Tank work

It's finally time to start on my tank. I started with a dent-free spare I bought for $125 at a wrecking yard in Vacaville.

I decided to use a paint stripper this time instead of blasting it. Paint makes the coolest sound when it breaks free!


The final stripped tank with filler applied:
My new custom seat will not be going as high on the tank as the stock seat. I never see the purpose of putting the seat up the tank because then you can never ride forward.
I'm using EVERCOAT METAL2METAL for this work. This is the first layer sanded out. I'll fill with another layer and sand to shape.

Before I start applying primer, I'm going to use electrolysis to remove the rust on the inside. It's not significantly rusted, but it NEEDS to be removed. It's light surface rust only. I don't like the tank sealers, so I'm going to just treat the metal immediately after doing the electrolysis. As soon as I can find some "washing soda" I'll be using the DC power supply that I used during the my aluminum anodization work.

Engine problems

Well, I've had a few minor setbacks that have been really stalling me on progress. First I tore my cylinder to block gasket. This weekend I tried mounting the #2 cylinder again and this time I had a bent dowl pin and in an attempt to force the cylinder down, I broke my cam chain tensioner right where it mounts into the head/cylinder assembly. Ugh. Now I'm waiting for a new tensioner and dowel.

At least I made some progress, I got the cam sprocket and cam installed on the #1 cylinder, and successfully removed the slotted cap in the generator cover, without damaging it. I made a custom tool for this out of aluminum. I also made a custom piston ring compressor. That makes 4 custom tools I fabricated for this motorcycle.

No pics for this post. Working on the engine by yourself is not conducive to photography. I have few enough hands as it is.

I've also finished my headlight bracket and painted it. I'm pretty happy with how this worked out. I'll do a whole post on the new headlight as it took me so much designing and sweat to get it finished.

Shaping my custom tail - part 2

More shaping is done, and the right side front piece has been bondo'd on.

As you can see in the last one, I've got my new headlight on. It's actually a mockup for making new mounting brackets. I've been looking at the frame and front end for so long, in a stripped down condition, that I've gotten used to the tank being the highest point on the bike. Once I mounted up the gauges, yuck, I don't like how much they stick up. I don't want to spend money for a custom gauge... For now, I'm just putting off what to do about the gauges.

I'm really loving the light, and have overcome some design hurdles in making the brackets for cheap. I'm relocating the horn, modifying the horn bracket/light hanger thingy, and totally modifying the light hanger to hang my new light and horn. I can't wait to finish the light so that I can install my handlebars, controls etc.

Shaping my custom tail

While cylinders were off at the shop getting bored, I started working on my tail end covers.

The end goal is a custom fiberglass rear end, frame coverish, seat mounting thingy. Whatever you want to call it, the rear bodywork. I'm starting by making a wood pattern, which I will layup fiberglass over to create my mold. I will then lay up a 2nd fiberglass piece using the mold so I get an exact replica of the wood. This is a very time consuming and tedious process. Kinda like everything custom I've been doing to this bike. I'm learning it all from scratch, and it's taking forever.
I glued a bunch of wood together, notched it out, cut it to length and fit it up on the bike. Here's the raw shape I started with:


Starting out it is obviously very square. I started figuring all the different angles and marking them out. The next step is to rough sand down to those angles using my angle grinder with an 60 grit disc. I'm making this all up as I go along and every time I go to cut, I'm deathly afraid of messing up because I would have to start from scratch all over again. Maybe that's an exaggeration. I can always fill in with bondo, but the less I do that the better.

As you can see, I've covered my workshop in a layer of wood dust. That's quite a change from the oil, metal filings and paint that's been in there to date. Wood is so much easier to work with than metal!! Wow.

V-Strom paint job

I bought my yellow 2008 DL650 because it was the right price, right seller and right timing. What wasn't right was the color. Yellow. I'm not a solid yellow bike kind of guy. I'm not a stock bike or stock paintjob kind of guy either for that matter.

So, with my new found painting skills, I busted a custom paint job on my daily commuter.
Check it:
Putting the side covers back on after they cured out.


Backing her out after reassembly (this is my front porch):

I couldn't remove ALL the yellow. Solid black is only so cool. I figured, I spend all my time on the freeway, so I worked with that theme and came up with the hazard stripes for that custom touch. Nobody likes the paint job but me. Oh well, f**k 'em. I don't ride this bike to pull girls, impress people, or go super fast, so who cares.

Paint used:
Hot Rod Flatz HRF 296 Black Chassis (Satin)
This is a 2-part urethane paint. Cures as hard as nails.

I had a bitch of a time getting it to spray right with my crappy gun. Not my best work, but from 5 feet away, you can't tell it's not professionally done.

New pistons, boring cylinders

I finally got my new 0.5mm oversized pistons and rings, and all new valves. I brought the cylinders and heads down to Rick at RM Enterprises in Concord to get them bored and the valve seats grinded.

Couple weeks and I'll have the motor rebuilt!

#1 Cylinder corrosion

Got a problem here. Need a new cylinder!
Can anyone part with a #1 cylinder in decent internal shape?

Engine issues

I just finished painting my engine on Wednesday. I baked out the last pieces in the oven last night. I'll be putting it back together this weekend.
Big problem: I've got a corroded cylinder where one piston was sitting so long the rings rusted into the liner. I also need my valve seats grinded. Those are getting handled tomorrow morning, but the cylinder is still not resolved.

How I see it, I've got three choices:
1 - leave it as is and put it back together
2 - get a new cylinder or a new(used) one
3 - do a small bore and upsize rings... not sure this will work with just rings though

I'll have to post pictures and ask advice.
-S

Paint Concepts

Here's a couple of mock-ups I've done in photoshop while brainstorming on the paint job.


Yeah, both ideas were stolen. But that's OK with me. They both look hot on their respective bikes. I think the red bike is from Denmark? Best looking paint job I've seen on a VX yet. Wish I could see more photos of the front.
I can't figure out where I got this photo from. Somewhere on vx800.dk. It's hard navigating a site in another language.



The other is from Filippo Barbacane's S3. Photos taken from his blog, found at:
http://filippobarbacane.blogspot.com/

Rolling Chassis

I've done a huge amount of work lately and have taken many photos, but tonight, things came together and I'll only show the final result. I've paid attention to every last detail while putting it together. Every washer has been polished or replaced with stainless steel, everything has been restored to a brand new condition, or better.

I think I can finally claim a 'rolling chassis':
and with the right shock on, this time (I'm waiting for a new bolt for the bottom of the shock. Stock was too stripped to use I realized at the last moment)

Love it or hate it, it's been bobbed for real. Just enough room for my butt and a tiny rear cowling. Cowling will overhang the end of frame a bit.
And for comparison sake, I plopped the original seat on the top. My seat will sit much lower and there will be very little gap between bottom of seat and frame.

On the way is a complete photo documentation of my front-porch home-brew anodizing setup. I just finished anodizing my brakelight mount, rearsets, and rear shock pieces with excellent results. More to come soon...

Progress Post 3/9/09

See my beautiful triple clamp! All painted and mounted up on the bike:
Detail views:

Final Drive painting project

My final drive was in bad shape as you can see from the as bought photos below:

I debated on powdercoating it and then decided not to as it might compromise the tolerances.
What else can I do but paint it?

The step by step process I took was:
1) strip and degrease
2) beadblast
3) treat and clean the aluminum
4) sand
5) fill any dents (or some of them)
6) sand out
7) etch primer - 2 coats
8) high build primer - 4 coats
9) sand out
10) spray high build where I sanded through to metal
11) sand out
12) color coat - 2 coats
13) clear coat - 4 coats

I didn't photograph every step of this incredibly tedious process but here's some of the shots:
Freshly blasted:
Submerged in 140 degree alumiprep for 5 minutes:
Drying out:
Application of METAL2METAL filler:
Sanded out:

Here's the paint line up:
And the final product, shot inside my makeshift paint booth:
And outside in the sun:
I had my camera on auto white balance so the color temps are different and the color therefore looks a little different.
As you can see, I decided to go with yellow to match the frame. It was either black, silver or yellow. Silver would never match the swingarm properly, black looks bad, so I had my paint shop custom mix me up a color and put it in a spray can. Took the guy 4 days to get it right and it's pretty dead on.

I'm letting the clear cure out for another couple of days before I rebuild it. I used a real deal 2-part urethane clear coat in a special one time use spraycan.

Brakelight bracket - redux

I got distracted with the process when making my brakelight bracket and shaped it to the frame cross pieces instead of rounding it. So, I did it over.
Here's the shots.

Basic shape:

Drilled out and shaped:

Sanded out:

Fit up on the bike:

Again, it will be etched and then anodized black.