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[Nessism]

Those Diablo Cycles decals seem to be made by 3M or at least use 3M film. It doesn't get any better than that.

 

[nvr2old]

I'm impressed with the quality of the Diablo striping/decal kits. These fit and conformed to the curves of the tank beautifully..which was a huge relief. 3M has always been my preferred choice for tape of any kind. It's more expensive, but once you compare..there's nothing that even comes close. It's so flexible and you can leave 3M tape on something for 6 months and it still peels right off w/o having to fight it or leaving any kind of residue what-so-ever.

 

[Buffalo Bill]

Clever prep tip; locating the decals with tape before their difficult installations. :clap::encouragement:

 

[nvr2old]

Thanks Bill. I learned how to do that after doing it wrong several times. It pretty much ensures they go back on where they need to, because you only get one chance at it.

Back to the spray booth today to get the second round of clear coats going. No sense re-spraying the bottom. Just a waste of expensive material.







Six coats later. Rotated the pics to get a better look.









The next step will be to cut and buff. Should have more then enough clear coats on these parts, 9 in all. And even after 6 over the decals, they're still so thick they won't be completely buried. It'll be close though when everything is block sanded down. They'll still look real nice when done.

 

[allojohn]

Simply stunning Larry.... I cannot thank you enough for taking this on!
I’ll remember you in my will.... .

 

[nvr2old]

You're very welcome, Mal. You've been the perfect client. I enjoy doing this kinda stuff..and if I take home a buck or two, I'm a happy guy. I'll open these parts up with some 600 grit tomorrow and let them breathe through Christmas and then start the polishing process. I also like em to cure for a week after they're completely done before wrapping them up for the trip home.

 

[Guest]

Fantastic again Larry! Can't wait to see how they go after a cut and polish and in some natural light

Mal's getting a top notch job!

 

[nvr2old]

Holidays are over. Time to finish up Mal's GS750. While my wife was at work, I stole her kitchen counter to sand the clear. Started with 800 wet/dry on to 1000, 1500, and finally 2000 grit.



Took a moment to put a quick spritz of the same black for the side covers to match the back ground for the tank emblems. No masking required, just spray, and wipe the letters off after they dried a bit.



Voila..simple



I put the emblems back on the side covers, too. Amazing what a difference a bit of color and chrome makes.





After the three step polishing process, it's a good time to cover over the paint line around the gas filler. Started with 1/4" Fine Line, followed by 1/2" to reveal the "smear zone".







Just used my finger to swipe the JB Weld over the paint line.



I always pull the tape off almost immediately before the JB has a chance to set up. You don't want it to harden on top of the tape making it really difficult to pull off cleanly. No gas fumes should ever lift the new paint doing this.

 

[nvr2old]

Screwed the tank emblems on and took the parts outside in natural light. Sadly, a very gloomy day, not the greatest for finish pics, but oh well..





Still shows off the depth of reflections even in this light. I love the way these parts turned out. I painted the underside of the tail section with the same satin black.















Thanks again for the interest and thanks as well to Mal for sending me the parts. I still enjoy doing this stuff and being able to do it as a hobby these days makes it all the better. Next up a 1973 Honda CB750 in metal flake orange..cool.

 

[allojohn]

Many, many thanks Larry, this project has turned out far better than I dreamed it could. To do justice to your work I shall to have to do a an in depth clean-up of the entire bike before I put all these bits back on! Roll on the Spring and ice-free roads. I'll call you tomorrow evening mate.

 

[steve murdoch]

Looks fantastic, Larry.:clap:
And thank you for that tip on the JB Weld around the tank filler hole.

 

[nvr2old]

You're welcome, Steve. It's a tip I've been promoting for a long time. It really does work.

 

[2BRacing]

Thanks for sharing your secret tips, Larry! As usual, an excellent job that looks better than when the parts were new.

 

[oldGSfan]

Wow. So you want to do my '73 CB750 too? Paint purchase cheaper in more bulk

I've got a '73 and of the 3 colors I think sunrise orange flake is best, very iconic. VMR paints has the base/flake/clear kits. A quart each of silver base and orange flake is $400 though (!). I see a company in Germany sells a kit on eBay (link) but says they won't ship to the US. There is also a recipe on SOHC forum (link) using House of Kolor which looks interesting. I'm sure you'll figure it out and do a great job. The tank I have is orange and tired, but sound. Good for measurements on the decal location.

On top of that I just got a '79 GS1000E and it needs a re-paint, it's the black with very faint sparkles, still researching the name/code and vendor.

Next up a 1973 Honda CB750 in metal flake orange..cool.

 

[nvr2old]

It's been a long time since I've done a flake job, but I remember the sequence very well. Silver base coat, flake mixed with clear over the silver, usually 2 rounds of cleat coats to cover the flake and then orange candy, followed by more clear to protect the orange, then stripes (which I would rather paint on) and even more clear. Possibly one of the most expensive (material-wise) paint jobs I've ever considered. Thanks very much for providing links (I'm a member of the SOHC/4 site) to people who have experimented with it. I'll look those over very carefully. It would be nice to get all the materials from the same vendor to keep it as a system, so I'll check out VMR.

I have a guy, that even if you can't find the codes for the '79 Suzuki, can be 99% sure he can replicate it as long as you have a piece that's clean to scan.

I'm grateful to folks like Mal who know about being patient because I can only work on the weekends, but it's nice that people are still interested in having me do some work for them.

 

[Guest]

Awesome as always Larry, I love the depth you get after those clear coats, outstanding!

 

[zuluwiz]

Wow! I say again: Wow! Super fantastic work. I think that's a better than factory paint job.

 

[dorkburger]

Screwed the tank emblems on and took the parts outside in natural light. Sadly, a very gloomy day, not the greatest for finish pics,

Us geeky photographers will say that overcast is actually good for this sort of thing. Soft diffused light
doesn't have distracting highlights, shapes / lines, are easily followed, etc....
Anyways, another beautiful job.

 

[nvr2old]

Thanks for the kind words gentlemen. Glen, your expertise in photography also blows me away. I went to the photo section and checked out your pics. You, my friend, are an artist of the highest order. Such beautiful work.. In my lack of photo knowledge and skills, I've always gone for early morning and early evening because of that "magic light time" I've heard people describe. These of Mal's finished parts were taken early afternoon and at least showed reflections better then I thought they would. I don't like the busy background in them, though..my garage isn't exactly captivating subject matter.

 

[Nessism]

Thanks for the kind words gentlemen. Glen, your expertise in photography also blows me away. I went to the photo section and checked out your pics. You, my friend, are an artist of the highest order. Such beautiful work.. In my lack of photo knowledge and skills, I've always gone for early morning and early evening because of that "magic light time" I've heard people describe. These of Mal's finished parts were taken early afternoon and at least showed reflections better then I thought they would. I don't like the busy background in them, though..my garage isn't exactly captivating subject matter.

I like this one. Ran when parked...


Valvetrain by Glen Brenner, on Flickr