Pics of 77 restoration

[Workinman]

I’m not overly happy with these pictures but I’ll go ahead and post them. I noticed when I went to move the bike this morning that my fuel pump is leaking out the weep hole. It’s a never ending process...
I threw a couple of BEFORE pictures in just to show where I started.
Anyway, here’s my project.

 

[Workinman]

Tough crowd...

 

[dan filipi]

I remember when you got this bike. Looks great!

 

[Rednaxs60]

Very nice. In the process of doing mine.

 

[desertrefugee]

Great color choice.

 

[kerryb]

That's very nice, looks terrific. Is it mostly paint and effort, or did you have to replace aa lot of major parts? (Rims, spokes, and shiny parts)

 

[Ansimp]

Very nice. :good:

 

[Workinman]

Thank you, Gentlemen. I think I’ll take some time and do a write up on the restoration, with pictures, in case anybody is interested.
Chris

 

[dan filipi]

I'm interested.

 

[Rednaxs60]

Me too. A coat of paint and good cleaning makes quite a difference.

 

[Workinman]

I tried earlier today but was not able to do it the way I wanted with a description and then a picture, then more description and another picture. I think I’ll just post the pictures with a caption on each one.

 

[Workinman]

I have not been able to do a write up the way I would like so I posted a bunch of pictures in my album of the restoration. I’m just not smart enough to figure out how to post stuff and make it look like I’ve got any sense whatsoever. (Old dog, new tricks...) I’ll post some more when I have some time.

 

[dan filipi]

Why was clear powder coating the rims a mistake?

Image description: Both rims cleaned, polished, and ready for the clear powder coat. (Powder coating was a mistake!)

 

[Rednaxs60]

I'm with Dan, what don't you like about the rim powder coating? I went a different way mainly because powder coating is very expensive up here north of the border. I cleaned sanded, painted the black with a high gloss enamel, then used a CERAKOTE product MC-5100 as a sealer/protectant. Will see how long it lasts when the bike is back on the road. I'm hoping it makes cleaning a lot easier. Here's a pic of the rear rim final:

I also cleaned up and did the rear rim for my 1500. Came out quite nice with the same product:

Will be doing the front 1500 rim next.

You've done a great job, something to be very proud of. Best part from what you have mentioned is that it rides as well as it looks, no small feat. Cheers

 

[Workinman]

Good question! As you can see in the picture, the rims were looking really good after many hours of cleaning and wet sanding. I took them to a different powder coater this time as I wasn’t impressed with my last powder coater, and as I suspected, this one wasn’t much better. The clear on the rims was all “splotchy”, it took two weeks, cost a little over a hundred bucks, and once you installed the tire, anyplace you used a tire spoon on the rim must have Cut through the powder coating, so now I have several spots on both rimes where the coating is actually lifting up. It gets air under it and looks really bad. To fix this, I need to TOTALLY disassemble both rims, remove the coating and try to salvage the finish. I’ve heard other people who restore cars and bikes having problems with powder coating “lifting” and now I’m experiencing it first hand. Look closely at the pictures of the finished bike and you should see signs of this. If not, I will add some.
If you look at the Yamaha that I restomodded for a friend, he wanted the rims black, so I had them powder coated black. I don’t think I had this same problem, but the finish just wasn’t very shiny. Not at all like you see when people on TV have stuff powder coated. That stuff looks like it’s a foot thick. Mine was just barely shiney.
Just my two cents, but I’ve never really been a fan of powder coating, and this has reinforced my dislike for it.

 

[Workinman]

Okay. My pictures are making a liar out of me. They look good. I’ll take a couple shots of the lifting and post them when I can.

 

[Workinman]

Original post, picture of front wheel area. Ten o clock. Perfect example.

 

[dan filipi]

Hmm interesting. I’ve always had the understanding powder coating was one of the best and pretty much second to chrome. Could it be the “environmentally friendly” blends these days are to blame? I know several house painters that say they won’t warranty paint anymore.

 

[Workinman]

Could be, Dan. It could also be that both powder coaters I’ve tried SUCKED.

 

[Workinman]

A year and a half later update. I’ve finally torn parts of my wing down to send some stuff out to be rechromed, which I should have done in the first place, and to try to fix these nasty rims. I spent all day today in the garage with a heat gun and some plastic scrapers to try to remove the powder coating from the front wheel. Most of the powder coating stuck to the rim, making it a real bear to get off, but I guess about 10% of it lifted, looked like crap, and as I found out today, apparently moisture got under the powder coating and corroded the rim. Keep in mind that this bike has never been in the rain since restored, and only washed (and blown dry!) maybe four or five times. I am going to have to sand the rims back down to remove the damage and then slowly ease off on the grit of sandpaper to achieve the brushed/partially shiny finish that Honda put on them in 77. This is going to be HOURS and HOURS of work to get them back to where they were before I had them powder coated. I’m gonna try to do this without removing the spokes as these rims were a BEAR to get true. I don’t want to go through THAT again either. Then I have to do the OTHER rim…
These rims were perfect when I took them to the powder coater.
I’m posting this update in hopes that I can save someone a BUTTLOAD of work in the future.
Chris