My 78 1000c needs some love

[chuck hahn]

I made a BOO BOO...so now I get to "REFRESH" the old girl. Thankfully the tank and body work wasnt effected..far as I can tell anyway!!!

I went to Lowes and got some Zep purple concentrated cleaner with the intent of loosening the old chain lube splatter that was on the swing and then power wash it before installing the new chain and sprockets.....well that went real bad real quick!! I dilluted it but made it a bit stronger than the directions said ( a little more is better...right )?

Sprayed it all over and went to hook up the power washer while it soaked a few minutes. This took maybe 10 minutes tops to hook the hoses up and fill it with gas. Hit the power washer and the stuff must have eaten the paint and the power washer stripped a good section off..so now we do the tear down and repaint. Will post some pics tomorrow of the damaged area.

[Gregory]

that's a bummer. I am surprised purple eats paint... good to know

[chuck hahn]

I didnt think that just few minutes would be that critical. But what the heck..its not like i got other things to do...LOL

[ozman]

well atleast you get to give her some lovin now chuck

oz

[Nessism]

That purple crap is extremely caustic. I heavily dilute the stuff and only use it selectively since having some issues before. Simple Green is much less damaging. Power washers are quite damaging themselves so you gotta be careful with them as well.

[chuck hahn]

She was looking a bit long in the tooth as far as the frames paint anyways, but I wasnt all that ready to strip it down and be all that concerned about it....but then!!!! Surprise!!!

[chuck hahn]

I always use the widest fan pattern Ed and dont get too close. Its a Delta 2200 PSI unit so I Know better than to be too aggressive with it.

I just may use the stuff full strength as a paint stripper itself once i get the engine out of the frame!!! Bet it will work rather nicely.

[chuck hahn]

Got it all stripped down and ready for the redo. Here are some pics of what the purple stuff did. Was thinking it was due for some resto work anyway, this stuff just sped the time table up a bit.

[chuck hahn]

Did some experimenting with redoing the dash lettering as well...not like new but at least theres something there now.

[portdave]

Did some experimenting with redoing the dash lettering as well...not like new but at least theres something there now.

Looks good Chuck. What did you do exactly?

[chuck hahn]

Took a piece of 1/4 inch thick wood slat and layed some 320 sand paper on a piece of flat steel and sanded it perfectly flat and smooth.

Then I took some Testors white enamel model paint and made a very thin layer of paint on the edge and let it set up for maybe 2 or 3 minutes. Then lined the block up and pressed it on. Took several tries to get it somewhat close to acceptable. The tries that ran paint into the recesses between the letters I wiped off with a rag and some carb spray and tried again. Wipe off the block each time between tries too.

[Nessism]

Holy crap man, you got some serious energy Chuck! Go get um man...

[chuck hahn]

Ed....I get bored real easy and have never been able to just "lay around" on a day off. I will start after work for a while and get the engine stripped and ready for paint.

Then the frame and anything else thats black will get done. Thank god it doesnt need tank or body panel paint. I am thinking 2 to 3 weeks till shes all back together again.

I gotta get new exhaust gaskets and I will need a nice set of stock bars. The old ones have a decent spot right at the bottom of the first bend coming up off the clamps thats chipped chrome and a bit rusty. Bike is apart, so now its time to address that as well. Parts fiche at Partsoutlaw ( Boulevard ) shows new bars at 78 bucks or so. I think I can find some nice used ones for much less than though.

[ozman]

looking good chuck

[chuck hahn]

Got the Aircraft paint Stripper out and got the engine stripped. Then I thought what the heck...a good dose of that purple stuff at full strength for about 5 minutes. I can tell you this much..the engine is super clean and paint free..HA HA. Figured why not turn the original mistake into a useful tool this time, right???

Gonna let it dry a few days and get to painting it.