Gophers and Cheese

I put so much time and effort into the fabrication of the Stingray (see previous post) that I wanted to do something special with the paint.  Before I could do that, I had to remove all the black spraypaint from the previous owner.

Here are some photos of the progress I made last weekend... To prep the tank, I used pinstriping tape to very carefully follow the red circle around the filler hole.  Then I used blue painters tape to surround the pinstriping tape. I stuffed the hole with a ball of masking tape and a circle cut out of paper.  You can also see the pinstriping tape I used in the hole to keep the black paint from going too far into the tank.  That way I can clear over it and (hopefully) create a protective layer so gas can't get under the clear again. I protected the rest of the tank by taping sheets of printer paper to it. I sprayed a few coats of gloss black and metalcast red. Then I removed all the masking tape.  The little scratches are from when I scuffed up the clearcoat to prep for paint.  I will be adding more clearcoat so they'll disappear. For the fender, I used blue painters tape to cover the lace paintjob between the pinstripes. I suspended the...

I'm quite proud of my rattlecan paint job on my tank.  However, it was my first time painting a tank and I made some mistakes along the way.  One of those mistakes that is starting to cause problems was using the cheap spray paint too far down into the filler hole.  The Spraymax 2K Clear Coat couldn't protect it and gas has worked its way into the black paint and softened it around the filler hole.  Since I'm in the process of painting my new fender, it's the perfect time to take action before it gets any worse. I removed the tank and drained it. Then I plugged the filler hole with a ball of masking tape, sticky side out.  This along with regular bursts of compressed air helped keep dust and paint chips from getting into the tank. I used my rotary tool to remove all the bad paint.  The plan is to paint black only for the small area visible when the filler cap is in place and then protect it with clear coat, ensuring the clear coat bonds with t...

As you may remember, the rear fender was recently covered in Dupli-Color Metal Specks Red.  I am following the exact same process that I did when I painted the lace pattern on the tank and previous fender. I wet sanded it with 800 grit sandpaper and put a line of blue painters tape down the middle as a guide for my pinstripes. I laid down the pinstriping tape just outside the blue painters tape.The straight lines on the fender are so much easier to deal with than the tank. Then I removed the painters tape. I used some printer paper to mask off the sides to only leave the area between the pinstripes exposed. I had kept spare lace from when I originally painted the tank so the pattern will match exactly.  I used spray adhesive to keep it in place, careful to line up the row of flowers to match the lace racing stripe on the tank. Then I sprayed Dupli-Color Glass Black over the lace and pulled the lace off. Then I used the same trick as before, putting ...

What used to be the stock fender struts have been reduced to fender nubs after two rounds of chopping.  I used my rotary tool and hand file to take off additional material so my homemade hollow struts will slip over the "nubs" with ease.  Then I protected the rest of the bike with masking tape and an old sheet. I used Rust-Oleum Professional Gloss Black High Performance Enamel, which is a very close match to the rest of the frame. I use it on lots of the parts I make as it's pretty durable.  Here is one nub painted...  ...and here's both.

The fender has been taking me so long, you can see all the surface rust that has formed. I trimmed the end of the fender to make it even with the bottom of the swingarm. Then I used my hand drill and nylon brush attachment to remove all the surface rust. I used Duplicolor Self-Etching Primer followed by their Filling Primer. After a few rounds of priming, sanding, priming, sanding, etc., I sprayed a Metal Specks silver basecoat. That was followed with Metal Specks Red. The pinstriping and lace is next followed by black and clear.  This is the same process and materials I used for the tank and previous fender.  When it's all done, assuming it all goes well, the rear fender should match the tank perfectly.

Cutting the fender mounts off my fork legs (aka "shaving my legs") is tough work.  On Sunday, I picked up where I left off the previous weekend ( click here to read Part 1).  I had one fork pretty much done and the other one had been cut and ground down with a lot of filing and sanding left to do. Here is the one leg with the tabs completely removed and sanded smooth: I removed the front wheel again and got to work.  After a lot of filing and sanding, both legs were finally done. I used zip ties to get the bottom of the fork boots out of the way and masked off the fork caps. In spite of all the sanding, there was still a lot of old clear coat on the forks, particularly near the top and bottom.  I bought some Dupli-Color Paint Stripper to remove it. I sprayed it on and waited 15-20 minutes for the clear coat to bubble up.  This stuff worked great! With all the nooks and crannies around the brake mount, there's no way to properly do this by sanding ...

I did so much work on my Sportster this past winter that I thought I would try to recap it all in a single post.  If you are interested in more detail, I've organized and included links to prior posts. Like all of my pictures, click on any of them to see a larger version. The most notable change was swapping the tank and painting the rear fender.  I had a stock 4.5 gallon tank and replaced it with a 3.3 gallon king tank with pop-up gas cap.  I painted both the tank and fender using good ol' rattlecan spray paint and went with a lace panel style.  I protected them with SprayMax 2K clear coat, also in a spray can. Posts about the tank and prep: Purchase , Sealer , Draining Gas , Mock Up , Sealing The Tank , Primer and Bondo Posts about the horn and fender and prep: Stripping The Horn , Stripping The Fender , Rubberized Undercoat Posts about the paint process: SprayMax 2K , Testing Lace Technique , Part 1 , Part 2 , Part 3 , Part 4 , Part 5 , Part 6 , Part 7 ,...