GS1100g Cafe Racer - Project Romesy

After getting some good advice from boinkg i decided to get the tank to a decent stage. Wanted to get it primed up to prevent the rust attacking it again.
First problem was this decent dent on the side.




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I tried heating it and using a spray can to pop it out, but did not work..Couldnt access it from the inside of the tank So i decided to fill it. Found some good filler "metalfix" its a putty but it has actual metal in it. It looks strange and is a very strange viscosity but it seemed to work well.


This was my first time fixing anything like this so I over applied. Lesson learnt...This leads to lots and lots of un-needed sanding. But I got all the excess off.


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Started with 100 grit to cut to the size i needed, then hit it with some 160 and final with 400 dry and then 400 wet.


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I sanded the entire tank with 100 grit to get anything that would prevent the primer to sticking to it, then hit it with 400 dry then 400 wet. There are still visible scratches in them but you cant feel them by hand, just see them in light.


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I'm sure a few coats of primer and sanding in between wll colour this.


THe patch job is not 100% but its the best I could do with my skill level. You can 'just' feel it when you run your hand over it, but its so minute that I dont think i'll even notice it.
I hope so anyway.


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I sprayed the entire tank in and out with WD40 to keep it from rusting, as I cant prime it for another 2 days....busy life.


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Cheeers.
 
You're giving me some inspiration, as painting my GS has always been on the list.
 
Thanks guys!
Its my first build and im totally out of my depth, but I'm tackling each section as a mini project. Upskilling that area, and then moving on.


:)
 
Started painting today. Almost finished. 2-3 more coats of clear to go. I got a run on first coat of clear so I'm waiting for it to harden and i'll rub it down...


Its all 2k (2pac) metalic perl white. The black was a perl black metallic as well, but it was too black when i laid it down. So after it was done, I dusted some white perl on it to ease the black a little...I did a little too much overspray on one side of the black stripe..I may fix that or I may leave it.
I think I can accept that its my first paint job and I'm allowed to make some mistakes. Overall its a pretty tidy job I think....Let me know what you guys think.


This took me all day to do. It was a total pain the ass, but now that I've done it, I think if I were to paint again, I would nail it first time with no mistakes....


I did Primer, Primer filler, Guide coat, rub guide coat down to get it all flat, Primer filler again x2, and about 4 coats of white, 2 coats of black, and 1 coat of clear. More clear to come after I get the run out..tomorrow..


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This is where you can see the overspray of the white dusting that I gave it....I really got upset when I did that..I think if i remask it up i can dust some black over it and it should blend in...What do yall think...


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I'm really pleased with the way this looks on the bike. It's a big bike and thats why I made the stripe so fat...to break up the white a little..and I think a thin stripe would have looked out of place...


These photos dont do the pearl any justice. The metallic shimmer through the white is really lovely in real life.


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hahaha. Yeah I got it out...You cant see shit anymore! was pretty impressed.
My mrs was asking me which side the dent was, and I couldn't remember...now thats gotta be good if I can fool myself! haha...


Thanks man....positive words are very inspiring!
 
Being the pedantic person that I am. I couldn't live with the overspray, and the paint run.
I didnt sleep much last night, thinking bout how I would fix it up. This is the problem with over obsessive personalities. Things will just eat at us until we are satisfied, or are totally fed up that we just pay someone to do it properly.
Luckily I am not at that point..yet.


On the way home picked up some 400 and 800 grit, and some more thinners, as I ran out last night cleaning my gun 10 billion times.


Decided I would also redo the black stripe....


First had to get the clear off, and scuff up the surface so the new paint could stick.
Did that with 800 grit.


As for the run i got in the paint. I hit it with 800 grit, but it wasn't going anywhere, so I hit it with 400, then some 800. The run was gone, but I also went through the paint to the primer. so I had to reshoot the white.


Re masked up the black stripe and hit it with 3 coats. Came up good.


Then I masked up the black and hit the white....came up good.


hit the whole tank with 4 coats of clear.......came up good. Overall. Happy with the repair job.....


You can see where the run was, top left corner, i sanded down to primer.


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And the finished product...


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I was told if you can see colour in your paint, you've shot enough clear and this is when you should stop and not put on another coat...hhehe...


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Some good light wet sanding with 1200 grit and a final buffing with some good light buffing compound will take out all that orange peal and leave you with a real nice shine! Paint looks great and will be perfect once you finish it out!
 
Thanks man I'll get onto that...so 1200, not 1500?
how light is light sanding...LoL...just with my block and a quick go over?
 
I don't like using a block on a tank, I like to just fold the paper over and do it by hand so you can form it to the contours of the tank. 1500 or 1200 will be fine and by light I mean use light pressure and sand until you see the orange peal look flatten out, you will see it happening as you sand.

MAKE SURE you keep it plenty wet! I like to keep a spray bottle handy filled with water.
 
I've been a bit of a ghost lately....Haven't had much work to do on the bike of late as i've been waiting on parts to come in, and when they do, I realise I'm missing something..so I have to order that.


anyway, I've ordered pretty much everything I need (for now) and most of it has arrived, so I started goin...


First thing I'll be tackling is the seat. I tried to make a fglass seat, but failed so epically that it was not funny. After the crap i went through, I decided i'm just going to buy a seat...a few hours later one was on the way from the US of A to aussie land.


Here it is...


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My GS is a pretty big bike so this seat is big...I initally wanted a really short seat, but after putting this on for a trial fit, it looked really good at the length it was. If I decide to shorten it I will cut it down a bit, but for now its good...


So next I had to cut the frame. From this :


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To this:
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and this is what it looks like with a mock fitting...


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I'm still working on how to secure down the seat properly, as my frame is not parallel to the ground...it dips down to a V...So i have to put some sort of support in the middle....will work out what to and update later.




Oh, and I ended up getting a new tripple clamp. I wasn't happy after the advice I got about increasing drag, so I found the right one, and slapped it on. Now the bars dont hit the tank. Lovley.




cheers.
 
Thanks Crescent!
I haven't worked on the orange peel yet. I thought I'd wait till I painted the seat first so I could do them both at the same time....



Started on the rearset mounting today...


I found some R6 rearsets on ebay real cheap, becuase the foot pegs were broken. Having an R6 already, I just ordered some new custom gold pegs that I wanted (for 17 bux) and took the OEM pegs off my R6 to use on the GS. Basically saved myself a good 80 bux or so.
Every dollar counts...


I utilised one factory mounting point (this way I could ensure that if both rearsets were the height I wanted they would be the correct measurement horizontally), and I would just need to make a bracket for one of the mounting points.


Here is the brake side. I found some steel in the bin of a metal recycler (this is basically the stuff that a bench press - gym - is made out of, square tubing). Its thick and damn strong.
I cut it with a cutting disk and just drilled it up....The bolts are not the one's i'm using, they are just there for demonstration purposes.


Still needs a shot of black and some nice bolts and a bit of cleanup with the cutting disc, and this side is ready to go.
Also need to extend the hose for the brake reservoir and use the factory mounting point...easy enough to do.


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The other side is a little different, seemed somewhat easier at first, however the factory mounting points are offset and the angles were a little beyond my first calculations!


I did however decide to continue making this bracket, as I thought it would be easier to use this a template for the next try. It will not be a straight piece like this one, i'll kick it up a little after the second hole and make it thinner...but the heights on the rearsets are all perfect. Feels real nice sitting on the bike.


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And a bit of a diff angle(s)


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I think they look pretty good ont he GS. All I have to do now is find myself a longer gear lever as its just a tiny bit too far from the rearset, a bit of cleaning of the brackets here and there, and this part of the project is almost done....
 
My last update was making brackets for my rearsets from some scrap steel i found in a bin.
Not being entirely happy with these, and I always knew they wouldn't be permanent, I wanted to see the sets on the bike and have some sort of a template.


So I got my ass down to Action Aluminum in Dandenong to buy some metal for my rear set brackets. I cannot recommend these guys enough. Great service, great prices.
I chose aluminum as its very very easy to work with, and its a very tough metal....


1 meter of this cost me $14.85. I could not believe it, it weighs almost nothing and is so strong.


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Took off my dodgy brackets and traced around them, used the drill press to drill the holes..
Here i remind you to never use cheap drill bits. Even my viper bits didn't do well. I bought a carbide drill bit for 24 dollars and it was the best money I've spent to date.


This bit, went through the aluminum like butter, and then then drilled through my drill press clamp which is thick steel with no effort. I was shocked.
Saved me alot of time.


I used a jig saw and a circular saw to cut the brackets. Was like cutting through pine. Some filing and I got what I needed.
I'm pretty happy with the result. so far, will probably paint them black when I powder coat the frame as they stand out a bit....


Very very tough brackets. This stage is pretty much done. Onto the wiring of the dash.




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Yeah i've done heaps just havn't updated as thought no one was interested.
I'll put up some info tonight when i get home.
Cheers...
 
Nah, man, when people are quiet it's usually a good thing. They can't find anything wrong!

Looks good so far, keep it up!
 
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