Great job mate - can I ask a question please - in your thread you summarise the restoration job and make reference to gunk, sandpaper, brushes ... but can I tease out of you please more detail as I will attempt this on my bike:
1. Does the masking job cover underneath and front and back of bike - essentially what is the rationale in terms of what is covered off and what is not?
2. Are cables (clutch, throttle etc.) and pipes (vacuum,fuel etc.) removed before painting? also, hoses - some of them didnt appear masked off??
3. What are the detailed step by step procedures for prep and what specific material grades are used in each steps; what kind of brushes, paper, etc. and where was each applied?
4. Any priming needed? what type/make? where applied?
5. What is the method of applying paint , as typically one would move side to side , top down , but clearly I guess this method wont work here?
6. How many cans of spray and what size and specific make (plastikcote make several types of satin black paint - e.g. heat resistant, for plastics/vinyl etc.)
Appreciate your help with this as I have never done this before and truly appreciate your experience and detail response either here or as an addendum to your thread please??
There's not really too much to add, i more or less covered everything in my post.1) I covered what i didn't want sprayed.
2) Only thing removed were the silver parts, which were resprayed, everything else stayed put.
Hoses are black, why mask them?
3) Gunk was sprayed on everywhere, you need to be generous with it, then a brush was used to try and get into all the nooks and crannies.
Wet 'n' dry paper, and thinners were the main things used after the Gunk was washed off.
As i said in my post, i jet washed the bike beforehand and that's what blew a lot of old paint off, it wasn't intentional it just happened.
4) We never used a primer, but i must stress the degreasing part is a MUST.
I used to use an engine brightener spray which i presume had silicone in it, this caused all sorts of shit, like trying to spray on an oily surface.
If it bubbled up and went wrong, thinners were used to remove the spray and to thoroughly clean the area again.
When that kept failing, we used wet 'n' dry again, then thinners, etc.
5) Just light coats, mainly side to side i s'pose. Whatever way was necessary. Let each coat dry (it's quick drying) then repeat process until satisfied.
6) One can was all that was used, and after taking a photo of it just now, i'd guess there's still 25% left in it.
You have to remember this wasn't intended to be a pro job, the engine was looking a bit tatty, but it was the greying of the black paint that made it look horrible to me.
This was really intended as a quick fix to tart it up a bit, to make it look a bit more respectable and to put a bit of colour and life back into the engine, but in truthfulness i was pretty damn impressed with the outcome.
Even more so as it was pissing down with rain as we were doing it, and it was sprayed in limited space under a garage door.
It's not perfect by any means but it's A LOT better than it was.
And i also had the privilege of having my friend helping me who has got previous experience of spraying so obviously he was invaluable to me, especially when the paint bubbled up. (Thanks again Steve
)
Even now, when we get bad stormy weather, i cover my spark plug area and HT leads in WD40, so from this experience i know that if i was ever going to do this again it would need a serious bit of degreasing before even considering applying paint.