1100 Midnight Black Paint...finally?

[Todd TCE]

Quick update.

If you follow Ebay there was an 1100 MK fender for sale. I bought it.

Hard to see given the volume of scratches in it but yep it has the faint sparkes in it.

[Todd TCE]

Been a while. My painter guy got kicked out of his shop and that played hell on this project...lol!

So we shot some of the new paint and it's nice. But it's simply got to much sparkle in it. I got on the phone with Jenny again and she's going to reduce the amount down to the bare minimum she can. Claiming that we'll push it deeper into the base color which is the desired effect. Another pint with the change coming in due time.

We're doing the 1100 tank and two fenders only. Leaving the gauge housings as they are in gloss black powder coat. Too much work there! And re spraying the 920 Virago at the same time. Fingers crossed I'm happy with the result.



I know there's debated on what is right or wrong, I'm ok with that. I was speaking with a well known shop owner/former racer etc who knows UJMs like the back of his hand....we were talking about colors and I asked him if he know about the black on the Mks and he was quick to point out the deeply embedded sparkles. To which I replied: "you do know!"

Anyone in the PHX area feel free to stop by and visit the Mk collection. The 50 is getting too much attention with it's now (custom) gold rims and ss spokes. And I'm slotting the front disc to match the big bikes also. It's a disease.....

[Todd TCE]

Can't really say enough good things about these people. If you need paint for your bike it's hard to beat their customer service.

Having reduced all of the speckled to a bare minimum they were good enough to supply me some extra should we care to richen it up.

[Todd TCE]

Been a while and I'm overdue for an update...so here it is.


All the black parts were taken to a shop in Tempe for the final work. We had a couple of all black (New Yamaha Black) items for the RX50 to do as well as the XS1100 and XV920 tank in the speckle black.

After the test spray below on the 920 tank it was determined that despite the best efforts by ColorRite we still had too much flake in it. The tank turned out exceptionally well however and it's pretty close to the finish of all the parts in the 850 in fact. *That bike does forever have a tad more speckle to it than the others do for some reason. Maybe it was the first try by Yamaha?

The final chosen result was to do a 1:1 mix of the special order speckle black with the NYB paint and let it fly. The move was a bit bold as I thought we might well bury the gold specs too deeply into the finish. It didn't; the paint shop nailed it! The tank and two fenders are now once again back to their original color here. I could not be happier with both ColorRite and Automotive Collision Services for their work. Pricing on the labor was very reasonable and I never pressured them on time but it was only a matter of a week or so.

Up next: I've sent the pipes and bars to to be re chromed; a chore in that it required a custom crate just to get it there. Hopefully they'll turn out well and we can begin final assembly in due time.





*As a fun side note I mentioned the RX50 which was and still is a Midnight edition but today I've taken a few liberties to make it match the other bikes. See what you can spot as non original but correct to the others.

[mack]

I did my

LH a few years back and put a purple flake in the paint on the tank, fenders and side covers. It looks jet black in the shade but has a subtle glitter in the sun. Frame, motor, calipers, swing arm etc. were a high gloss black with four clear coats baked on. Produced a very deep rich colour. It's a big chick magnet when I park it during rest stops. Got a lot of phone numbers from short rides for a coffee and just sitting in the parking lot having a rest. I call her Spica after the primary star in the Virgo constellation. She only had 5 k miles on her when I rescued her from being scrapped. I just couldn't let that happen. She was number 178 coming off the line in 1980. Part of the restore used to be on here. Type in spica restore in the search engine. They might still be available. Really want to see how your pipes turn out. I went with ceramic. Very nice job so far!!!!!!

[Todd TCE]

LH a few years back and put a purple flake in the paint on the tank, fenders and side covers. It looks jet black in the shade but has a subtle glitter in the sun. Frame, motor, calipers, swing arm etc. were a high gloss black with four clear coats baked on. Produced a very deep rich colour. It's a big chick magnet when I park it during rest stops. Got a lot of phone numbers from short rides for a coffee and just sitting in the parking lot having a rest. I call her Spica after the primary star in the Virgo constellation. She only had 5 k miles on her when I rescued her from being scrapped. I just couldn't let that happen. She was number 178 coming off the line in 1980. Part of the restore used to be on here. Type in spica restore in the search engine. They might still be available. Really want to see how your pipes turn out. I went with ceramic. Very nice job so far!!!!!!

Sounds like a cool color. Always fun to see things differently when you look at it night and day.

The pipes are back and on now. Been a few weeks. I'll try to get some images and a review on them this weekend. Also new as shown on the (over built...) RX50

[mack]

Ya

it's a curse. I won't ride anything I haven't taken apart and restored. My life is worth more than a rattle can. besides, you learn the bike by tearing them down. That way you never get stuck on the side of the road in deliverance country. again, great job!

[Todd TCE]

Yeah...my only problem is sometimes I learn I shouldn't have taken it apart....

[Todd TCE]

So the chrome......black. Turned out pretty well. It's not as thick as the factory and seems to scratch easier. Also flash points where the coverage is off. Overall the results are acceptable. There was a ton of metal work on the muffler cones and they look far better.


I'll put up a couple pix on the FB page loading images here is too much of a pita.

[xs11lover]

[/QUOTE]

That sure looks like 79 special black to me!
I was just reading your thread and thought i’d drop my two cents in..take it or leave it. I thought and it’s what I’ve seen on the original paint specials I’ve owned ;
79 11 specials were black with gold metal flake, I had 2
80 11 specials were black with red metal flake, I had 2
81 11 specials were black with blue metal flake, I had one but it had red metal flake and 1980 logos so I just figured it was switched.
80 midnights were just black paint with black chrome on the fenders, gauges, exhaust, foot brake and shifter. I had 2 of those also. One 11 and one 850.
I never saw an 81 midnight in person so I can’t say anything about that other than maybe they used the gold metal flake like the 79 special had again on the 81 midnights to save money and got rid of the black chrome?
It seems with every model year from 78 standard, 79 special forward I saw a thing or two each year done to save a buc or two.

Personally the red metal flake black was my favorite!

[Todd TCE]

Good info, thank you.

I've come to the conclusion that there may really be no firm data on any of this. Others have said they are certain their Midnights are pure black while some have said they found the speckles in the paint as I have.

Interestingly the amount and color of the speckle varies by bike a bit also. The 850 used as the original sample has far more and thus our diluting it on the 1100 application where it was simply to evident. *That image above your reference is the 850 fender. On the 1100 if you didn't know it was there you'd never find it. But...for us who have it, have seen it or know about it- it was clearly there in the production of quite a few machines. FWIW I'd swear the Virgo has a bit of red flake in it like what you mentioned.

At the end of it all...I'm content that it's as original as we could get it and bases on sound look-see of other parts before it was all re done. *your mileage may vary

[xs11lover]

Yes! I’ve noticed more or less red flake in a few....guess they were Monday and Friday bikes. Lol. Sorry I missed the whole second page....looks nice. Leave it to me to be as relevant as a video rental store in the age of Netflix!

[xs11lover]

Here is a nice little video of the Xs11 models and colors. Seems to be spot on as far as black gold, black red, black blue, ect. Even tho Ole’s 79 XS1100 sf painted the same pearl orange as my old bobber was substituted as carmine red. Lol. I think that’s pretty great, his bikes are so good they are mistaken for original Yamaha jewels!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7_Yc0V4vxgA

[madmax-im]

Cool..I have seen this video before..Theres one pic of my XJ in there..my bike..how awesome! from 3:47 -3:53

[xs11lover]

Wow! That is cool. It makes me smile when I see 3 of the top 20 XS1100 bobbers on Pinterest are mine.....but they are all old. Guess it’s been a while since I did anything of value. Lol