Paint Job Done

I have had a very ugly '85 VF700 for about a year and a half now. I bought it from a friend of a friend, who got it from a friend who passed away. Needless to say, sometime during the 80s or 90s, it was painted black and had some very dated looking paint smears on the side under the clear coat. I dubbed them Barbie Stripes, and set about removing them. Kind of hard to feel manly riding a bike around with pink and purple strips on the side. Here it was the day it was delivered from Milwaukee. [image: before.JPG]

I'm a mechanic by trade, not a bodyman, but I thought I'd give it a try. Easy stuff, right? Not so.

After a year and a half of sanding, filling, priming, screwing up and starting over, more sanding, etc., I got it done.

I wet sanded out the tank and buffed it to a shine, only to find that I had the buffer speed too high, so I burnt some of the paint on the left side of the tank. More wet sanding to fix that....great.

[image: rside_lq.JPG]
[image: rsider_lq.JPG]

Overall, though, I am pretty happy with the color choices, though I realize that some may disagree. The green color is from a '01 Pontiac Aztek, and the grey (Very dark grey, has a pearl effect to it in the sun) is off of a '07 Chevy Aveo.

At the end of the day, I ended up spending about $350 on supplies, tools and paint materials (DuPont ChromaSystem Paints), and countless hours in additional work that, had I known what I was doing, would have made my progress considerably quicker.


Edited 10/7/2007 to reflect changes in image hosting information

Well, congrats! I'm sure you feel better now that you can ride again.

Looks like you have some extra compound to clean up, try doing that off the bike next time. It's too bad the rear blinkers were put where they were, it's not a great spot for them, I would have filled in the holes and moved them down to the original location on the rail.

Good job, now go ride! fing02.gif

ps - Where's the chin fairing? And what pipes are those, Kerker?

I left the chin fairing off (it is painted and ready to go) until my new valve cover gasket sets come in. They are leaking like crazy and I don't want to clean oil/road grime off of it until I absolutely have to! smile.gif

I'm not sure of the make of the pipe, as the sticker was long gone once I got to it, but the residue left on the pipe I found when I was polishing them and the shape of it looked suspiciously like a Vance and Haynes sticker (rectangle). They sound pretty deep and throaty, but my neighbors don't really appreciate that when I'm warming it up at 6:30 in the AM. wheel.gif

I am going to get some more modern looking turn signals to put back in the stock location, as I am sure people have trouble seeing them.

And you are correct, I made one heck of a mess with the compound! That stuff went EVERYWHERE!

SEBSPEED, Aug 12 2007, 06:43 PMps - Where's the chin fairing? And what pipes are those, Kerker?

chickenofsea, Aug 12 2007, 06:51 PMAnd you are correct, I made one heck of a mess with the compound! That stuff went EVERYWHERE!

SEBSPEED, Aug 12 2007, 06:43 PMps - Where's the chin fairing? And what pipes are those, Kerker?

When you go to clean it, fill a 20oz soda bottle with water, and mix in a tablespoon or two of the buffing compound. Use that and an old t-shirt to get the dry compound off the painted parts, using straight water will create fine scratches and swirl marks. You can use straight water on everything else. fing02.gif

I like the top pic best! fing02.gif

Baileyrock, Aug 12 2007, 07:22 PMI like the top pic best! fing02.gif

The with black and "barbie stripes", or the top pic of the new colors?

The prep work is so time consuming if you want a good result.
I painted an XS750 Yamaha years ago. Fenders, tank, and 2 small side covers.
Swore I'd never do that again. Too much work sanding by hand. pissed.gif

The green color? I won't say anything. Err, oops too late. blink.gif

SEBSPEED, Aug 12 2007, 06:46 PM

Baileyrock, Aug 12 2007, 07:22 PMI like the top pic best! fing02.gif

The with black and "barbie stripes", or the top pic of the new colors?

Yep, I like the black/ barbie stripes! fing02.gif

Yep, I like the black/ barbie stripes!

Better change your name to BarbieRock. goofy.gif

I probably would have just put stickers over the stripes if they wouldn't come off easily. rolleyes.gif

Someone along the lines had done just that, but with electric tape. They cut it around the stripes with a razor blade, going through the paint into the bare metal. I figured that I was one good rain away from it starting to rust, so it got sanded down to bare metal and primed. As grdutchie can attest, it had an interesting assortment of epoxy primer/black paint/filler primer all in different colors.

My buddy calls the green color "pea soup green". Somewhere along the lines, it got switched to "Sea Poop Green" and the name has stuck.

VFR4Lee, Aug 12 2007, 07:53 PM

Yep, I like the black/ barbie stripes!

Better change your name to BarbieRock. goofy.gif

I probably would have just put stickers over the stripes if they wouldn't come off easily. rolleyes.gif

Have you given any thought to having a silver stripe separate the green and the gray? Might work well for ya. It'll give you a little contrast and tie it in with the rest of the bike at the same time. Do some experimenting with Duct tape to see if you like it, but an aluminum color to match the frame and wheels would work best...

VFR4Lee, Aug 12 2007, 07:53 PM

Yep, I like the black/ barbie stripes!

Better change your name to BarbieRock. goofy.gif

Why don't you take care of that for him Lee? 491.gif goofy.gif

Why don't you take care of that for him Lee?

That is not within my power. I'm not a moderator, I'm completely unmodulated. beer.gif

VFR4Lee, Aug 12 2007, 08:21 PM

Why don't you take care of that for him Lee?

That is not within my power. I'm not a moderator, I'm completely unmodulated. beer.gif

So sorry, for some reason I get you mixed up with ULEWZ every now and then... unsure.gif

So sorry, for some reason I get you mixed up with ULEWZ every now and then...

The you need to come out and ride, and meet us both in person.
You'll never have that problem again. pissed.gif
I mean LMAO. You Bastage. laugh.gif

VFR4Lee, Aug 12 2007, 09:01 PMThe you need to come out and ride, and meet us both in person.
You'll never have that problem again. pissed.gif
I mean LMAO. You Bastage. laugh.gif

Love to!!

I just need a month off and a babysitter... laugh.gif

Seriously though, I'll take you up on that someday. Maybe next summer! fing02.gif

Thanks for all the great input everyone has provided.

What is the best way to get the tiny divots out of the paint that I caused when buffing? Another round of wet sanding?

chickenofsea, Aug 13 2007, 02:05 PMThanks for all the great input everyone has provided.

What is the best way to get the tiny divots out of the paint that I caused when buffing? Another round of wet sanding?

Don't want to wet sand too much; try out your stripe then bury everything in another couple coats of clear. Strive for a perfect lay down so you don't have to sand at all. Much easier by far! fing02.gif

Here's a few shots of my F4i's side panels. I added the black at the bottom and re-cleared both panels. I only had to wet sand a little on the one side, the other was so nice I just stuck it on the bike! fing02.gif

[image: newpaint4-7-07013.jpg]

[image: newpaint4-7-07009.jpg]

[image: newpaint4-7-07016.jpg]

Chicken!!!!
Man that looks real good. I will miss the primer look tho....there was that mad max look to it. Now it looks too nice. You'll have to sell your Mel Gibson leather coat and leather skull cap. goofy.gif

I had a '90 CB-1 that I decided I should do the same to....took an entire winter and spring to sand it, and it doesn't even have full fairings! On the positive, I felt like an archaeologist studying stratigraphy. There were 3 colors and primers (6 total layers) ABOVE the original coat. I am pretty sure I will not be doing that again.