[michiganarft11]

Here's the status of my bike at this point.

Tank primed, new fuel gauge hooked up, cleaned up fuel cap so that's ready to go.

Fairings are being sanded and will be primed as soon as I get them all sanded.

Sucks having the bike in pieces, but it doesn't really matter when it's 30 deg. outside.

 

[MaineKawi]

Just a quick :?:

For the sanding of the fairings, do you use the wet sand technique? if so, care to ellaborate for some of us? Im just interested

Thnx

 

[Anonymous]

COLD WEATHER

I say warm up the garage, put some great music on, invite a friend over, or have a family member chat with you to passs the time away and make it fun...THINK OF THE FINISHED JOB!!! All those parts and pieces once put back on the bike, KNOWing that you have touched each and every piece...and that the pictures tell the whole story...and it was an enjoyable experience...something to do when it was cold outside anyway...you were still doing something with the bike!

 

[Freakinout]

I spent over 3 days on prep work preparing my bike to be painted, so much wet sanding, over and over and over again with 400 and 500 grit wet/dry sand paper. Its lots of work, but the finished result is soooooo worth it.

wet sanding is easy: get 400/500 wet/dry sandpaper, spray water on primed pieces. sand. repeat until there is no shine and it is completely smooth.

 

[bikeaholic]

re

freakin knows the work involved :wink:

added tip-just before you start sanding get a cheap can of black spray paint and lighty mist it over the primer-just enough to see it-then begin wet sanding-as you sand you will see your high and low spots much easier-sand until all the black is gone then do it again and again and again and again :lol: :lol:

 

[MaineKawi]

Wow, hey thanks a lot guys. Is it easy to make a mistake?

 

[michiganarft11]

I have to keep the bike at my mom's garage 45 min. away, cause I don't really have room in my apartment. I go there on weekends and play with the bike.
I brought some of the pieces with me to wet sand.

I'm using 320 grit sand paper b/c my guy at the paint shop said that it will work better b/c we plan on adding an adhesive to the primer that's supposed to make the primer and paint stick better and be more durable. He also said that anything finer doesn't cut big enough grooves for the primer to stick in and it can peel off easier.

Wet sanding is actually cleaner than dry sanding. A lot of dust is created when you dry sand. When you wet sand, the dust sitcks to the plastic, cause it's wet. Anyway, I bought a little spray bottle that I fill with water. I wash the piece that I'm going to sand, leave it wet the go to town. I spray the piece when it starts getting dusty. Keeps the air cleaner, and does a better job of removing the shine. You can wipe your finger over an area and see if it's shiny or not. If it is keep sanding. It's Really hard to make a mistake. The only thing you could do wrong would be to not sand the shine off. If you sand too much, you will notice the paint coming off.

 

[Anonymous]

WET SANDING

You could even put the peices in the bathtub and wear a pair of shorts. the amount of water is not goint to hurt anything. just keep it running. Make sure that you get in all the tight spaces like where the windshield insets. It just has to be scuffe enough for hte primer to hold the paint. You could do the same in a lake in a deep sink or even the bath tub or shower....just keep the water running...and a rag or spongw will help you to seee just what you are getting done...

 

[bikeaholic]

re

most of todays basecoat/clearcoat finishes will adhere fine to 400 grit wet sanding over primer-320 is fine but will remove more material resulting in a little more labor-he is prolly refering to a adhesion promoter which is used on some plastics but not generally needed on fiberglass. make all the mistakes you want right now-if you do just respray primer,no big deal. its the base/clear step you don't want to have to re-do! :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

RECOAT PRIMER

YEP...On Fibergalss sailplanes I use wetsanding on the new fuselage, then prime it and wetsand with 400 till all the primer (unless you use a magnifying glass) looks like it is gone, then I give it another coat and just wetsand it evenly, wait for it to dry then use a Krylon paint of my choice. It is so smooth it is almost flawless. IF you want to go farhter you can always get some cornstarch and water to polish it with AFTER it is cured...but there is no need for something like a motorcycle. On a sailplane you can go beyond that point and even put a PTFE coating on it. It feels wet, silky anytime that you pick it up and it IS so slick that launching it you have to be careful not to squeeze it to tight because it is so slippery. Ahhh, getting carried away with parasitc drag...
I have done my wet sanding in the deepsink in the laundry room and sitting on the side of the bathtub...fortunately my wife has been to and seen the sailplane competitions, and has counted the number of hours and days that I have spent building several of my sailplanes. Dust, lint, ANYTHING in the air will show up and it's a bad thing...

 

[Anonymous]

Clearcoat

HEY, IF you do have something show up in your clear coat wait for it to dry then use a 1200, or even a 1600 wet sand and then re apply your clearcoat. If you have decals or labels or paint with your name or whatever in the paint you too can use the 1200/1600 the apply hte clearcoat to keep everything from peeling or coming off of the finsished coat. It is a process used in slot cars as well.

 

[MaineKawi]

Wow thanks for all of the information ljangell, bikaholic, michiganarft11 & freakinout.....really helped.. took some good notes too :wink:

 

[Anonymous]

COLOR?

So without keeping us in further suspense...WHAT COLOR are you going to paint it?

 

[michiganarft11]

I have yet to go down to the painters supply store and pick the exact color. I want a bright blue. "mediterranean blue" or "impulse blue", like the blue you see on the vipers. I plan on adding some extra gold flake, and pearl to the paint. Then I want to put some design into it with white mostly, but shade some features with grays. The guy at the shop is really helpful. In his words, "paint on a design and see what it looks like, if you don't like it sand it down and paint over it, nothing is finalized till we clearcoat." I've been trying to do some drawings, and have employed some of my more artistic friends to help, and I plan to tape stuff out before I actually start painting.

 

[Anonymous]

Sounds like a plan of Action

Just compare the blue before you paint it to the Suzuki Blue...(BAD)They already get to much attention to have a Kawasaki getting the job done for them...(GOOD) when?IF the cops are out looking for a blue Suzuki...Gee Officer this is a Kawasaki, not a Suzuki...
Sounds like you have several friends helping you out...only make sure that the gold metalflake is very very small

 

[rlovrin1]

I've always liked the color Electron Blue Pearl , I don't know why... :lol:

I wonder why....

Honestly, other than my car being this color, I like the Electron Blue Pearl because in low level light, the car almost looks purple and during the day it's a really awsome color blue.

Unforunatly, car or bike, this color attracts the Unwanted attention of the Po-po's.

Another cool color for a bike is Titanium Grey/Silver, Silverstone Silver, or Vivid Blue Pearl (2004 Honda Civic Si Color).

 

[bikeaholic]

color

honda has "illusion blue" on the vtx's that looks blue/purple also - it really looks good :shock:
careful with the flake and pearl :!: this will change the color if too much is used-it does not take much :wink: - make some spray outs before you paint to see what the final look will be
good luck and send us some pics!!

ride safe

 

[Anonymous]

BLUE

You could get the same paint that is on the car...but that HONDA decal would look silly across the windscreen of your 500R...You will have to post the pictures, perhaps as you go through the stages...you know keep the film running. I'm in Kansas and we have about 14" of snow out her on the ground and railings and it's supposed to get heavy this evening...The snow measure is not biased by buildings or city temps...I live on a farm...so I'm/we're here till things warm up and the county finally gets around to coming out this far south...

 

[michiganarft11]

The gold flake that I'll be adding is small. It looks really cool if it's added into the lower levels of paint b/c it pulls small greens and purples through the paint, giving you more depth to the surface.

Probably won't be putting decals on the bike. Have to wait and see, might put a ZX-6 badge, or the NINJA.

Snow? Oh wait, I live in Michigan. We've still got about 18".

 

[Anonymous]

Chromallusion DuPont

Real expensive... as for the snow...it's to much...There aren't that many snowmobiles in the area...1979 we had 8' of snow and drifts that were Nearly as high as the Hedge trees/Osage Orange trees that are used for wind blocks and sectioning...they had snow plows, graders and cats/dozers stuck out here. I hope that this is just another freaky 24-26. and not something like Michigan/Colorado/deep .... I'm supposed to be at OZ Cycle Salvage looking at 500's...guess that I'll have to wait...and just keep reading and learning. I'm not going to spend $8,100.. for a GSX 600R Suzuki...I still want the Ninja 500R. Tried and trued and a whole Forum of friendly people...when I run into a snag...