Painted Carbs

[Guest]

Ok, I've spent more than 3 determined hours trying to get that mirror shine on these carb pieces and I just can't seem to figure out what the trick is. They get a little bit shiny but nothing better than some steel wool would give me. I started with black on the sisal wheel, then to brown on a denim spiral sewn wheel then tried some white on the soft wheel and it never gets more shine than the first time even going duller sometimes. I've tried more pressure, less pressure, cursing, praying, and even singing and nothing is working. Ugh. I only use one color per wheel (as suggested) and clean the part with lacquer thinner before going to the next wheel.

So save me from more hours of frustration and tell me what I'm doing wrong. Surely it can't be this hard can it?

Thanks,
Sci85

[jwhelan65]

More from Mr Reno (workaholic) Bruce, had him do my 1150 36's

[jwhelan65]

[platinum2]

Ok, I've spent more than 3 determined hours trying to get that mirror shine on these carb pieces and I just can't seem to figure out what the trick is. They get a little bit shiny but nothing better than some steel wool would give me. I started with black on the sisal wheel, then to brown on a denim spiral sewn wheel then tried some white on the soft wheel and it never gets more shine than the first time even going duller sometimes. I've tried more pressure, less pressure, cursing, praying, and even singing and nothing is working. Ugh. I only use one color per wheel (as suggested) and clean the part with lacquer thinner before going to the next wheel.

So save me from more hours of frustration and tell me what I'm doing wrong. Surely it can't be this hard can it?

Thanks,
Sci85

try wenol, or mothers if your aluminum is smooth,and just needs polished, just keep going with same pad,same polish then a dry pad also soapy water works better than thinner, wenol polish is the best i have ever used or seen check it on u tube,theres a few vids on u tube as well you can check out

[GateKeeper]

Is the rail just polished, or did you have it plated/chromed ? I did not think those bars would come out polished like that....

[old_skool]

A set I did not too long ago

[jwhelan65]

A set I did not too long ago

Very nice! Great job

[kb_air]

A set I did not too long ago

wow, those look nice.

[7981GS]

Too pretty to put on a bike.

Eric

[old_skool]

Thanks guys, those were for a XS1100 yamahammer, stock air box for me on the GS.
It was either keep the yamahammer or the Gs1100, couldn't keep/afford both at the time, and they needed about the same amount of work, I preferred the GS, glad for it. That was the nicest thing on the bike when it sold.





The rest of the bike looked like hell, but ran like it was shot out of a cannon.

[whereiwannabe]

Great thread! I'm in the middle of a carb rebuild and sure appreciate all the pointers offered up by RenoBruce... and all the eye candy!

[adam]

My eyes have seen a new light!!! I must now pray to the motorcycle gods and ask for the skill which they have blessed you with. I went to school for almost 2 years to learn body work, as well as paint. I have never seen work as good as yours. How do you get the paint in all the little cracks and groves, its so amazingly smooth. Did you do any color sanding or did it just lay like glass.

[old_skool]

If your talking about mine, they were cleaned like 3 times, mostly because at the time I was experimenting with different cleaning techniques, first a pine sol solution, then I had some other can't remember cleaner, eventually chem dip, afterwards, they were pretty clean, the particular paint I used was believe it or not, probably every bit of 10 years or older, sitting on a shelf, some type of metallic aluminum, I had used it before, and remember it was extremely forgiving, you could put it on pretty heavy and it smoothed itself out without the annoying running globs, so it filled any imperfections, so yeah, it just layed like glass to use your words. I have a little left still, I'll have to paint something with it, just because. I've never found this exact paint again.

[old_skool]

Here's another to look at

[Wingnut1]

I may paint my carbs (Mikuni BS34) this winter and besides the usual o-rings and jets removed before dipping, I was wondering if anything else needs to be removed before baking them? (200 F 15 or 20 minutes). I've read the butterflys can remain, but a list of things I was wondering about is below. Item numbers from the shop manual's exploded diagram in ()

1) needle jet stopper (7)
2) synchronizer screws (14)
3) throttle lever and parts under it (15)
4) oil seal (19)

Anything else? Plan is strip for rebuild, rolling boil, tape, etch prime, then gloss or satin black and bake. They were dipped a couple years ago, so I can skip that.