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[nvr2old]

After doing a school bus and my car..I was glad to get the opportunity to do another bike. I got a call from allojohn, a member here who wants his GS750 painted. My pleasure. Mal could write a book on how to carefully pack parts for shipping. I'm quite confident these boxes could've been thrown into the Grand Canyon and the parts would've been alright.

Here's the boxes they came in..



After opening the smaller of the two..





All that to get to these..



The tail section, side covers, emblems, gas cap cover, key lock, hardware, and brand new striping kit. Nice.











Now on to the large box that contains the gas tank..

[nvr2old]

Packing peanuts heaven..



How the tank arrived..wow..





Perfect for returning the parts back to Mal..



There's not a single ding in this tank. Maybe one of the nicest I've ever started with. Interestingly it and the tail have been powder coated.



$650 worth of materials..not including tape.



The color we selected is as close to stock as I could find..only better. They didn't make colors like this back in the late 70's. It's a 2014 Dodge Ram color with a ton of pearl and metallic. It's gorgeous..but expensive. $300 for a pint..but man, it's gonna look nice.



I should be able to get started on it next weekend. Can't wait. It's gonna be a fun project. Thanks for looking.

[allojohn]

Better safe than sorry Larry, LOL!
OK, I can be a little anal about these things.....

[nvr2old]

You are a packing savant, Mal..

[chuck hahn]

I hate peanuts and i hate yellow on bikes. Im glad i took up the gun and began making mistakes painting, Its taken some time, restripping many parts to start over but im getting the hang of it.

[dorkburger]

Following as usual...

[Nessism]

I didn't know you could powdercoat plastic parts? The tail is ABS, no? Don't most powdercoat's require more than 300-400F to cure? Anyway, what's to be done with those parts? Strip them or scuff and paint on top?

[nvr2old]

That's a good question, Ed. When I first found out the parts are powder coated. I was asking myself the same thing..especially when it came to putting an ABS part in a 400 degree oven. The parts are flawless. If there had been dents in the tank, I would grind it all back to bare metal and start fresh, I even bought the grinder disks to do that. My gut is telling me that because no body work is necessary the powder coat will make an excellent foundation for new paint. I'm waiting for a return call from a guy that taught me a lot of what I know. I trust his knowledge. He's a painter who used to work for Chip Foose and has amazing skills. Cutting them back with 400 grit is what I'm hoping, and then going with a pre-paint, followed by 600 grit then the final color coats followed by clear, decals, more clear, and then cut and buff. I'll wait till I hear back from my friend, though, and go from there.

[nvr2old]

My friend, Jason, called me back and told me to go ahead and sand the parts smooth with 400 but instead of a pre-paint, to spray the parts with a couple of coats of epoxy primer to seal off the powder coat . Let that set for a couple of days, scuff the epoxy, and then go on to base coat/clear coat as always. Sounds good to me. Never too old to learn a new technique.

[LAB3]

Have to wonder if what you're calling powder coat isn't actually Gel Coat. I've had no problem getting paint to stick to it either way.

[Buffalo Bill]

Have to wonder if what you're calling powder coat isn't actually Gel Coat. I've had no problem getting paint to stick to it either way.

You may be right about the ABS parts, anyway it's a possibility. I'd think it would look like a fatter/thicker coating than poly or lacquer, and with no clear coat.

[Buffalo Bill]

Gel coat is epoxy or polyester resin and is applied as the last layer when building fiberglass parts. It's applied by brush or similar, not sprayed.

Not sprayed? LOL!

[Buffalo Bill]

Hum, okay. I guess it's often sprayed. It goes down on a forming mold before the fiber layers are laid down. Why would anyone use such a product on a motorcycle? That's a total misapplication of the material.

Well, I've only used Gelcoat once and that was for a boat hull repair. A foot long puncture through the fiberglass hull. After the repair the final surface spray had to be Gelcoat to match the rest of the hull. Came out good, only slightly whiter because the repair was newer that the rest of the hull.

[nvr2old]

It's indeed powder coat as Mal told me from the very beginning. Gel coat, as mentioned, is strictly a fiberglass product. It should..(should)..never be used on metal parts like the tank. I'll sand most of the powder coat off both pieces to avoid buildup. The epoxy primer, usually sprayed on to bare metal parts before body work will make a nice transition sealer between the powder and the paint. We'll see how it goes.

[Buffalo Bill]

It's indeed powder coat as Mal told me from the very beginning. Gel coat, as mentioned, is strictly a fiberglass product. It should..(should)..never be used on metal parts like the tank. I'll sand most of the powder coat off both pieces to avoid buildup. The epoxy primer, usually sprayed on to bare metal parts before body work will make a nice transition sealer between the powder and the paint. We'll see how it goes.

Can you explain how to powder coat ABS?