1973 Honda 350F Project

[IanOberholtzer]

Holy cow, nice work, looks spectacular

 

[wfo guy]

A real high quality paint stripper will remove the clear coat also. Tell us about Nuvite. I'm not familiar with that product.

 

[tranqjones]

I tried high quality paint stripper early on, but didn't have great results. I opted to sand, and that seemed to do a more thorough job.

Here's some links for Nuvite:

http://www.nuvitechemical.com/Products.asp?ProductID=1

http://www.perfectpolish.com/Nuvite.htm

http://www.vintagetrailersupply.com/Nuvite_Polish_s/19.htm

 

[MB]

Holy SHHHIIIIINY. Nuvite it is ....

 

[tranqjones]

if your aluminum surface is really chewed up you can start with a coarser grade of Nuvite and work your way to Grade S. Nuvite is commonly used on big aluminum aircraft and restoring Airstreams. It's a bit of a secret in motorbike world... but it really is great stuff.

 

[tranqjones]

Quick photo of the freshly painted new headlight bucket (from Roc City).
Fitting it on the bike for the first time...

 

[Tim]

Hey, one suggestion - you might want to upload all your pics to Photobucket or something. Would make it way easier on you for putting them into posts, especially if you want to repost the same photo in another thread.

Your bike is incredible, as if that wasn't obvious enough. You finding it ok to keep clean? My XS started out all shiny and new (not nearly as shiny as yours but same idea) and now I'm letting it earn a new patina with time.

 

[tranqjones]

Thanks for the suggestion, Tim.

I'm still not finished with the bike, hopefully one more week... so keeping it clean hasn't really been on my mind. yet! Finishing up the last of the wiring, the brakes, and a few odds and ends.

 

[reelinfeele]

Looks great! I would hate to have to keep all that clean, but it looks awesome. Nice work.

 

[tranqjones]

thanks for the compliments everyone.

 

[tranqjones]

There are still a few things I would like to redo (the seat, the exhaust) but for now, the bike is "done" and it is time to ride!

 

[tranqjones]

a few more photos...

 

[tranqjones]

plus these...

 

[1976cb356]

Beautiful bike, looks soo comfortable, soo soo clean.

 

[milehighcj360t]

amazing job. that thing is fantastic. well done sir.

 

[tranqjones]

thanks, guys.
of course now that it's on the road... keeping it THIS clean is tough!

 

[1976cb356]

thanks, guys.
of course now that it's on the road... keeping it THIS clean is tough!

Yea i could imagine, that would be a pain

 

[tranqjones]

I'm getting ready for another winter round of improvements... the big items on the list: 4 into 4 exhaust, new chrome on a few pieces, restore the seat closer to the original.

For kicks, I had a worn old tach that I stripped some of the paint from to see if whatever metal was underneath would polish. It did. So I jumped in and stripped the paint of the tach currently on the bike...

The verdict: you can polish your gauges. Next up, the speedometer.

How I did it:
I stripped the old black paint off the tach with a dremel using an abrasive puff attachment. Once the paint was off, I sanded the tach completely using 1500 grit sandpaper to get it smooth. Then I polished with Nuvite. Here are the results... (I left the speedo on so you could see the difference)

 

[1976cb356]

Thats simliar to what I did, took foooorr ever, I used 600 to 2000 and had them super shiney after I polished them with white rue. They are still pretty shiney, with a few werid rust spots(I say weird because it just looks like a dirt stain). But I think I am just getting mine chromed along with my exhaust joints. Looks good, I bet there is some sealant/polish that would cut down or eliminate rusting. Looks good

 

[1976cb356]

Looking back through your thread, I am getting a dremel and nuvite. Great polishing inspiration. I might polish my hubs now.