Also, to save time later sanding off powder coat where you need an electrical ground like on the inside motor and coil mounts, use a larger washer with a sacrificial bolt. I left the races in the head but used big high temp rubber stoppers I got here at work to cap everything.
The shop I used bead blasted my frame, and a lot of the factory nickel was loose and flaked off. Before I dropped it off, I also spent some time with a chisel removing weld spatter. It was winter, so one day when my wife was out I put the frame in the shower and scrubbed every crevice (behind motor mounts, etc.) with a brush and Simple Green, and put the frame on top of my wood stove for a day to dry out any trapped moisture inside. Make sure you do this anyway or when the frame is baked the steam escaping the vent holes in the frame will wreck the finnish. The better clean and prep the better the result.
It sounds like what you are looking for is exactly how I had my '03 done. A black base coat with silver flakes, hammertone finnish. The guy happend to have a lot of that powder at the time so I got a real good price. Black is common and they should always have that. If its something more unique and they have to order powder then you pay a bit more. I saw a quad frame stripped, polished to high luster, and clear powder coated with a red tint. Not for me, but looked cool on the quad and shows that you can do anything you want.
