Adventures in motorcycle painting.

[Nerobro]

December 31, skreemer and I took advantage of the good weather to get my bike ready to paint. Here are the results...

[Nerobro]

Oh, to strip a motorcycle. How about a play by play?

Buy chemical stripper, gloves, brushes, and a bucket. Do it like we did, and do it outside, or else get yourself some serious resperaitors.

First off, As we discovered. Chemical stripper does NOT cut through chain grease. Here I thought I could get away without really cleaning the bike that well before stripping. Boy I was wrong.



Obviously one application of stripper doesn't quite cut it. Most parts of the bike got stripper four times. This ends up to our advantage later. Sorta. :-)



As you can see there are still gobs of crud where chain lube built up on the swingarm and centerstand. it's worse on the frame. What we thought were welds were really twenty four years of gunk.

We did find something to help with that. A scraper.... can anyone guess where this came from?



Stripping the frame turned out to be fun. The chemical stripper ate at the crap paint that the previous owner put on the bike like it was an open buffet.



I had originally thought that maybe the doo-doo brown was the factory color. Due to the stripper not removing all the paint all at once, we did get to see some glimpses of the frames former glory.



Another two applications of stripper later. Some scraping. And a lot of diligence on skreemer's part, we finally got down to bare metal on most of the frame.



Kinda pretty. That's the greatest amount of bare mild steel I have seen in a long time. It would appear that the frame has been repaired in some spots. But maybe those are factory. I will need to compare those welded circles to the bikes in the garage later.

The tank needed to be stripped too. This tank didn't come with the bike.. seeing it's good shape should say something to those who were at my wreck. This tank came off of one of my parts bikes. And I knew nothing of it's history.



It would appear the tank has been kreemed. A good thing. While some of the paint is bubbling, we found the tank to be extrodianarily resistant to attempts at using chemical stripper. Suprizes follow...



It would appear that the tank has had some work done to it in the past. The paint that we thought was factory is.. obviously, not. The last owner of this tank certianly loved his ride. There's a lot of work on this tank, to say the least.

Removing the paint from the tank was a series of repeated paintings with stripper, then scraping the softened paint off. Now the tank is down to the soft skim coat that the previous owner put on it. I will be sanding that down before priming.

I bought rust colored primer, versus the black primer that is going on the rest of the bike so I can tell when I have oversanded the tank. The frame of the bike I would prefer not to show any errors ;-)

Before the day was out I took the time to prime the bits of the bike that we had stripped. We used laquor thinner to wash off the residue of stripper.



You can see the frame, swingarm, and in the back, the headstock in this picture.



A closer look at that tripple tree top mount.

A few lessons were learned in all of this. Chemical stripper needs to be laid on THICK. Be sure to let it stay on for at least a few minutes. If not the full fifteen. Chemical sttripper will also cause instant burns on whatever flesh it lands on. Skreemer, despite wearing glasses almost got some in his eye. And did get some on his arm as well. BE CAREFULL with that stuff.

Also, primer takes a few layers to really mask what it's covering. I think the frame will need another layer or two of primer before the frame is ready for paint. at least now it won't rust.

We used a quart of stripper. Destroyed two paintbrushes. Threw out the bucket and gloves we used. And used two cans of black primer.

[Jethro]

Wow, now that's a full days work. Looks like it will pay off big time though. Thanks for the pics and write up!

[80gs1000e]

Looking good fellas. Are you going to grind out the old bondo? I would while you're there, especially if you glopped stripper all over it already. Bondo doesn't like chemical stripper and if you just sand and repaint....it'll come back to haunt you possibly. Try some of those spongy hard grinding wheel drill attachments to get off any residual paint, stripper, bondo and mess off. They will cut through anything with the quickness and save a ton of time. Can't wait to see it all done up!

[Jethro]

I'm guessing that your scraper is the backer plate to a brake pad??

[Nerobro]

dingdingdingdingding. Jetrhro got it right.

domino, I intend on getting all the bondo off of there. After seeing how much stripper it absorbed :-) And on top of it, I would like the tank to be easier to strip next time. (yes I am looking 20 years into the future)

[skreemer]

It was a ton of work, though now I understand why folks use power tools any chance they get while doing this sort of work.

I gotta be more careful as well. While shaking some excess off of the paint brush two droplets got on my right forearm and not quite at a two count started burning like mad. A ton of cold water took care of it and I went and grabbed a long over shirt. A little while later while "unpainting" the frame I moved too quickly and the brush flicked. I got a speck on my right cheek and a drop got me right above the right eyetouching the top of my eyebrow. YEOWZA... more cold water. This time I got my pair of racquet ball goggles out. The fumes alone from the paint stripper permanently "fogged" the front of the lense.

In the future, more power tools and better/more protection.

[first timer]

angle grinder with course wire brush fitting or better yet sand blaster.

been there guys i know your pain.

-ryan

[earlfor]

Yeah,, scrub the frame down with comet, a stiff bristle brush and hose it off.
6" brass wire wheel on a variable speed drill and including washing and wire wheel stripping, you can have the frame down to bare metal in about 1 1/2 hours.

For a gas tank, I start with #80 grit on a pad sander. That usually cuts through the paint quickly.

I hate fumes and caustic chemicals. :-) :-)

Earl

angle grinder with course wire brush fitting or better yet sand blaster.

been there guys i know your pain.

-ryan

[80gs1000e]

so............... how did it turn out?

[Nerobro]

still working on it. When I get bored I go down and sand body filler. But I need a good place to paint the bike.... which is my biggest stumbling block right now.

[first timer]

make sure to wash the frame in some acid maybe rub it down with some vinigar before you paint it, acording to por 15 directions for a gas tank

http://www.por15.com/uploads/files/c...directions.pdf

The primary job of Metal-Ready is to change the ph
of your tank from alkaline to acid, because coatings and paints adhere much better to acid-prepped
metals. Follow the directions for Metal-Ready, and be sure to rinse your tank thoroughly with water
afterward, neutralizing the surface.

paint likes a high ph so it may help your paint stick better.
and don't use rust-o-leulm primer bahhh

-ryan

[Nerobro]

I am using duplicolor's stuff. It seems to be sticking very, very well.

[Anonymous]

WOW,
top effort buddy, you sure got a lot done in a day !!!
Can't wait to see the finals !!

Got a question for you............


How in blue blazers did you put the pix in the post.
I got some to put in another string but I ( computer illiterate me ) don't know how. I did see some directions in another string but it leads you to another website !!..You got yours rite on here..so .. if you wouldn't mind resting from the project and advising me, I'd be mighty appreciative good buddy.

Either way, keep up the elbow work, looks like you'll do a fine job.

Stay upright

[Nerobro]

I can't help you with all of it. But you need to upload your pictures to a webhosting service. Then when you click the img button while writing your post, you then put in the URL to your image.

I run my own webserver....that's how i do mine...