nc31 project

[bludclot]

swing arm paint was: u-pol etch no. 8 (quite an aggressive etch) then 2 coats of pro-xl super hi-build primer, (almost miracle paint it's that good), silver is simoniz engine enamel, this dries really quite hard and is most fluids proof too. all aerosol. i don't bother with compressor and gun unless it's for bodywork. modern aerosols are just terrific, they have improved so much since i started using them. there's still some poor ones out there mind so go careful! any local paint factor should be able to point you in the right direction, just remember that aerosol paint is mostly thinners (or whatever they put in there) and so has to be built up in layers with patience! as ever, it's all about preparation i.e. sanding. it's about 1 part spraying to maybe 15-20 parts sanding in terms of time spent.

i have sprayed countless things over many years so have a pretty good knowledge of what's required to achieve great results.
the wheels look equally stunning - my photography skills are somewhat poor (i have no interest in improving them) and the picture is not flattering. once the tyre mounting soap has been cleaned off and the paint finished it will look terrific!

i am still umming and arring about paint or powder on the frame. there's merits to each - downsides too.

[bureklton]

Sounds great. How did you clean off the wheels? Did you manage to get all the old paint off with sand paper?

The only thing stopping me from painting my frame is the lack of toughness when compared to powder, is there other downsides?

[bludclot]

regarding the wheels, i wasn't particular about removing the old paint as they are not undergoing a colour change. for the edges i started with 240 grit (this took pretty much all the old paint off) and worked upwards until 800, the spokes and inner rims are rough sand cast finish so i just abraded them with scotch brite to give a key. i then filled and sanded where necessary before 2 coats of hi-build were knocked back with 800 before colour and lacquer. sounds easy, it takes time!

paint vs powder - paint pluses: it can achieve a better i.e. higher shine. when chipped it tends to just chip the top layers and can be blown in relatively easily. easy to apply over many surface finishes. minuses - time consuming to apply. soft when compared to powder and relatively expensive. powder pluses: quick to apply, hard and some nice finishes can be achieved. cheap when compared to paint. minuses - once chipped it can continue lifting away making repairs difficult and further damage difficult to halt. fussy about what it adheres to - must be a well prepared surface!

for the home restorer it's straight forward and relatively cheap to drop a frame off at a powder coaters and pick it up a few days later all shiny. we don't get to see how battered the frame metal is when being blasted. i have contacted these people:

http://www.blast-cleaning.co.uk/

and intend to use them to clean my frame. which finish to put on it after however i haven't yet decided. i'll probably end up painting it myself, that way i can blow in any future marks relatively easily. i know how much work that is however - loads.

[Superjack44]

I sprayed mine black using a tin of VW black that I had laying around I got a good finnish on it too but not being a paintsprayer by trade it was a case of just try it and see I got lucky in the sense that it looked good but marked easily.
That was especially true of painting the tank mudguard and plastics although I primed the parts with acid8 primer I used hammerite smooth black (spraycan) as the topcoat the finish was quite good although I have to say any good painter would probably have had a field day picking faults out.
The problem I found with the hammerite was even after a week it marked easily the plastic zip on my jacket even marked the back of the tank so next time I intend to use a harder paint, but there is more to spraying paint than simply rubbing down and painting and getting a good finish.
Different paints react to different primers etc you get allsorts of problems you can spend a fair bit trying to get it right.
Youtube have several clips giving good advice on spraying, its worth spending some time checking them out before you go mad on painting your pride and joy.

[bludclot]

stripped the tank of paint today. it was better than expected - a first for this bike!

[Patch29]

Looking forward to seeing the rest, just rescued Dad's bike from shed...

[bludclot]

my part of the bodywork is now done, it's with the painters for colour, decals and lacquer. here's the plastics having the last guide coat sanded back:



the radiator is proving troublesome. the oem unit fitted to the bike was bent so i made a jig and straightened it. the fan surround and grill were powder coated and i painted the finishing edge ally parts silver but.... the radiator itself won't take paint. for some reason it keeps reacting. until i have finished this assembly i won't move on to the next.

just before christmas someone drove into the rear of my van while it was parked, (no note left) so the bodyshop had it last week. they've made an excellent repair but they have also damaged the paint on two of the wheels so the honda project will go on hold for a little while while i sort them out. overall - slow progress right now.

[yvescheung]

always nice to see someone works on the old bikes and give them new life

[Patch29]

Nice!! Looking forward to your next update..

[bludclot]

The bodywork is back from the painter. That's the end of the good news however...

- sorry, picture lost.

It might look good in the picture but there's 3 problems:

1) it's a pearl paint. It looks great out of the sun but pink in the sun. I have nothing against pink but it's not the kind of statement that I want to make with a bike. The picture makes it look quite bright due to the flash, it's actually quite a dark red.

2) something has contaminated the paint. The mudguard is alright but the other pieces have many raised bits in. I guess that something blew dust over one of the coats of paint as they were being applied. After polishing they are no longer raised but still visible.

3) a new dent mysteriously appeared in the tank, pretty much just above where the front of the seat meets it. It wasn't there when I handed the tank over, see the previous tank image for confirmation.

So after a chat with the paint man I handed over enough money to cover his materials and brought the pieces back home. This is especially disappointing as I handed it all over prepared, took it back once primed and flatted it all back and re-delivered it all, meaning that the paint man only had to spray colour and lacquer for this job.

I have decided to paint the pieces myself, that way I know that they will be done exactly as I want them. I was hoping to avoid this work as it's quite time intensive. To this end I have taken the paint off the tank dent, filled it, blocked it back, primed it and then given the tank it's first block sanding all over:


- and this picture lost too.

I have also been distracted by another set of wheels that I couldn't resist so overall it will be a little bit of paint time for me coming up.