One of my side covers that I got with the bike is chrome, so I just left it like that for now. The other one was an ugly sparkley blue color. I used a wire wheel and stripped all of the paint off of the outside. I then sanded it a couple times with different sand papers, then a scotchbrite pad, and finally some very fine steel wool with some metal polish. I cleaned it with some denatured alcohol and then painted it with some clear high heat engine enamel paint. As I was painting it, I saw that I was getting some major runs. So I quickly cleaned all of the still wet paint off and tried again. This time I did a couple light coats. It turned out really nice as you can see in the bottom picture below. I plan on eventually taking all of the sheet metal down to this brushed steel look, including the tank (which I need to get a new one because the current one is rusted through and leaks a little). I also bought some side cover emblems on ebay for about $10 and got the hardware needed to mount the side covers at Home Depot. The stock bushing that you are supposed to use are available on ebay for about $20. Instead, I got some rubber washers and some vinyl tubing that will do the same thing for a couple bucks.
The actual bike show wasn't exactly what I expected. They were looking for pristine or restored original bikes. Not modded cafe racers. But I had fun, saw some awesome bikes and met some cool people. It was in Marietta so it was a good 40 minute ride over to there. Since Nixon was in the show, I had to stay there the whole time so I got kind of bored (and hot) at the end. I didn't win any awards, but I wasn't really expecting to.
See my pictures from the VJMC Show May 9, 2009
3 comments:
looks great! I was going to do this to my tank, but found a ton of bondo, after seeing this, I think I might still do it to my sidecovers. what paint did you use?
The top pic was before I finished "polishing" it. I've got another close-up pic of it complete, but can't seem to find it at the moment. I got the paint at autozone. I'm not sure of the brand, but it was clear High Heat Engine Paint. I made sure to get the ENAMEL (not laquer) as it is supposed to hold up to spilled gas better.
mike, whats up dude its Jon. I met u at wow. Ive got the red cb400. Im tryn 2 get myself setup here n hope 2 post some pics soon. I polished my alt. cover, valve caps on the head, and cluth cable arm cover since the show. Looks sweet. lets ride sometime. u can reach me at Carboyinsmy@yahoo.com
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