1972 Yamaha R5 350 "A Clockwork Orange" D-U-N Done! Well, at least for now.

Re: 1972 Yamaha R5 350 "A Clockwork Orange"

I used to paint cars so I will try to give you a crash course on prepping for paint.

1. Strip ALL paint and rust (duh)
2. Do whatever bondo dent removal that you need to do but do not apply bondo thicker then 1/8". It is not meant to be that thick and will crack in the future
3. Wipe down with Prep-all or wax and grease remover
4. Tack off when surface is dry
3. Prime with Zinc rich prime, only 1 coat fairly light to medium build (this will help resist future rusting)
4. High build or filler primer, 1 light coat and 2 medium wet coats with a 10-15 minute flash time between coats (depends on air temp and humidity)
5. Lightly dust it with a dark colored paint like black. It acts as a guide coat for wet sanding
6. Use a block and 1000 grit, wet sand the guide coat off. All your trying to do is smooth the surface as much as possible but you don't want to dig down to the Zinc coat (it will be yellow), use various blocks to sand with and don't use your hand except on curves. You want the water to "sheet" off the surface unlike a waxed paint surface which beads.
7. Once again wipe with Prep-all and tack once the surface is dry.
8. Prime again if need be but you shouldn't have too
9. Spray 1 light coat and 2-3 medium wet coats of your base color allowing the paint to flash between coats
10. Allowed to dry 24-48hrs at 65-80 degrees and low humidity (when in doubt allow to dry longer)
11. Tack again
12. Clear coat 1 light coat and 3-5 coats of clear with flash time between each coat.
13. Once it dries for another 24-48hrs you are ready to wet sand again.
14. Use a soft block and 2000 grit paper and slowly sand into the clear. As you sand, wipe off the water and allow to dry periodically. You will the the orange peel start to flatten and it looks like veins are appearing. Just keep sanding until the surface has the same smooth texture over the whole surface.
15. Now you have to buff and polish.
16. You want to start with a coarse polishing compound and pad and work toward a finer polish and pad until the surface is smooth as glass. Be careful to not burn through the clear.

I'm a little rusty in painting so correct me if I'm missing a step or wrong in a step. Once the surface is clean do not touch it with your bare hands or used gloves. Use a brand new pair of rubber powder-free gloves every time you need to handle your piece. When in doubt add another coat of base, clear, or primer. It will give you more material to work.
 
Re: 1972 Yamaha R5 350 "A Clockwork Orange"

Wow! Lonley wolf, that is a great bit of info. I'm starting to see why great paint costs. But I've got more time on my hands than money so I'm going to give it a shot. Thanks for taking the time to post that and you should think about posting that in the tech help section as well.
 
Re: 1972 Yamaha R5 350 "A Clockwork Orange"

The cost of materials when repainting a car is only $500-$750 depending on the paint color. Everything else is time and labor to do the work. If you have another piece of something use it for practice and to see if you like the color scheme or not. I have an old motorcycle tank that exploded on me but the sides are great to see what colors are actually going to look like.
 
Re: 1972 Yamaha R5 350 "A Clockwork Orange"

just re-read that paint how to list and I've got a couple of questions;

I assume if you need to fill deaper than 1/8" you just use multiple thin layers of filler allowing it to set up between, correct?

The guide coat, can that be just a different color primer, or should it be a base coat color?

what is best to use as a block? Is one of those rubber wedge thingys okay or should it actually be a block? What about the "soft" block?

Thanks!
 
Re: 1972 Yamaha R5 350 "A Clockwork Orange"

Really like that frame and rear hoop. Set right up for brat seat like you said. Should look killer. Nice work so far. I like how you didn't go all black on the engine. Looks dope!
You've got a really nice build going. Keep it up.
 
Re: 1972 Yamaha R5 350 "A Clockwork Orange"

Thanks much guys. I'm having a blast with this. Gotta give props to Chris for the hoop idea. Came straight off his rd400 build. I cut the hoop off an xs650 at the salvage yard. It solves the problem nicely and it's all Yamaha!
 
Re: 1972 Yamaha R5 350 "A Clockwork Orange"

Looking excellent! Love what ya did with the frame. Nice and clean. Bitchin work man!
 
Re: 1972 Yamaha R5 350 "A Clockwork Orange"

I usually build bondo up in a few thinner layers. The smoother you lay it then the less sanding that is needed. When you think it is dry then scratch it with your fingernail and look for the white powder, it is dry enough to sand but when you start sanding it it comes off in chunks instead of dust let it dry more. If the dent is deeper then 1/8 then try to pull it out before bondo. I use either a 1/4" thick piece of rubber to sand with or a hand sanding block. I use black for a guide coat because it shows up very well against the primer. All you are doing is dusting it on, not a full coat.
 
Re: 1972 Yamaha R5 350 "A Clockwork Orange"

Okay, moral dillema. I am building a custom bike but I am having problems getting away from stock parts. I have been thinking about the side covers for a while now. the r5 covers are a two peice assembly and the raised panels don't suit what I want to do. I could pick up a set of covers from a later year bike that are one peice and basically smooth off ebay for 50-75 bucks OR i could remove the top panels from my bike and fill the side covers to get the smooth body panel im looking for. Which is less of a crime; altering the original covers or installing ones from different years? The $$ isn't an issue as I can sell the origianals to off set the replacements.

I want nice smooth side panels too focus attention on the bike as a whole.
 
Re: 1972 Yamaha R5 350 "A Clockwork Orange"

I'd leave what you've got and use the money for expansion pipes. No need to over complicate things.

Your rear hoop came out nice. I was actually thinking of selling them, but looks like there are more economincal solutions out there.

Well done.

--Chris
 
Re: 1972 Yamaha R5 350 "A Clockwork Orange"

Hey Chris,

Thanks for checking in. At this point I'm planning on running stock pipes. I am going more for asthetics than performance on this one and I'm planning on selling it within the next year so I want to keep the budget under control. I figure that expansion chamber pipes are an easy mod for the next guy and the long low look of the stock pipes suits me on this one. Actually though I haven't yet cleaned up the pipes I have and if they are too beat that could change. they look to be in pretty good shape though.

I think I will try to figure something out using the covers I have though.
 
Re: 1972 Yamaha R5 350 "A Clockwork Orange"

You have my attention, thats for sure! Nice work. Waiting to see more pics!!!!! ;D
 
Re: 1972 Yamaha R5 350 "A Clockwork Orange"

the accents on the motor look good. blacked out can be boring sometimes
 
Re: 1972 Yamaha R5 350 "A Clockwork Orange"

Hey, thanks guys! I started putting the motor back together today and man does it look good! I bought a stainless bolt kit for the engine and it makes all the difference. More pics next week as assembly moves forward. I'm going through all the chassis bolts trying to figure out what goes where and what needs to be replaced. Ive got to true the wheels, mount the tires and then its rolling chassis point. Next big thing is the body work.
 
Re: 1972 Yamaha R5 350 "A Clockwork Orange"

Sick project! Jealous!....I want an RD so bad, definitely an RD350 for my next project. Keep it up!
 
Re: 1972 Yamaha R5 350 "A Clockwork Orange"

Alright!! Progress. Motor is painted and back together AND back in the frame! Pretty easy even for one guy. only minor scratches to the frame paint which have been touched up. My spoke wrench arrived today so wheel truing is the next thing. Still need to do the body work and paint. I haven't even touched it yet. Electrical will be next though. I need to clean up the harness and re-wrap peices of it and the external wiring. I realized today I don't have handle bars for this bike yet!!?? I'm open to input on this. Take a look at the front end and tell me what you think. Remember, Brat style seat real flat straight lines. Two up rider. So I'm thinking super bike or GP low rise bars but maybe drag bars would look cool? The bike has nice straight lines so I'm thinking the low rise would be a nice accent to that.

R5017.jpg

I'm still debating headlight ears as well. I think the ones available from dropbars.com would look killer but I can't go the $80 for them. I may use the origainals painted black but that would "close up" the top of the front end. might look good though.
R5011.jpg

R5018.jpg

Oil pump rebuilt and installed
R5012.jpg
 
Re: 1972 Yamaha R5 350 "A Clockwork Orange"

I bought a set of those headlight brackets from dropbars and I think they look really good. I think they would look killer on your build too.
 
Re: 1972 Yamaha R5 350 "A Clockwork Orange"

Mate i'm a big blue stroke fan, had an RD350 in the early 80's and used to try to break my own (timed) record to and from work every day, can't remember what it was but coped a couple of big fines for speeding ;D
I remember being pulled over by a cop, he ambled over to me and pronounced that he had pulled me over because my bike was blowing smoke out the exhaust :eek: I told him that it was a two stroke and that they were meant to blow smoke, he looked at the bike and then back at me and then slowly walked back to his car without a word and drove away. I laughed all the way home and i can still see the silly look on his face ;D ;D

Anyway you bike is looking super i love the restraint on colour, bikes need a bit of depth to break up the shape and the best way is to let colours blend with chrome and polish. Nice work, go the blue stroke ;)

Rod from OZ
 
Re: 1972 Yamaha R5 350 "A Clockwork Orange"

diesel450 said:
Okay, progress. I had the cylinders looked at and was advised that a hone and rings was all that was needed. They cleaned up real well with the honer and I got to learn how to do that so that was good.

Your "advice" is wrong. And it could be dead wrong!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That "advice" is fine for a clapped out old dirtbike, or snowmobile that is owned by a piss poor hillbilly. Not for a bike that is ridden for more than 10 minutes at a time at highway speeds.
 
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