1982 GS850 before and after :)

[BigDaddyKool]

Heres a ratty picture before...

[BigDaddyKool]

82 gs850

Heres a decent picture after some elbow grease...by the way, I picked this bike up for a cheap 200 bucks with 12,000 original miles, scored another parts bike for 150 and the cost of paint and my time. I think I scored on this deal big time.

[onchiman]

Sweeet!:-D
How did you do it and how long did it take you to get it so sparkly?

[BigDaddyKool]

ok...

First, I shot the engine with some aircraft stripper to rid the block of any junk paint and whatnot, then wash dry clean clean clean. Then I shot it with a very light coat of high temp aluminum ceramic engine enamel, careful, not too thick. Heres a slideshow of the bike it cleaned up nice.

http://img133.imageshack.us/slideshow/player.php?id=img133%2F7420%2F1151104222y77.smil

[cloudbreakmd]

Your bike looks amazing now... Wow... Did you remove the pieces from the motor or do it with the motor in the frame?

And when you say wash, dry, clean, clean, clean.... What did you use and what method?

Great job!!!!

[stp1stp]

Did you change out the gaskets? You would think paint stripper would damage them.

[cloudbreakmd]

Did you change out the gaskets? You would think paint stripper would damage them.

I was wondering the same thing...

[beby99]

Nice job BigDaddy.

[BigDaddyKool]

yep

Thanks......yes I did change all of the cover gaskets after stripping the motor of the factory clear coat on the aluminum. I had the gaskets so no big deal, but if you did not have them if you carefully apply the stripper you can do it without destroying them.
#1 removed tank
#2 washed bike really good
#3 carefully applied stripper
#4 pray that I was not destroying my bike :P
#5 blast the stripper and junk paint from the motor with water
#6 dry it real good
Here's where it gets tricky.....
When painting the engine you cannot go thick thick with the paint thats a bad idea. The factory paint job clear coat is usually around 3 mil which is not a thick paint job. You should use a good engine paint designed for the sole purpose of dissipating heat or else your going to have problems. I did the paint job in the frame, next step is to paint the frame carefully. This is my first crack at a restore job so we'll have to see how it goes. Time to wet sand the gas tank hope I dont screw up the clear coat.

[Rake78GS]

That is looking REALLY sharp!

[BigDaddyKool]

Here's another

This is the link to the better slideshow you can see the bike closer I updated the link in the other post also.

http://img133.imageshack.us/slideshow/player.php?id=img133%2F7420%2F1151104222y77.smil

[jaberwok]

Holy cow :shock: Heck of a job man! \\/

So did you paint the headers too? How'd you get rid of all that rust and make it shinny again?

Cheers!

[courier11sec]

Man that just looks incredible!
I never saw one new, but I bet yours is a thousand times cleaner!
I wish my 850g was even on the same page with that one.

[brenno]

You gotta be proud of that mate.Well done it looks sensational

[82GS1100GLZ]

Very nice job on the clean-up and polished aluminium!!

I too, have polished all my aluminium on my bike.

Really adds to the looks of an otherwise stock bike!!
I loved the slide show, too!

Leon.