Re: Chris' Cafe build (07.24.07)
Thanks for the reply guys. I picked up the tank yesterday and she'll need a bit of work before final polish. But it will look great. The frame got its final clear and looks like black glass--also very well done. Alltogether, you're looking at around 20-25 hours worth of work just in paint for two people...well, 1 1/2. A friend an I put around 10 hours in body filler work and pre-paint prep. So some suggestions about what I learned from the process.
1.) If you can keep body filler off the frame, powder coat it. It is easier and cheaper in the long run. The downside is that it will not come out as nicely as the paint.
2.) When painting, if an error manifests, stop immediately and take care of it. I wrongfully assumed that it would significantly slow the process, but it doesn't. Most of the time, it took 5 minutes or so.
3.) If you make a paint booth in your garage (which I assume most of us will have to do) make sure it has a big fan to suck the air and over spray out of the booth. When I painted a chopper last summer, we didn't do this and I now understand the importance.
4.) Finding someone who will NICELY take the time to teach you how to do this stuff is invaluable.
I learned much more in the last week, but that is the macro-level view of what I picked up. I think I'm going to take a few days off the bike and reintroduce myself to the family. But I'm pretty excited about final assembly.
Thanks to all for having a read.
--Chris
