1982 CB750F...Better Devil

Yesterday was a bushing and bearing kinda day. Snowbanks, as it turns out, are good for two things. Sliding down when you're three years old and freezing bearings before an install -

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Wheel bearings installed -

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Reverse engineered the socket press and installed the swingarm bushings -

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I like to use words like "reverse engineered" and "fabricate" whenever even remotely possible. They make me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

The elephant in the room however is of course the nickel plating attempt. I'm not going to say it was a total fail, because I did learn how the process works. In principle anyway. I just think my attempt to plate Every Nut And Bolt On The Bike was a bit of a moonshot. Maybe should have started off with something a bit more realistic, like, maybe, a single washer. Instead I attempted several piles like this -

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and things went south. After the whole blasting, polishing, acetoning rigmarole I then washed everything in water with Dawn dish soap. This is where it went pear-shaped - I left them on the kitchen counter after the wash and before I got them into the final TSP bath before plating they flash rusted. What I should have done is put them in the TSP bath immediately of course to prevent this. I should also have worked in much smaller batches rather then doing the whole lot in one hit.

I did learn however that TSP is an excellent degreaser (and has no smell, so the missus was cool with me working with it in the kitchen), and the few parts I checked with the water break test all passed with flying colours - no doubt those parts were clean and ready to plate. The flash rust however put the kibosh on the plan to plate these myself, this time anyway. So they're getting professionally zinc plated this time, at a fraction of the cost I was originally quoted. Live and learn.
 
Bummer!
In the future a quick dip in Muriatic will remove all that flash rush like it never happened.
 
Some footpeg parts primed and painted -

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and finally got the rubber (Avon Roadrider) back on the wheels and balanced -

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Hope to get the bolts etc back from the platers this week and then I can start putting Humpty Dumpty back together again
 
Astrophysicists just discovered a release of energy in the universe so unthinkably large that they equated it to 26 billion billion megatons of TNT detonating every 1/1000 of a second continually for 240 million years I shit you not.

And the cavity this explosion has created in the space time continuum is so large that something travelling at the speed of light would take one and a half million years to cross it. It’s the biggest detected explosion since the discovery of the Big Bang.

But never mind all that - T00L’s here 28th April, I’ve got tickets and this time I’m getting a t-shirt that fucking fits


Sent from my iPhone using DO THE TON
 
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Time to strip the tank -

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Apart from a sizeable dent (now beaten out) on top and a few dings here and there it's not in awful shape -

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I use this stuff for getting the paint off -

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and just like Brian Fantana's cologne it stings the nostrils - in a good way. Gets the job done in no time too -

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Bit of scraping to get here -

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and a bit of sanding with 600 grit to get here -

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The thing has some significant surface rust, most of which I could sand off, but there are a few areas that are more entrenched like this -

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I gave the tank a wipe down with some WD40 to prevent any flash rust and bagged the thing up.

Ok, so I've never painted a gas tank before and have a couple of questions -

Is there a product I can use on the rust patches to deactivate them and stop the rust from growing?
What grit sandpaper should I use as a final rub down before primer?
And as there is a bit of surface rust is there a particular primer I should use to prevent any more rust from happening?
Does the primer need to be the same brand as the paint I'll be using (House Of Kolor)?
 
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Nice, not 100% sure I can help on all of it but there is rust converter made by rust check that will stop the rust at CT chemically changes the rust to a different Iron Oxide that stops the oxidizing process. Then use the primer that is good for whatever kind of topcoat you are going to use. If a lacquor based top, good for that. If enamel, good for that. I like etching primer when starting on bare metal, then filler primer, then paint then 2K clear. I've done that combo with the Duplicolor auto paint as the colour coat and it worked well. House of Kolor should say if it's a lacquor or enamil or if a 2K and if 2K I'd do a 2K primer instead of etching and wet sand in between all the layers.
 
Thanks Mike, good info. HoK do supply a primer so I'll use that. Wondering if I should lay an etching primer down first?
Pretty sure the HoK isn't 2K, but it is available in rattle cans so I'm going to use that. I'll lay down a 2K clearcoat after that.

Question about the rust converter - once I've applied it to the rust spots do I then clean the surface with thinners before primer? Or thinner first then rust converter?
 
I've used it and I just treat the rust with it per instructions then prep and paint as if I didn't use it, if that makes sense. So apply it, wait the 24-48 hours or whatever the interval on the can says. Then clean tank with acetone or mineral spirits or whatever based on primer to be used and go, Spray/wet sand/clean/repeat until all layers done.
 
I'll be grabbing some of that this week as I washed the pilot and found some rust I want to stop now before it gets any worse. I can use this in colder temps and then paint over it when the weather gets better.
 
Ah, gotcha. Thanks again Mike, that'll do it. Haven't been to CT in the last 12hrs so I'm well overdue a visit :p
 
Ha, how sad that statement is, I was there 3 times on the weekend for shit I needed to finish projects and I still forgot to get the rust stiff for the Pilot. Good news is most of the stuff was to get the shop cleanup and drywall finished so I can get cracking on the bikes.
 
Oh yeah, guaranteed I'll go there without a list every time and get half way home before remember what I really needed in the first place. I know half of them in there by name. And being English I have an accent that they remember on the phone too. Hell, they're almost family
 
Cool, I'll pick some up and arrest the rust. Arrust. Whatever.

I'm a bit blurry on the different kinds of primers. The paint I'm using isn't 2K so that answers the 1K or 2K primer question. But should I lay down some etching primer first, and then filling primer over that before paint?
 
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