1977 Suzuki TS-250

[Rich Ard]

If you use the spraymax be sure to use a proper respirator, that stuff will catalyze in your lungs just fine. It is great stuff though.

 

[Maritime]

+1 yes, don't just use a dust mask.

 

[Ease]

Finally a little more progress...

Here is the paint I bought for the tail:

Had a slight issue with the second rattle can...

I was pretty much following the Rattle Can Bling tutorial, admittedly not precisely.

The biggest difference... No paint booth. I'm sick of waiting for the opportunity to build a paint booth and bought the paint so here goes:

Sanded:

Dusty primer:

Sanded Primer 24h later:

Dust coat of paint:

A few more layers:

Second coat 24h later:

Now its sitting in my basement for a couple of days until I can wet sand it out and clear...

*EDIT*
After sanding and applying decals:

After 3 coats of clear:

 

[Ease]

I fairly meticulously cleaned my garage and air hose'd all the dust off everything before starting... I think it's coming out pretty good so far. Might be worth it to have a booth for the clear but I doubt I'll bother given the results.

Here are a few more pics taken from another angle showing a chip in the gelcoat I covered up:

The problem corner:

Not perfect but shouldn't be noticeable...

*EDIT*
Decals applied:

Clear coat:

Third coat (not the best pic):

 

[Ease]

I have rattle can Yellow for the tank that matches the original color for 77... a bit darker than the yellow that was on the tank previously, but matches to the bottom of the tank and the original side covers.

Hope this paint is decent:

Haven't bought any clear for the tank yet. I'll base it on the results I get from the seat... Kind of interested in the SprayMax 2K system Perry and others mentioned, so I may go that route.

 

[Maritime]

I have a can of the Spraymax waiting for the CX, I hope to get to paint next week, I'll let you know how it works. The tail turned out pretty good.

 

[HerrDeacon]

You've been busy! That tail is going to look awesome when you're done. Nice work.

 

[Ease]

Thanks fellas! I did a little more work tonight!

Me and Dad played around with the decals a bit:

Ultimately went with this one:

Those are the tank decals that Sonreir made for me sitting on the seat.

I sprayed the decal area with a water from a spray bottle I had prepared with a small drop of dawn. It allowed me to move them around a little bit and get them perfect before squeegeeing the water out and removing the top protective film.

I then squeegeed all the air bubbles out of the decals and cleaned everything:

I then sanded the color nice and smooth with 600 wet paper and put 3 coats of clear.
I'm going to update the previous post with the side-by side pics rather than post the details here. Here is the shiniest pic:

Here is the painted fender next to the NOS front fender I had matched.

 

[HerrDeacon]

Evan, we're you riding your bike this morning (Friday)? I was walking into work and heard a two stoke going down the Waterford Bridge Road. Couldn't get a look though, not a common sound around here though.

 

[Ease]

Evan, we're you riding your bike this morning (Friday)? I was walking into work and heard a two stoke going down the Waterford Bridge Road. Couldn't get a look though, not a common sound around here though.

Unfortunately not!

Man I had a good-turned-bad day Monday... The custom motorcycle parts shop on Water St. West [Franklyn's Finest] called and offered me a job (which I gladly accepted), but when I got there to go over my schedule there was no way to do it within my school schedule...
So unfortunately I'm in the same boat I have been for a while... too busy going to school and driving a goddamn Taxi to work on bikes... In the meantime I'm still picking away at my bikes and slowly seeing some progress.


Once I get some school stuff done I'll show you exactly what "some progress" looks like!

 

[HerrDeacon]

Sucks about not being able to swing the job. Lots of time for bikes after you're done with school, keep at it.

If I'm not mistaken, I believe the guy that bought my KZ is one of the owners of that shop. Haven't seen that bike around since I sold it.

 

[Ease]

Sucks about not being able to swing the job. Lots of time for bikes after you're done with school, keep at it.

If I'm not mistaken, I believe the guy that bought my KZ is one of the owners of that shop. Haven't seen that bike around since I sold it.

Yeah you're right.

He (Matt) mentioned doing some work on it but I'm not sure if he sold it again after... He has multiple bike projects and no bike to ride at the moment, not unlike myself.

 

[Ease]

Finally painted the tank. Progress pics to follow:

Primer test coat:

Smooth Primer (too bad not the same angle shot):

Color:

Sanded + Decals:

Some clear:

Cleared:

I decided to use the SprayMax2K that was recommended to me. Seems better than the clear I used on the seat; in fact I sanded the clear on the seat and re-sprayed it with the spraymax to ensure they had the same amount of shine.

Now I just have to wait a few days and re-assemble the bike to see how it looks! Still have a lot to take care of to make this bike as nice as I would like, but for now it ain't bad!

 

[Rich Ard]

Tank looks great, nice work Ease

 

[HerrDeacon]

Tank looks awesome!

 

[Ease]

Thanks Rich, Perry.
I'm pumped to put it, the seat, and the fender on the bike tomorrow. Should be a far cry from the truckload of parts I bought a couple years ago.

 

[Maritime]

Nice work, it turned out great. I just 2K cleared a tank and cowel and holy hell it shines. If I didn't get a small sag on the tank I wouldn't even have to wet sand or polish it. I will never bother using any other clear for anything car or bike related from now on.

 

[Sonreir]

Looks good!

 

[Ease]

Nice work, it turned out great. I just 2K cleared a tank and cowel and holy hell it shines. If I didn't get a small sag on the tank I wouldn't even have to wet sand or polish it. I will never bother using any other clear for anything car or bike related from now on.

Awesome! The other clear dried a bit flat, so if I can avoid buffing I definitely will.

Looks good!

Thanks, the decals were great for the money! Ha! Look pretty good under the clear coat too. Thanks for that.
I'd definitely use a layered, colored vinyl instead of the printed vinyl on my next project, just couldn't afford a 3 layer vinyl this time.

 

[Ease]

Painted and re-assembled:

Not sure what this is:

Starting to clean up the original aluminum rims... Was going to replace them but they look too nice after I sanded all the mess off:

Also re-spraying the lid with some clear-yellow vinyl: