1980 Suzuki GN400 cafe project
- Thread starter dleekent
- Start date
jordanarmstrong
New Member
Any progress on this? I like seeing the CJ in your garage as well. That makes two things we have in common.
dleekent
New Member
jordanarmstrong said:
Sorry I haven't updated in a long time. I've removed most of the tabs and started painting before it got too cold. I've been painting with paint cans since I don't have awesome equipment, so I've had to repaint some areas. It's been extremely frustrating. I was hoping to have the painting done before the cold weather set in so I could start to slowly rebuild ol Suzy-Q, but now that it's pretty much 20 degrees everyday and I'll have to wait for some warmer weather before I can finish it up.
The CJ is actually my buddy's. It's pretty damn sweet though.
dleekent
New Member
I woke up today to 63 degree weather, so I quickly drank my coffee and went to the garage in excitement to lay down some clear coat on the swing arm. I painted all my pieces including the frame around halloween and have been waiting for a break in the weather like today to get the clear coat down. A couple of weeks after I finished the paint, my swing arm fell down in the garage on the bare concrete. My first inspection, I noticed that a there was a little chip on the chain guard mount, but hadn't seen anything else. When I went down today, I realized it was worse then when I first looked at it. There's a dime-sized chip towards the top. I know it fell on concrete, but COOOMMMMEEE ON MAN! I checked the spot to see if it could chip even more. It wasn't super easy, but it does chip some more with a little effort. Did I do something wrong here? I would think that this paint should be much stronger and it should be cured by now. This all has been just sitting in my garage for a month plus now.
So, I could use a little advice from all the expert painters out there. How I painted:
Stripped the frame
Knocked off as much rust as possible
2-3 coats of Self Etching Primer
2 coats of Primer Sealer
4-5 coats of Dupli-Color Engine Enamel Gloss Black paint
I did follow the instructions on the can.
Will the clear coat make it that much stronger, or is there something I can use to add strength? I did use cans because of my situation. I don't have a gun, and powder coating is looking to be too expensive (I got a quote today that it would cost me around $300). I'm doing my best to spend reasonable money right now, because that's all I have. I asked a similar question earlier and received a response from chambers recommending 2pak. I looked into it and it's around $25. If I'm going to invest anymore money in freaking cans, they better freaking work.
I'll take any advice right now. I want to do this right. Maybe I just suck at painting. Maybe I'm using the wrong stuff. Maybe I held the can too close or far away. Maybe this crap isn't curing correctly because it's in my garage. Not sure if this is helpful, but I was also having a hell of a time not getting spit from the can all over whatever I was painting. It was impossible to get a nice, even, clean coat. This has been the most frustrating, irritating, pain in the ass ever! So if you have any advice, or can point me to another thread about this sort of thing, I'd really, really appreciate it.
Sorry for the long post, I'm just trying to figure this whole thing out.
So, I could use a little advice from all the expert painters out there. How I painted:
Stripped the frame
Knocked off as much rust as possible
2-3 coats of Self Etching Primer
2 coats of Primer Sealer
4-5 coats of Dupli-Color Engine Enamel Gloss Black paint
I did follow the instructions on the can.
Will the clear coat make it that much stronger, or is there something I can use to add strength? I did use cans because of my situation. I don't have a gun, and powder coating is looking to be too expensive (I got a quote today that it would cost me around $300). I'm doing my best to spend reasonable money right now, because that's all I have. I asked a similar question earlier and received a response from chambers recommending 2pak. I looked into it and it's around $25. If I'm going to invest anymore money in freaking cans, they better freaking work.
I'll take any advice right now. I want to do this right. Maybe I just suck at painting. Maybe I'm using the wrong stuff. Maybe I held the can too close or far away. Maybe this crap isn't curing correctly because it's in my garage. Not sure if this is helpful, but I was also having a hell of a time not getting spit from the can all over whatever I was painting. It was impossible to get a nice, even, clean coat. This has been the most frustrating, irritating, pain in the ass ever! So if you have any advice, or can point me to another thread about this sort of thing, I'd really, really appreciate it.
Sorry for the long post, I'm just trying to figure this whole thing out.
dleekent
New Member
Floegstad said:
I was wondering if that could be the issue as well. I brought the swing arm inside to see if the temperature would make a difference, but I could still chip a bit off. Maybe it was a bit too cold to be painting when I did paint or perhaps it was too cold to cure? Who the f knows. I stayed up until about 3 the other night trying to do some research. I found some interesting blogs about painting with a can. I found that if you take your time to do it right, it can look awesome using a can. I did have a hard time finding info about durability and strength. What I did find is that you HAVE to use the 2pak clear if you don't want your paint to get ruined by gas or be too easily chipped. Apparently this stuff is awesome. Still, I'm not taking the risk with what I have painted already.
My plan:
1. Take something small like the kickstand which is painted and sand it down.
2. Don't buy anymore paint!
3. Take my time and follow the damn instructions.
I found a great how-to for painting with cans thanks to markk53 on <a href="http://www.motorcycleforum.com/showthread.php?t=98624">Motorcycle Forum</a>. He said he only paints with cans because he learned from a professional who used cans, so why not give it a shot. After reading his posts, I felt that I probably should've gone a lot slower. I definitely didn't sand as much as he suggests. He also suggests keeping the cans warm with tap water which I thought was an awesome idea. I always painted at above 60 degrees, but I can't say it was above 60 while it was curing. I'm going to take what paints I have already and see if I can get this done right. If it's still not working, then I need to go to a plan b.
dleekent
New Member
It's been a while since I've added an update, so I just wanted to show what I've been up to. I've been trying to find a new job in the graphic/web design field, so I needed to make a portfolio which took forever. After I finished it up, I really needed to add an Illustrator project. I have always really enjoyed Dustin Kott's style, so I decided to illustrate his XS2. After a couple of hard working weeks, this is how it turned out:
After I finished that up, I really wanted to get back to the bike. I'm tabling the paint for now so I can start enjoying this again. I was starting a sketch of my bike so I could have an idea of how it would look after it was finished. After messing around with it for a long time, I just wasn't happy with the way it was going to look. I tried altering everything, but still wasn't happy. My conclusion was that I really don't like the gas tank. After I tried drawing a different gas tank, I felt a ton better about it. My favorite gas tank has always been the AJS 7R/Matchless G45/50 tank. Since I don't have the tools or skills to weld, I'll be attempting to make it out of fiberglass. If it doesn't work out, I still have the stock tank. I've been working on the mold by making a grid, sanding, then making the grid again. It's a slow process, but I'm taking my time. Here's my progress so far:
This morning:
After some sanding today:
I'm still pretty far away, but I'm trying to plan ahead. I know that gas can eat through fiberglass over time and I've read that different resins are better to use. My question is, does anyone know of or have any ideas of something to lay down first (before fiberglass) to keep the gas from making contact with the fiberglass, allowing it to last much longer? Something like a barrier. I want to make sure it'll last as long as possible.
By the way, I did fiberglass the seat a while ago, but it's not exactly worth showing pictures of. It would need a couple layers still and may be useless right now since I'm trying to make a new tank.
After I finished that up, I really wanted to get back to the bike. I'm tabling the paint for now so I can start enjoying this again. I was starting a sketch of my bike so I could have an idea of how it would look after it was finished. After messing around with it for a long time, I just wasn't happy with the way it was going to look. I tried altering everything, but still wasn't happy. My conclusion was that I really don't like the gas tank. After I tried drawing a different gas tank, I felt a ton better about it. My favorite gas tank has always been the AJS 7R/Matchless G45/50 tank. Since I don't have the tools or skills to weld, I'll be attempting to make it out of fiberglass. If it doesn't work out, I still have the stock tank. I've been working on the mold by making a grid, sanding, then making the grid again. It's a slow process, but I'm taking my time. Here's my progress so far:
This morning:
After some sanding today:
I'm still pretty far away, but I'm trying to plan ahead. I know that gas can eat through fiberglass over time and I've read that different resins are better to use. My question is, does anyone know of or have any ideas of something to lay down first (before fiberglass) to keep the gas from making contact with the fiberglass, allowing it to last much longer? Something like a barrier. I want to make sure it'll last as long as possible.
By the way, I did fiberglass the seat a while ago, but it's not exactly worth showing pictures of. It would need a couple layers still and may be useless right now since I'm trying to make a new tank.
dleekent
New Member
Big Rich said:
Thanks Big Rich. Just found his thread. Lots of good stuff there. I never thought of Kevlar before. That's cool. I've watched a bunch of YouTube videos posted by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3v9cVoEt4YqZpGyzewdlrQ">HackaweekTV</a> if anyone cares. He has a bunch of useful tips on making a gas tank. I just never saw him use any protective layer.
two-smoker
I reject your reality, and substitute my own!
A lot of people coat the inside with epoxy after it's made. I mean, you have to be able to treat old fiberglass tanks somehow, right?
dleekent
New Member
I've been hitting it hard lately. The failed paint job I did really took the wind out of my sails, but I'm jumping back in and I finally got back to painting this sucker and I'm pretty happy with the finish. It takes forever to finish something, but I'm doing what I can to make the paint as sturdy as possible. If I can get the paint job to last me at least a few years, I'm ok with that. Down the road I'd like to get everything powder coated, but for now I'm doing it myself. It's been over a year since I've ridden a motorcycle, so I'm losing my freaking mind. The goal is to finish this up as quickly as possible so I can finally drive it again. This means I'm postponing the tank project for now. I'm holding on to the mold so I can maybe finish it up another day.
I did my test paint job on the torque link. This is how it turned out (the picture kinda sucks):
I also cleaned up my rear fender. Before:
After:
I did my test paint job on the torque link. This is how it turned out (the picture kinda sucks):
I also cleaned up my rear fender. Before:
After:
dleekent
New Member
Finally got the frame painted. The process took two plus weeks to paint something, and it's definitely not perfect, but it'll get the job done for now. There are plenty of flaws in the paint that I just couldn't seem to avoid no matter how hard I tried. When it comes time to paint the tank, it better turn out much better or I'm burning my freaking house down. I'm looking forward to finally putting some pieces back together.
