on the grey part make it look horrible and the catalytic converter behind looks grotty. So off the cowling came, converter was cleaned up and sprayed with CRC Hot Black and cowling with Rust-oleum 2X flat black, an almost perfect match to the factory paint!
I'm very happy with the result

That looks great. Good job

 

[davidc83]

yea, I painted my cowling years ago. Next time I take it off for an oil change, may give it another coat of paint.

 

[670cc]

Yes, painted mine, too.

One person on the forum dyed their lower center cowl black. That was probably a more permanent “solution” than painting.

 

[mzflorida]

I'm sure I'm not the first to do this... but the black and grey plastic engine cowling has always bugged me. Literally. Bugs and tar on the grey part make it look horrible and the catalytic converter behind looks grotty. So off the cowling came, converter was cleaned up and sprayed with CRC Hot Black and cowling with Rust-oleum 2X flat black, an almost perfect match to the factory paint!
I'm very happy with the result

You should be happy with that; it is much better than the original gray. Looks great!

Yes, painted mine, too.

One person on the forum dyed their lower center cowl black. That was probably a more permanent “solution” than painting.

Interesting. I've never heard of that and cannot locate the thread. If that info is still available, could you let me know?

I was just thinking about painting the NC this week. Kind of landed on this color. https://tcpglobal.com/collections/urethane-basecoat-paint-Buckskin-Tan and black. A black dye sounds very permanent and something I'd be interested in learning more about.

 

[670cc]

Interesting. I've never heard of that and cannot locate the thread. If that info is still available, could you let me know?

Using dye on the plastic cover is mentioned at posts #12-14 here: https://www.nc700-forum.com/threads/best-three-cheap-mods.18194/#post-230075

 

[mzflorida]

Using dye on the plastic cover is mentioned at posts #12-14 here: https://www.nc700-forum.com/threads/best-three-cheap-mods.18194/#post-230075

Thank you Greg! I never would have even thought of that.

 

[670cc]

I was just thinking about painting the NC this week. Kind of landed on this color. https://tcpglobal.com/collections/urethane-basecoat-paint-Buckskin-Tan and black. A black dye sounds very permanent and something I'd be interested in learning more about.

The Buckskin Tan looks a little bit like the color I painted the lower cowls on my orange Zero DSR. That bike, like so many, just had too much black on it. Instead of adding more orange, I decided to do a two-tone, with orange and tan. The color I used was Toyota Quicksand.


One model year, the CB500X came in a desert tan with some orange and white decals. I liked it.

 

[mzflorida]

The Buckskin Tan looks a little bit like the color I painted the lower cowls on my orange Zero DSR. That bike, like so many, just had too much black on it. Instead of adding more orange, I decided to do a two-tone, with orange and tan. The color I used was Toyota Quicksand.

View attachment 53816
One model year, the CB500X came in a desert tan with some orange and white decals. I liked it.


View attachment 53817

Those are very similar to the schemes I am considering. The Toyota and GM tans are very similar, and their trucks are what drew me to that color.

 

[Dan German]

Cool. I was planning to black out the cowl when I replace my header pipe (no point removing parts twice), so I’ll have to try the dye method.

 

[yojimg]

 

[DougNZ]

Thanks, I love that guy's videos as he has a talent for showing the easy way to do maintenance. In this case though I didn't like that grill and went with black high heat paint on the catalytic converter, which hid it well.