5th Gen Body Mods

Well, I finally got my bike repainted to my satisfaction. After low-siding in June, I tried repairing and repainting just the right fairing and front fender (which I had cracked earlier with a dropped floor jack handle pissed.gif ). The color match was terrible and my paint job sucked, but I did learn a lot. I think I could now paint a bike reasonably well with a good spray booth (believe me, I know where every dust fleck is in the current paint job).

I rode the bike in a semi-repaired state all the way to the Kootenay Hootenanny, but when I got back it was time to bite the bullet. Here are the results:

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S7000892.JPG A sad sight

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S7000890.JPG No more dumbo holes

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S7000891.JPG Great ABS plastic repair epoxy!!

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S7000894.JPG Lots of sanding...

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S7000893.JPG ...and several coats of primer

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S7000896.JPG Finally, painted, wet sanded, buffed, buffed, waxed, and buffed some more! You can see that I need to pull the side fairing and remove a blob of filler that's holding the front cowl out a bit. Later.

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S7000897.JPG The paint is a pretty good match after three tries at the paint store (DuPont), but not perfect. ColorRite is no doubt better, but they have no retailers in Portland metro. sad.gif

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S7000899.JPG You might be able to tell that the front fender is 1.5" shorter and re-contoured for a slightly sportier look, but it's hard to spot.

And the money shot:
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I'm pretty happy. Of course I toyed around with painting the whole bike a different color, but who wants to lose 10 HP?? goofy.gif

Lose 10 Hp jajaja... good stuff there, not a bad match at all. Perhaps slightly more orangey than original... but near enough is good enough in this case... maybe I wouldn't even have noticed if I had seen the photo without the revealing text of the thread. IN photos of course, possibly more noticeable in the flesh (or in the metal!! hehe).

I admire you DIYers.

magellan, Sep 17 2008, 04:06 PMI'm pretty happy. Of course I toyed around with painting the whole bike a different color, but who wants to lose 10 HP?? goofy.gif

...thats funny........ I picked up 20 RWHP when I laid on the flat black.............

Looks good. Really good. Try my paint code next time. PPG is pricey, but,..... $10 bucks says no-one noticed. Good job! fing02.gif

It looks great. What technique did you use to fill the hole where the signals were? Did you epoxy a patch to the back side?

I don't think that WSP is going to agree with your removal of your front signals!

cassandtim, Sep 17 2008, 06:35 PMI don't think that WSP is going to agree with your removal of your front signals!

he's got signals in his mirrors

timmythecop, Sep 17 2008, 03:46 PMhe's got signals in his mirrors

Tim knows that. He's just trying to be funny. Try harder next time, Tim... dry.gif

491.gif

RRW, Sep 17 2008, 03:28 PMIt looks great. What technique did you use to fill the hole where the signals were? Did you epoxy a patch to the back side?

I filled the holes with cut-outs from an extra seat cowl, plastic-welded the perimeter, sanded to find low spots, cleaned the ABS with a swipe of brake cleaner on a rag, mixed epoxy, and smeared it on as thinly as I could and still fill any dips.

On the back side I slathered on a good layer of epoxy too, for strength. After the epoxy dried it was simply a matter of sanding with progressively finer sandpaper. 500-grit wet-sandpaper still leaves sanding swirls that can be seen after clear-coating, so I'd recommend a couple of coats of primer and a final sanding with 1000-grit or so before painting.

Looks good!

If you ever do this again, try adding a layer of mesh sheetrock tape on the backside of the fix along with the epoxy for a more secure fix. fing02.gif

SEBSPEED, Sep 17 2008, 05:31 PMLooks good!

If you ever do this again, try adding a layer of mesh sheetrock tape on the backside of the fix along with the epoxy for a more secure fix. fing02.gif

That's a really good idea. Should do for now (knock on wood), but if there's a next time...

Looks good as far as I can tell.

After my crash I only had the upper and the right fairing painted to match the previous owners paint which I was told was Chrome Yellow from Ford. . . he's a LIAR!

magellan, Sep 17 2008, 05:06 PM

timmythecop, Sep 17 2008, 03:46 PMhe's got signals in his mirrors

Tim knows that. He's just trying to be funny. Try harder next time, Tim... dry.gif

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Ha ha ha, that's funny stuff right there!


BTW, the bike looks good Loni!

theoxmole, Sep 17 2008, 10:48 PMLooks good as far as I can tell.

After my crash I only had the upper and the right fairing painted to match the previous owners paint which I was told was Chrome Yellow from Ford. . . he's a LIAR!

It was probably Lemon Ice; is the new paint darker? The Lemon Ice has a whiter base and was a popular Mustang color(for the model previous to the latest one).