'79 Special Weed Abatement Project In Progress

[3Phase]

Coat #15

I just rolled the last coat of paint for Bush's tank. Whew! Yes, I think Columbo sabotaged the roller handle so I would give up on Bush and only work on Columbo!

The paint hasn't leveled out yet so I'll have to see how it looks tomorrow morning after it's set up for a day and I can do the finish sanding before I call it done and take some pictures. I got a new 15 MP camera with 21x optical zoom that I've been playing with instead of painting so I won't have to use the one in my mobile phone any more.

Rolling paint with hardener on a motorcycle tank wastes a lot of material and I've used 14 rollers and 30 oz of paint for 15 coats; 2 oz short of the original quart of Rustoleum. The paint isn't expensive but the waste of materials bothers me more than the drying/curing time and the sanding.

I still have to sand and paint the side covers to match the tank but the side covers don't have to be as fuel-resistant as the gas tank. A couple of cans of spray paint and a day of spraying, sanding, and buffing will work just fine.

[3Phase]

The last coat

Here is the gas tank after its final coat of rolled paint.

The paint has been wet-sanded with 2000 grit paper and rubbed down with a soft cloth to get rid of water spots but it has not been buffed or sealed.

I'm going to allow the paint to dry and cure for another month before I buff it out and seal it but I think it looks good the way it is right now.




The Yamaha badges have been repainted and clear coated but the new gold is flat even after several clear coats and I don't think they look as good as the tank.

[natemoen]

Looks pretty good! Well done!

[3Phase]

Thanks, Nate, it's been a lot of work!

I think if I was going to do it again I'd just buy the paint, then pay a professional to spray it and be done with it but rolling on Rustoleum does work and it has a good gloss.

I just poured some gasoline on a rag and rubbed a test spot on the underside of the tank with it. No paint came off so the paint is fuel-proof enough as it is right now to use without worrying about spills and droplets when I fill the tank which was basically the whole point of using the hardener.

[bikerphil]

Looks real good Scott, that hardener really thinned out the paint I guess, 15 coats, lol. So much easier JMHO to use regular base coat, wet sand, then spray on 2pt. clear which is fuel proof. Cheap spray gun that does a nice job is $20. Can you get good 2pt. clearcoat in Cali?

[DGXSER]

Tank looks really nice Scott. The hard work paid off!

[3Phase]

Phil, the hardener actually makes the paint thicker. 15 coats was because I had to sand off six or seven of them when I messed up. You have to add hardener to the measured and mixed paint, thinner, and Penetrol, then let it activate for about thirty minutes. You have to stir it a few times whiles it's brewing to make sure it's all blended together.

After the hardener is activated and it's time to roll or brush the paint you add more thinner if necessary to get the paint to the right consistency.


I've never sprayed pretty paint before so there would be a learning curve plus the cost of materials. I might be able to get the good paint legally in California but I would have to pull a permit to run a 220V outlet to the garage because I don't have a compressor that would work with a spray rig. I don't have a vented booth or the proper safety gear so it's really not a good idea for me, personally.

I did price the job out on the back of an envelope and it would burn up the better part of ten Franklins to buy the safety gear, the electrical permit, materials, compressor and spray rig, then build a booth and learn to spray... a gas tank.

The biggest hurdle is not to be in a hurry. If you need something pretty-painted and ready to use NOW! then spray it, don't roll it.

[bikerphil]

Scott, you'd be surprised, you don't really need a spray booth or special respirator, just work outside on a not too windy day when it's the right temperature/humidity. You will get dust if you do it inside without a booth, a little dust can be wet sanded out. The last tank I painted I used enamel from a rattle can (Ford blue engine enamel), probably about 3 coats. Let it dry for 12 hrs then wet sand. Shoot right over that with 2pt. clear ($35, enough to do tank, side covers and more) from a cheap gun with a $5 water separator in line. Wet sand that in 12 hrs and hand polish and you're done. Oh, gotta wear a dust mask at least. Anyway, good luck with your project

[3Phase]

Thanks! I am having fun!

A filter mask instead of a respirator... ehhh... okay, well, at least 2K coatings don't have anything really dangerous -- like lead! in them. I don't think it's actually legal any more to spray 2K or lacquer at home in California but I'm not sure; might have to join a painting club or something with the right facilities now. Anyway, I'm not feeling particularly suicidal or angry enough at any of my neighbors, not even the nitwit that dropped the tree branch on my bikes or the new folks with the kids and the yappy dog, to be spraying any cyanide.

With a roller or brush, the used brushes, rollers, and solvents can be kept in sealed containers so they can be disposed of properly by tossing them in someone else's trash, a vacant lot, or chucking them off a bridge into the river. If I spray, it drifts over the yard and the dogs (they like to watch whatever I'm doing when I'm outside to make sure it's being done right), then through the fence and onto Fluffy or Fluffy's food and the kids' toys. That just ain't right.

[crazy steve]

Scott, you don't even need a large compressor any more, at least not for spraying a bike. I use this HVLP (high volume, low pressure) gun kit: http://www.harborfreight.com/profess...kit-94572.html and use the smaller 'detail' gun which is perfect for motorcycles. A small, inexpensive 120V 'pancake' compressor is enough to run this gun, and I've been very pleased with how well it works. And I don't have a spray booth either; I shoot in my garage on days that are warm enough, if you live somewhere where it isn't dusty (I'm on a dirt road) you could shoot outside on a calm day. Beats the hell out of spray cans, the control is sooo much better and there's very little overspray.

[cywelchjr]

Scott, I don't know if it's LEGAL to paint with lacquer or 2k paint at home in Ca anymore, but they sell it at O'Reilly's in the body and fender section in both spray cans and in regular cans and they sell the compressors and paint guns too. So while it might not be legal, I think if you don't live downtown and do it for a living or regularly, you could/would probably get away with painting a bike or two once in a while. As for the 2K, there is a place that sells 2k in the spray can that is supposed to be VERY good, with a very good spray pattern that is said to work well to go as top coat for a tank, it's what I'm THINKING about putting on my tank.

[3Phase]

I will eventually run 220V to the garage and buy a compressor that'll keep up with air tools and a spray rig, probably when it's time to paint the house again but it's not that time and I think y'all are missing the point: the new laws just make it difficult, not impossible, but I don't want to spray any 2K poison at all anywhere around the house whether it's inside the garage or outdoors. No.

I wasn't looking for 2K paint when I did my shopping so it might be available retail over the counter without a license. Yes, I can buy paint spraying equipment here all day long but I had a difficult time just finding one quart of hardener. It was insanely expensive and it was not available at O'Reilly's. It is listed in O'Reilly's online catalog but it can't be purchased online so you have to walk your happy self into a store. The computer at the store listed it too but all of the warehouses showed zero inventory so it couldn't even be ordered.

It's the same story with Lowes, Home Depot, Do-It Center, True Value, and even retail paint outlets like Sherwin-Willliams, Frazee, and Dunn-Edwards. They all had to pull a lot of the solvents off the shelves, too, and put up some kind of eco-friendly solvent substitutes. Water-based low VOC coating systems here we come!

[crazy steve]

...but I had a difficult time just finding one quart of hardener. It was insanely expensive and it was not available at O'Reilly's. It is listed in O'Reilly's online catalog but it can't be purchased online so you have to walk your happy self into a store. The computer at the store listed it too but all of the warehouses showed zero inventory so it couldn't even be ordered.

It's the same story with Lowes, Home Depot, Do-It Center, True Value, and even retail paint outlets like Sherwin-Willliams, Frazee, and Dunn-Edwards. They all had to pull a lot of the solvents off the shelves, too, and put up some kind of eco-friendly solvent substitutes. Water-based low VOC coating systems here we come!

Try these guys.... http://www.thecoatingstore.com/
It's mail order, but they say they ship anywhere in the continental US and you can get 1 quart cans of solid-color single-stage with reducer and hardener (enough to mix 1.5 qt of sprayable paint) for under $50 including shipping. It's what I used on my SG build, and what I plan to use on my XJ rebuild. That's enough to paint any motorcycle easily (well, maybe not a full dresser, but I had about half the can left after painting my SG tank twice... yes, a mishap like what you had Scott ). And like I said, a HVLP gun has very little overspray. Less than spray cans, and waaay less than conventional guns.

[3Phase]

Rattle-can spray paint for the side covers didn't work

I primed and sanded the side covers yesterday and let them dry overnight. This morning I started to spray some Krylon 12 minute gloss white paint and on the fourth or fifth pass the brand new can spluttered and quit spraying.

Both covers now had thousands of small drops of white paint that dried almost instantly but looked like a textured ceiling. I was able to wipe off most of it with thinner without destroying the primer coats but it took a while to sand the covers smooth again. I'm going back to the store for a couple of cans of gloss white but if it happens again I'm rolling the side covers too.


Steve, I do not want to spray paint with hardener at home. I can get the materials online but the instant I add hardener to a single-stage paint it becomes a slow-curing poison just like the fast-curing 2K urethanes. Zero overspray is the only acceptable amount of that stuff so I rolled the paint.

A spray rig would be the cat's pajamas for the jobs that can be done with single-stage latex, oil or water-based alkyds and acrylics but nothing with a cyanide hardener.

[latexeses]

Don't know why you are so worried about spraying those twa part epoxies. They are perop saefoe fe azz ;odoh oyub donnnt
Where was I? Oh yasdx. Seyfhtee..

Oh neeever mynnnd...