On the Road...Again...pics

[John]

Bandet1

The pipes are .Jardines. I found them on a piece oF "Yard Art", a 78 e. I got the bike for the pipes and the engine, 14 K miles. I paid $250 for the bike, kept what I wanted, and sold the rest.

[Dragonrider]

The hot-glue trick...
What's going on here?

[John]

Good Idea Dan

That may work on 'gentle' dents, but if there is a 'lock' or a crease, then that may not work. I have used the welded on studs and dent puller/body hammer method before with good success. I just scored the ratty white tank that was on ebay for $1.25, and it is supposed to be straight. I have a couple of tanks that I want to cobble up and make one large Special tank, similar to Dennyz 6.2 gallon project tank. I can repair any dents then with a hammer and dolly. Yeah, I know, 48 and stills plays with dollies.

[John]

I got everything primed, glazed, and wet sanded yesterday, and sprayed the color today. I was able to get two good coats on the tank, side covers, AND a MNS front fender that I had bought some time ago. Tomorrow, I will lay on the clear, and hopefully on Monday, I can reassemble it. I'll put up some pics of it then.

[Street_Rat78]

John...

Can't wait to see those pics ... are you staying with the black or going with some other color?

[John]

Paint job (still black)

This morning I wet sanded all the pieces and cleared them. I was kinda gambling with the wet sanding. as I didn't have too thick a layer of paint on there, and I didn't want to sand through anywhere. I have an old XJ tank that SWMBO has been practicing with, and I wet sanded part of it, and left part of it untouched. After drying it, I shot a couple of coats of the clear over it to see how well wet sanding reduced the orange peel, and dry areas of the xj tank. The wet sanded area looked really good, so I commited my front fender to the wet sanding. No turning back now. I used a thin sanding sponge, and 600 grit paper, and gently went over the surface. Not wanting to sand through, I wasn't able to remove all of the light orange peel, but I went with that. It would have to be good enough. I rinsed the fender with fresh water and wiped it down under running water. I hung it to dry, and then I blew it dry with compressed air. After a quick tac-ragging, I was ready to lay it down. I layed on a couple of good wet coats, and let it tack for about 20 minutes, and layed down two more wet coats. WOW! What a difference from the freshly painted surface. I sat down with all of the other pieces and commenced to getting as wet as the pieces I was sanding. Every piece was dried and wiped down with a tack rag just prior to shooting. I was really nervous when sanding the tank, I wanted it perfect, but knowing that the paint isn't all that thick, I couldn't get it down as far I would like. The clear went on really good. No sags runs or drips. I got lucky, I haven't painted anything in a long time. I am very satisfied with my home made paint job. Will put the pieces on tomorrow, and get some pics posted. Till then...

[Street_Rat78]

Wet Sanding...

John, I'm thinking about a repainting project this winter for my bike. The PO did several homemade paint jobs to it ... with flames and such, and then painted over the old paint job ... so, needless to say, there are lines under the paint from the previous paint job. What is this "Wet Sanding" you speak of??? Can't say as I've ever heard the term before now.

[LoserShoes]

Wet sanding means you use "wet or dry" sandpaper, the black stuff usually, and use water as you sand to flush the chips away, prevent the paper from loading up, and lubricate the surface of the paint for a scratch free finish.
I use a big sponge and just squeeze a bit of water as I sand, just enough to keep the surface wet. Make sure you use a sandable primer if you want to wet sand pimer. Try it, it really works.

Steve

[John]

Wet sanding is the process of sanding the primer/color using a fine, 600 or finer, grit wet or dry sandpaper, and using water to keep the paper clean. It helps to wash away the sanding dust, and it aids in keeping the painted surface from heating up due to friction. The wetter the better. Use a light pressure, and a very thin/flexible sanding pad. That will help keep the sand paper following the contours of the object being sanded. There is a pretty good paint prep tip here on the site. Just do a search for it.

[chevy45412001]

wet sand

john for a truely awsome finish wet sand the clear coat also with 1,000 then 1200 grit. (also use a soft like sponge sanding block keeps the work straigter then just your hand ) Then buff it with a buffer to bring back the shine. And no sanding scrathes! An auto paint supply place will have all the rubbing and buffing compounds needed ,plus advice. 3 med. wet coats of clear are all that is needed to wet sand.

here it was when first painted.

[John]

Chevy

The color on Jiffy Lube looks pretty deep, like a good lacquer job. I was thinking about wet sanding the clear, but it looks good enough for me, and I want to ride! Plus, the clear is for SWMBO's bike, and I don't want to use too much of it, and not leave her with enough. That happened with the paint. There was just enough for my pieces after she was done, but I didn't save any for touch up. The weather will be cooling off in the next few days, and it will be too cool for the clear to dry properly, and that just sounds like too much work. In fact, I'm going to put the pieces on the bike now. I'll try to get some pics of it, but that may have to wait as I need to get to the kids school, to help out with T shirt painting at 3 pm.

[lsippell]

There's also 80, 120, 180, 220, 320 and 400 drit wet or dry paper.

Also 1600, 2000, 2400 3600, 4000, 6200 and up to 12000 grit that I've used.

I use the higher grits to refinish face shields, tailight lens's and plastic windshields.

Louis

[Winterhawk]

[Lord Grizzlon]

almost as pretty as my bike...if i ever get done tinkering---
and stop spillin gas on the tank---
and meltin my boots on the exhaust---

[John]

Originally posted by lsippell
There's also 80, 120, 180, 220, 320 and 400 drit wet or dry paper.

Also 1600, 2000, 2400 3600, 4000, 6200 and up to 12000 grit that I've used.

I use the higher grits to refinish face shields, tailight lens's and plastic windshields.

Louis

Were the finer grits in an aviation kit called Micro Mesh? Being an airline employee, I find them evey now and then. I have two complete kits at home right now. I have used them in the past, in fact I had to do a lot of work on the old windshield that I had on my bike before the accident. It had been sitting under a co-workers porch for quite some time before he gave it to me, and it was FUBAR. Took a long time to polish that thing out.