It Is Official

[rwk5159]

As of April 8th, 2011, my 1979 Yamaha XS 1100 Special will head to the paint booth.

The Plan?

The plan is to get the paint to match. (I'm getting tired of the phrase "Running Classic")

The paint will be very nearly the original Red.

The tank, sidecovers, and the fenders will be painted, and the hard saddle bags are still up in the air as to what I am doing with them.

The trunk is headed to the "For Sale" forum.

If anyone has comments, particularly to the removal, preparation of parts, and opinions as to the painting of the fenders, please leave them now.

[rwk5159]

New thought:

What about mounting led bar turn signals in the saddle bags and french cutting them vertically into the bags?

[fredintoon]

Hi Bob,
if you are traveling far enough to need hard bags, mebbe you should switch to a Standard gas tank?
Frenching your LED turn signals into the bags would look really neat.
If you are prepared to take the effort, go for it.
I'd not bother painting the fenders unless the chrome was fritzed but like the colour choice, that's up to you.
Painted parts are best stripped down to bare metal.
If you want to paint over chrome get the parts bead blasted to key the primer on.

[crazy steve]

Fred might have something about the standard tank....

If you prefer the looks of the special tank, how about painting a standard tank along with the bags and using that just for touring? You'll never have a better opportunity...

Painting chrome is tough. I wouldn't recommend bead blasting, as chrome is brittle and the beating from the beads can loosen the plating without removing it. It may start peeling later, taking the paint with it. Ideally, you want to electrochemically strip it but that's nearly as expensive as plating. Sandblasting is a good choice (with sand or another sharp-edged media), as the sharp edges on the sand 'cuts' at the metal and will generally remove any loose plating, particularly the thin plating that was done on these bikes. As an alternative, you could sand the snot out of them with about 120 grit paper (which will leave a rough surface and take off any loose plating) then heavily primer/block sand to get the surface back. If the plating has any issues (peeling, pitted), you want to get those areas down to clean bare steel or you'll have problems later...

[TopCatGr58]

I painted my ruined chrome fenders a few years ago. I used one of those synthetic 3M wheels on a drill to grind on the fenders to rough up the chrome, as well as remove any loose flaking chrome and rust. I have a grinder, but was afraid it would remove too much metal and make irregular surfaces. I then used some etching primer which went on thick to help smooth out the rough scratched surface. Then the REAL paint, a few layers, then clear coat/hardener, also a few layers. Has held up okay so far.






View of rear fender.


T.C.

[DGXSER]

The fenders on Banshee had a couple issues. Overspray of paint, and rust pinholes in the chrome. I used a palm sander with some 220 grit in it and sanded the fender down with that till it felt a little rougher than the chrome.

I used rattle can Rustoleum primer, and Rustoleum paint then duplicolor clear over the paint. Been about a year or so, no chipping. flaking or otherwise deterioration yet.