I've just broken down my bike and poilished the crankcase but the barrel needs to be rebored and the overall condition although mechanically sound is quite corroded externally and needs a bit of TLC, has anyone shot blast the barrel and repainted matt black, if so what is the best paint for restoring the barrel and head colour to the original black, was wondering if I could use the high temperature exhaust spray once shot blast?

email (option): 79aust@sky.com

The exhaust paints these days aren't waterproof or petrol proof, so I'd go with the gloss crankcase/cylinder paints which do offer a level of protection, what you could do is get the barrel plated in zinc or copper before you paint or bore it out which would offer some protection in the form of a sacrificial coating and would probably go some way to filling in small pits on the fins and would also help dissipate the heat, espicially the copper, then maybe a very fine beadblast just to act as key to the the paint The gasket faces and bore can easily be protected by the plater, then you can go with the matt paints. Copper plating is used to fill pits prior to chrome plating on decorative chrome. I haven't tried this yet myself, but I do know that a lot of Harley Davidsons of the 1940's were sprayed with molten aluminium and I've never seen one of them with any rust on them. Just a thought, but the idea may work well

email (option): davmax@ntlworld.com

That's the "Schoop" system, after the Swiss inventor; a wire of aluminium and some zinc are hot-sprayed on the exhaust and down pipe. It seems that Norton used this during the war. My tip-up exhaust and down pipe, made by http://www.london-exhaust.com/ here in the Netherlands are treated with it, no rust now for four years.
That company will fit the system to your bike, and "Schoop"-it when done.

email (option): viaconsu [at] planet [dot] nl