Magnesium questions

[robiecustoms]

Hopefully someone here has tried this before and can give me some tips.

I've heard of problems with magnesium oxidizing under powder coat, and Ive seen heavy oxidation under the factory wrinkle finish on corvette mag valve covers. I just got a set that didnt have too much pitting, so I polished them, and they came out spectacular.

Here's the question, If I put a nice layer of clear powder coat over the freshly polished and cleaned covers, will there be tarnishing or discoloration under the clear over time? Magnesium is a pain in the ass and I don't want to have to polish them again. But if they will oxidize under the clear, I don't wanna have to strip the PC to repolish, rather just let em oxidize.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

[uricad]

The only problem I've heard of is weakening of the magnesium. It becomes brittle after the cure. This info could be wrong- but that's what a bicycle tech told one of my customers.

[robiecustoms]

Well, i decided to go with a color instead of polish, rather than deal with the headache of clear or no clear and repolishing.

I also did a test of how the magnesium reacts to acetone,

End of the day, two freshly buffed magnesium valve covers, cleaned half of one with acetone, and left the other half untouched. Came back the next morning to find the side that I cleaned with the acetone had oxidized literally overnight. There was actually a line on the edge of where I wiped it, with oxidation on one side and nothing on the other.

So if nothing else, I would say it's advisable to abandon the acetone wipedown before coating. (for magnesium)

Went with amber illusion by the way (hows that for a difference from polished?)