Finale

So...its all done. Mucho thanks to my dad for all his help. I have about 70 hours into it and I'm sure he's got somewhere between 12-16 hours into it as well. Thanks to Danny Bally for giving me proper warnings before I began and thanks to Jon for helping vectorize the skull sketches.

The whole process was awesome. I would totally do this all over again. In fact, I have a TON of ideas for other bikes. I'm really happy with how it turned out. For my first effort I think it came out pretty well. It looks kick ass from about 10 feet away. The finish could be smoother, some of the graphic edges could be smoother as well but you have to be right up on it to see that. And I'm pretty darn picky about every little detail. I learned so much in the last few weeks about the bike, about painting, about the electrical system. It has just been an awesome project. I think the coolest father/son project I've ever done. Sure beats building bird houses for shop class in grade school.

I still may take it apart next winter and wet sand down the clear and add a few more coats to it, but for now, I'm just gonna enjoy riding it again and showing it off at bike night.

in a few days I'm going to take a few really nice shots of it outside with a nice backdrop. I just gotta give this crazy weather a day or two to calm down.

Steps - 19, 20, 21 & 22

I'm gonna jam a few steps into on because they are quick. So step 19 was getting the paint in and fixing the black on the two pieces. That turned out to be really easy, two coats over that and it was done.

20 white stripes on tank - that was pretty quick and easy, actually.

21 clear - For this stage I decided that the make shift paint booth in the garage was not gonna be sufficient or safe. Clear coat is really, really, really nasty shit. I even spent another $200 on a full face gas mask so that no vapor could get to my face, or eyes in any way. And I'm glad I did. Fortunately, on the air force base is a full blown filtered professional paint booth that I could rent through my Dad. Nice benefit to having a retired Colonel as a Dad. So we went down there Saturday morning and set up. We got all the pieces set up and ready. Then we popped open then clear coat and it had settled...REALLY settled. There was this hockey puck of opaque stuff in the bottom that can of paint and when we started stirring it was obvious that was gonna take a while. So we chunked it up as much as we could and then started shaking vigorously for about 5 minutes and sure enough that mixed it right up.




The clear went on different than the paint. I was very light with it and I actually shoulda been a little heavier handed with it. I was worried about loading it up too much but its pretty sticky stuff. After the first coat I was a lot more direct with the spray. I actually could have put on another whole can of clear and I think I might actually go back and do more later on. In a few months or something, I was just too anxious to get it together and riding again right now.

22 assembly - So putting it back together took about 4 hours of work. And an hour of that alone was just the front fairing with the headlights. Getting that all back in and working was a bitch and totally a two person job. In fact another pair of hands might have been handy actually. So my dad and I worked from about 8 to midnight and got the tank, front and sides back on, and the front lights working.

In this shot you can see the intake LED's as running lights. they look really cool and they also work as turn signals in conjunction with the amber (legally required0 side turn signals. i really wish I didn't need the sides to be amber.

This shot is of the tiny little toggle swtich for the halo's. It's sahped like a skull and lights up when ON.

Then he went in and I was too excited to stop so I worked for a few more hours, until about 2:30am on the tail, undertail and seats... enough to get it so that I could see what it looked like when it was "done". And boy did that feel good. Seeing it done is just awesome after all this work.

Then on Monday, Dad and I kicked into the last bits at about 4pm. We just needed to rig the trunk key latch and connect the wiring tucked inside the tail nice and neat. I've got a great set of pictured instructions that I'll be posting to the forums for the undertail since those instructions are ridiculously useless. So we wrapped it up and poured in a few gallons of gas and she started right up. I took it for a quick spin around the block to make sure it stayed together. and even though it was like 40 degrees and windy I could have driven it all night long.

Step 18- Progress

Well, today the paint didn't come in, I found out that they had accidentally ordered the wrong color and that's why it was coming all the way from CT and thus still hadn't arrived. they had reordered the correct color from Denver and it should be here by tomorrow morning. It should arrive at or before 11am. Which is the last possible minute that it can arrive that I can still get to the paint booth in time to finish the black, get the white on the tank and then clear coat it all. Then I'll be home with it a few hours later and basically just have to put it back together.

Last night, I was researching the electrical shit on the turn signals and found out that HONDA's typically have running lights on the front turn signals anyway, and that was why my set up wasn't working. The magic blinkers are designed to reverse the action of normal non running light turn signals. (to go from normal off to blinking ON at turn to normal ON and blinking OFF at turn) well if they are already running lights then you can't reverse that. So the trick was to route a power supply from another "hot when keyed on" source, like a headlight or something.

that proved to do the trick perfectly. So I got all the lights hooked up and working properly. The halo's work, the two sets of turn signals/running lights work up front, and the LED's in back work as well.

Now, I just have to finish painting, put it together, get some gas in it, take it for a quick test drive, and then hook up the power commander and get the right map installed and it should be good to go. oh wait, I forgot, I still need to rig the tail section with the lock, that's gonna take a bit to get set right but, like I said a few posts back, I got the easy fix figured out already.

Here's a preview of the lights...with no body, of course. And now that I see them on like this I really want to look into if its legal to have no actual white headlight on at all times and be able to switch on and off the low beams so I can drive around with only the halo's on and only switch on the beams when I need to see where I'm going.

Here is the shot with the lights all working with the key on and the Halo's switched on. You can see the halo's the one headlight and the intake lights (curved red LED's) the amber side signals are hanging down almost on the floor. (I really wish I didn't need to legally have the side signals be amber, I'd like to go red on all the lights.)


And here is what it will look like parked with the ignition off and the Halo's switched on.


It's kinda hard to see in here actually because the way the light reflects so much you don't really get near as good of an impression as you do in person.

keeping fingers crossed for tomorrow.

Step 17 - Electrical

Today was a roller coaster. I realized that in order to paint the clear coat I need significantly more protection than what I had. That clear coat is really nasty stuff. So I had to run over to the supply shop and get a full face mask with glass face shield and heavy duty filters. Two hundred and two dollars later, I was on my way back home. The wind was terrible today so there was no way I was gonna get any painting done and it became more evident to me that I really could not paint the clear in a garage anyway. It is extremely unsafe and it's very bad on the surface to have that much dust flying around. I really need a clean room with filtration and adequate lighting.

I called around and found a place that rents a booth for $45 which was great, except they didnt have a slot open until wed or thurs.

Then we found one on base. What a wonderful benefit of having a a retired colonel as a Dad. Full military perks. they've got a booth on base and it rents ridiculously cheap. and it was wide open. So we rushed home to pack shit up and head over.

Half way through packing up I remembered that I couldn't clear coat the tank and tail yet, because I still had to redo the black base coat. So we decided it was best to just wait until Tuesday in order to do it all in one shot. So we unloaded the truck and decided to check on the electrical system with the new LED turn signals.

That turned out to be a very frustrating experience. there was just no way that we could figure out, either by following the directions or coming up with our own ideas that we could get the lights to both blink when it was time to blink and stay on as running lights the rest of the time.
I might have some defective parts but I have no idea so now I get to wait until Monday so I can call support over at the place I got the lights from and ask if I'm doing something stupid or if something is messed up.

I did, however, get the replacement bulb for the Angel Eye light and finished that install and those look kick ass. I was going to do a custom wiring job on that too so that they were on all the time and then when I hit my high beams, then both the headlines would come on. The idea being that normally, I could drive around with just the angel eyes on and not have that one constantly ON headlight messing up the light. I'm not even sure if that's legal yet. And given the horrible electric day I had today I might not mess with it that much.

ok I'm exhausted after being up until 330a this morning. its time to veg for a bit.

Step 16 - The white coat

There's actually some pics left from the last round, but I was too tired to upload them. this is how the Angel Eyes go into the headlight housing. We actually modified the instructions and drilled 2 little holes as you can see in the next two shots to help hold the unit in place. Works really well actually.



This is what the housing looks like all pulled apart. Waiting on the replacement bulb to get here today so I can wrap this up. According to UPS it is on its way over right now. I'm hoping there aren't many Saturday deliveries so it gets here fast.



So, last night was probably the most exciting night of painting yet. That's because the actual graphics show up in this step. It also was the longest step. I started masking at around 4:30pm. Stopped for about 10 minutes to throw some food down (no, I didn't chew, they were noodles, they are already soft..shut up, I know what you are thinking) Then continued to mask until around 9pm.

The next few shots show what it looks like all masked off.



Then the painting starts. I was anxious to get the white paint going. I couldn't wait to see the white on the black. So I start painting and Dad chases me around to each piece with the blow dryer drying them off as I'm going. That's the beauty of Auto Air Colors paint. It dries really fast. It also helps with the dust since it dries so fast there isn't a lot of dust that can settle on it. We did still have a dust issue though and had to deal with shit on the surface a lot. It's just impossible to get a dust free environment unless you actually create a sealed spray room. So I have resolved to a less than perfect finish on the surface. It's not bad, but it's not perfect.

The clear coat is really what I'm worried about. I should be doing that right now but I can't because the wind is horrible out side and I can't really seal myself up in the garage even because the clear coat is extremely toxic. And they recommend using a fully enclosed air fed mask to avoid it touching skin, eyes or accidentally inhaled. It's pretty scary stuff. Even the really nice carbon filters we have now aren't really enough to protect you according to the instructions.


As it started going on, the white, I mean, I realized that it was going to take a LOT of coats. After about 10 coats it was still very gray and just approaching silver. You can see in the pics that it looks very silver. The Pearl aspect of the paint reflects so it adds to that with the black showing through.


After about, oh I'd say approximately 30-40 light coats, I realized that it wasn't getting any WHITER. Maybe I should have played some country music, that might have helped. =) So I put on about 5-8 more coats after that and called it quits. I resolved to accept the silvery color although it had gotten whiter than before when it was really silver. I also figured that it would look a lot more white when it was contrast on the black anyway and that it was hard to see that after so many coats and all the surrounding area the same color.

I cleaned up all the paint shit to give it some dry time and then blow dried it a little more and started pealing the tape off... around 2:00am. That was a long night of hammering away at it. And I loved every second of it. Would have been nice to not have to put so many white coats on though, had I known how transparent it was, I would have gotten another primer type paint from AutoAirColors so that I could cover the black faster and work on top of a neutral.

Anyway, peeling off the tape was awesome. its great to see that contrast. I actually had to take the Exacto knife and retrace all of the mask lines because the amount of paint was sealing the mask tape and it started to pull it off the black when I removed the tape. So that took a little longer as well. Just one more thing to slow me down from seeing the finished graphics.

But it looks really nice when I did get it off. and it did look whiter than I thought it was going to after seeing the silver. It's not as white as I expected it to be prior to starting, but it is really nice and I do like the way it came out.

Here's the front fender and the top front fairing:



The Tail...


And the best part... the windshield with the skull. (it looks really cool when its inserted into the top fairing but I can't hold it and shoot it at the same time, so y'all are just gonna have to wait a bit longer for that)

Step 15 - Another Set Back

I went to the paint shop this morning with two of the pieces in hand to show them what was happening on the undertail. It looks like fish eyes, as if you are painting with oil based paints. Except I'm using water based paints. So it kinda looks like water spots, but that wouldn't happen with water based paints either.

Well the guys in the shop don't know a whole lot about the water based paints yet since they are so new. But we came to the conclusion that the surface was probably contaminated some how and that's why the spots were showing up so badly. I'm not totally convinced that's what it was. I think it was more likely the way the paint shot out of the gun. I'm going to switch to the other smaller air gun and see if that makes any difference. I resanded down the undertail and the gas tank to resurface it a little anyway just in case they were right.

Bad news is that they black paint has to be custom ordered and I ran out of what I had, so I have to wait 3 days for it to come in, so that will be like Monday at the earliest. Then I can repaint the black coat on those two pieces.

Meanwhile the other pieces look fine so I can move on to the white graphics and the clear coat on them....weather permitting. That's the other set back. there are dust storms going on here like Afghanistan and there is just no way in hell I can do the clear coat with this kind of dust kicking around. The black and white are one thing, they dry instantly, but the clear, that's gonna take a while to dry. So any dust in the air will stick to the clear and look like ass.

So I decided to mess with the skull stencil tonight, which actually went pretty well considering how the rest of the night was. I'm not sure the contact paper I have is strong enough to stick while painting over it but we'll find out. At least I'll have extra black in case I fuck it up this time.

Then I decided to try to get the angel eyes installed. so we put the headlight assembly in the over for 12 minutes and took out our nice little headlight loaf and managed to pull it apart. Then we kicked into getting the angel eyes in place. We decided that we needed to change the directions, of course, since we had a better idea. I thought it might be better to drill 2 little holes for the ends of the lights to stick thru. Which actually works better than the instructions tell you to do. however, as I was putting the right side in place I accidentally pressed too hard and snapped the damn light. which of course is one of the most expensive pieces on the bike. So now its all taken apart and I have one headlight done and the other is busted. great. now I can call them back and beg them to overnight only one replacement to me.

I installed the cool LED's in the front intakes tonight though and the glue on them is surprisingly strong. They are staying right where they were put, along a curve.

So anyway, tomorrow, back on the white graphics and we'll see how that goes.

Step 14 - Base Coat

Tonight was time to do the base coat. And the only time that had a time sensitive deadline. I had to get the base coat on, at least one full layer within 24 hours of the primer. So I had to start with sanding down the primer with 220 Grit wet and then 600 grit wet. There was a lot of dust and fuzz in the primer. That's causing some concern for the rest of the painting, particularly the clear coat. I'm going to have to rig up the garage differently and make it more air tight yet nicely ventilated because the clear coat is really nasty shit.

This paint is water based and only takes a 9:1 ratio of paint to reducer. I was warned about the spray going on sorta weird, like it was dry so I tried to keep my coats as thin as possible.


It wasn't easy at first to keep it thin because it was really hard to tell where the base coat was covering the primer. After the first full coat I sorta got the hang of that.

Then I had to fix the front fender. Right about the time I got to the 6th piece I noticed the gun spraying really weird, like in clumps. I messed with the gun settings but couldn't figure it out. After a few minutes I realized that the air compressor hadn't kicked on yet and it should have been. so the compressor wasn't actually on and I was depleting the tank of all the air so the pressure was dropping bad and making for a really shitty spray. Once I figured that out it was a lot better but in the process, I sprayed on a really thick section of the front fender and it was starting to buckle and crack. So I dried it and then sanded that part down again and smoothed it out with the rag and then repainted that fender again and fixed it. You can't even tell now, but it really pissed me off at the time.


All in all the base coat went on smooth. It dries really fast, within minutes of spraying it and you can dry it faster with a hair drier as well. the only thing I don't know about is how these spots are appearing on a few of the pieces. So it looks like I'm going to have to order some more black and wait a few days to get it in and do another coat. That really sucks because i'll totally miss the track day.

Im anxious to get the white started but I need to work out the black first. So the color looks great, everything is great except for those weird spots.

Step 13 - Primer

This is going to be a fast post because its actually for last night. I was just too tired last night to post. So last night was the primer coat. Cleaned the surfaces down, alcohol pad prepped them and then started spraying. My Dad and I had two guns hooked up and it turned out that only one gun was working right which was my gun so I did most of it. then I did the whole second coat because his gun was just acting really strange. We eventually found out it was the new water filter thing he had gotten that didn't let the right amount of air thru. The primer coats went on pretty smooth. I think I sprayed it on too thick though, because I had a pretty good orange peel texture going. It also dried a lot more glossy looking than I had expected for primer. I always thought primer was really flat but I guess that's not how this stuff works.

So we got the primer all done and let that dry for the night. I could see that dust and random fuzz was goign to be an issue. also the fact that we are in the middle of the desert and I have no ability to build a TRUE clean room, I have to deal with soem issues with dust. But at this stage its not a big deal because I can sand down the primer before I put a base coat on it.

Here's what it looked liked after the primer:



It's a lot shinier than expected, right? I know, weird.

Step 12 - the spray booth

aka the garage.

Tonight I set up the paint booth with my dad in his garage. we had a roll of painting plastic mask that was 9 feet wide by something like 400 feet long.

We sectioned off a bunch of the garage and then brought the pieces in to see how we needed to mount them. The we built a few racks for them and made sure they were easy to paint.

Last, I went over each one with a scotchpad and a bottle of SimpleGreen and cleaned every surface.

Step 11 - ah HA!

It's been a little while since I've posted. I haven't made a hell of a lot of progress since I've had guests in town and have been really busy with work. I need to find a block of a few days in order to build the spray booth, build the racks, and then get it all rigged up and ready to go. I won't have time this weekend either since I'll be out of town.

Anyway... the coolest thing is that I figured out how to set up the locking mechanism. As I looked at it more with the two pieces of the tail together, I figured out a way to rig the old holding piece on to the back of the tool bag holder. I clamped it all in to test it and it actually works better than the original way. And I only really need a small block of wood and 2 screws, and no cutting of the cable either. So I'm stoked to have that out of the way. I could have also manufactured a piece of metal to do the trick but the wood is easier and doesn't make any difference where it is. I've actually already started on rewriting the installation instructions with lots of photos so I can post that for other people to use.

I've picked up all the paint. I watched the video that the paint guy told me to watch but it didn't teach me anything. I think he ordered the wrong one. My Oracle Demon/Halo lights came in from Advanced Automotive Concepts and I've read the instructions for them about 5 times now. That's gonna be another interesting installation, but totally kick ass looking. As far as lighting goes, this is probably the coolest upgrade you can make. I actually called the large local motorcycle dealer's service department and asked them if they could do it. After hearing them sorta wonder what I was talking about, I decided that I was probably best to just do it myself.

I also got the wheel strips. I got reflective white 7mm pin stripes to put around the outside edge of the rims. And they look really cool.



So the next step is really the painting and the headlights. I plan to start that Monday night and try to get the thing painted and squared away by Saturday if that's at all possible. The first track day of the year is Saturday and I'd love to make that with the new custom ride.

Step 10 - the Under Friggin Tail

So tonight I start by sandblasting the undertail, and then I hand sand all of the pieces over again at 120 grit and then 220 grit so they are nice and smooth and ready for cleaning and paint.

Since the paint's not in, I decide to start messing with the stock fender and trying to get that all set.

I totally forgot to mention the paint purchase. I'll back up to Saturday for a second. I went to the second paint shop to get some paint and some advice. I went to Bond Paint Co. in Albuquerque. I met Syl the General Manager, who helped me a lot. Once I got him sorta wrapped around my project he helped me with some alternatives to what I had thought I wanted. And it actually turned out better... at least in theory, we'll see how it looks.

Instead of the Hot Hues Hot Rod Flat Black and white, which had a very quick time allowance for you to paint. When you start to paint those, you have 24 hours to get the coats finished and the clear coat on to seal it up, or it flakes. Then he showed me the other company's paint which was called Waterford or water-something. With that paint, I didn't need to thin it, I didn't need to sand it in between coats, I could take as long as I wanted once the first base coat was on, it dried in minutes and could be taped on top of 90 seconds after it was dry to the touch. And it was about 1/3 the cost of Hot Hues.

'nuff said, Doc. I'll take 'er.

So I got a pearlized black which is like the child of flat black and gun metal and a pearlized white, which will be coated over with a clear matte finish. And I can take longer than 24 hours to do the whole job, which I might need. Maybe not, I'd like to just stay up non stop from here on out until its done but I actually have to work during the day which si totally cutting into my bike mod time. But it's also funding it as well so its gotta keep rolling. Especially if I keep fucking shit up like yesterday.

So I still spent $300 on supplied for paint with the paints, the clear coat, the primer, actuator and hardener, etc. So that was a pretty healthy chunk of cash.

Ok back to today. Let me just say, or reiterate what others have said which is that the undertail instructions are a laughable joke at best. I'm not even sure they are talking about the same piece of equipment that I have. They are so vague and unclear that they are pretty much useless. In fact, so far, I've figured out most of it on my own after reading them over and over again wondering what the fuck they are talking about. Remember in grade school when you had to write instructions on how to get out of a paper bag or tie your shoe, shit like that? Well this writer totally failed that assignment. I'm totally rewriting the instructions with photos so other people can get a clear idea. These are, bar none, the worst instructions I've ever seen.

So I proceed to determine where the fender needs to be cut, because you still need to keep as much of it as possible. And we cut it off right here...


Which was just behind the two bolt holes where it attaches to the rear of the frame, that's required in order to hold it up, but it has to be as close as you can get with out chopping it off or the undertail wont fit either. You actually have to cut around them and let them stick out a little, and then shave them at an angle so you can make room or the LED' strips or they will never go in there.

Here's a close up.


Next I decide to see how it all fits together to see what kind of rigging job I'm going to have to do. For starters, only 3 of the 4 holes actually line up and the fouth is a good 1/4" off. The #3 hole has less than an 1/8" of plastic on the outside of it. Gonna have to be real damn careful with that one.

So I go put the stock undertail back on, and situate the new undertail in the place it's supposed to go to see how it looks.

It looks friggin awesome.. if I can figure it out... and I will. So I go grab the lock for the "trunk" to see how that is gonna work because from what Im looking at, its not making any sense, knowing how the lock mechanism works and how much cable there is. Sure enough, there is no way that works without some new engineering. And the instructions.. ha ha ha ... oh man, this part is great, it tells you to pull off the L plate from the lock and straighten the metal piece. It does not tell you what the L plate is, nor show you, and that's the last they mention it. So you have no idea why you remove it or why you straighten it. Then it says to install the lock seat into the new undertail. THAT'S IT. That's the extent of the instructions. No mention of how the cable is supposed to go from a horizontal entry to pull a horizontal lock to a vertical pulling a horizontal. Then the best is the shot of the back of the bike and the locking mechanism. its showing the lock and the cable isn't connected at all. It's just sticking up in the middle of no where. I'm not sure the company ever thought that oen through.

I'm going to email Rumble concepts and see if they have anything, even a picture of the inside of the tail finished and working would be enough to get me rolling. I'm sitting here thinking I need to actually cut the cable 2 inches shorter and try to rig my own holder some how. And don't even get me started on the fact that you still need to some how rig a mechanism to hold the end of the cable in place while it actuates to create tension, but you can't twist it too much or the friction keeps it from locking again.

I'm gonna post a message in the cbrforum and see if any of them have done this before. And I might resort to chasing down someone with one if I see one on the street.

Ok, I'm off to post.

Step 9 - Set Back.

The undertail. This undertail is gonna be a serious challenge. I should have expected that the most expensive piece and the coolest feature, aside from the paint job, would be the part to get screwed up.

So it started with the initial order. I shoulda known. I ordered it from 1tail.com and they called to tell me that they didn't have any more black ones left, nor unpainted ones, only red ones. So I asked if the lights were easy enough to remove so I could sand it down, repaint it, and install the lights again. I believe my exact words were, "The lights aren't glued in are they? are they easy enough to just pop right out?"

After a brief hold while they went and checked, I was told that they were easy enough to pop out and were not glued in.

I got the undertail in yesterday. I opened up the package like a 5 year old at Christmas. the clouds parted, a ray of sunlight shown down upon me, trumpets sounded and angels sang. It was beautiful.

Queue record scratch.

What? the lights are all hot glued in. damnit. So alright, no big deal, right, minor set back, I'll just gently heat it with a heat gun and melt the glue and slide the LED's out. If anyone reading this has ever tried this you are probably laughing your ass off right now.

So I start on it right away, I grab the heat gun and I start heating it up. The glue starts to turn clear and I am able to slide the LED's out. They are gooey and I'm wondering how the hell I'm gonna get the glue off of the LED's without trashing the LED string. Then the worst thing happens. Right before my eyes the plastic of the tail starts to buckle and curl. I watch in horror and try to hold it in place but its no use its curling. My heart sinks. Im thinking, " Fucking great, I just fucked up $209 in a matter of 5 minutes."


So now, it looks like that after reheating it a few times and trying to push it back into shape. I'm ready to throw it through the shop wall and suck up the fact that I'm gonna have to spend another 2 bills..totally pissed. Then my Dad talks me into messing with it as much as possible, which I agree to since its already screwed, might as well try, huh? So after about 2 hours of heating and pushing, and my Dad actually widdling out a mold out of a block of wood, we get it back to about 90% of the way its supposed to look. And...I think...what I'm hoping... is that when its painted flat and the lights are back in, you won't even be able to tell unless you have read this, of course and already know to look for it.

It was a long frustrating night of trying to get back to where I started. I ended up cutting out the other lights by taking and exacto blade and slicing the glue and then pulling the lights out and then shaving the remaining glue off of the plastic pieces.

Now, back to that gunked up LED string. It now had this hot glue melted all over it. which looked like shit and I'm sure would have made the light look really weird.

Here's where I made another mistake.. well several actually.

1. I did not test the lights before I started messing with it. If you do this, test them right away to make sure they even work.

2. attempting to remove the lights with heat (obviously we went over that already)

3. next I tried to heat the LED's to see if I could melt off the glue gunked on. No Luck, heating wiping, heating wiping over and over again, nothing.

Next I tried rubbing it, as if to polish it on a piece of cloth which seemed to start to polish off the glue gunk. That's when my dad brought out the fine scrub pad, like a scotch pad, only finer. And I rubbed in on that and that seemed ot be working. So he shows me a rougher one, like a real scotch pad. And that's where the next mistake happens.

4. why go to a rougher pad when the finer grit one was working just fine? I have no idea. frustration build up and patience deficit were acting against me. So I use the green scotch pad and proceed to scratch the bulbs DULL! UGH! are you fucking kidding me? So I start to polish them with the finer grit pad and the cloth again to see if I could buff it out. yeah, there's no buffing out LED's. when they're done, they're done.

So at this point I decide to see if the dull surface even matters? maybe you won't be able to see that when its lit anyway. So I test it, the dull strip has a section of 4 of the bulbs in the middle of 12 that do not work. So at some point, either the buffing, the heating or the pulling it out (or possibly from the beginning) this was shot anyway. Had I tested them first I would have known.

So now, I have to order another string of LED's OR possibly 2 new strings if I can't get a matching one, I will likely have to buy 2 of them so the intensity matches.

So here's how the tail section looked by the end of the night.


The very edge of it that you can mostly see rippled will actually be under the other layer and not seen. And the gunk of course is sanded off now. So hopefully this will work.

Step 8 - More Prep work

So its been a while since the last post. I've been super busy with everything, a trip out of town, tons of work, and I've still been working on the bike. I just haven't been posting like I wanted to. So I'll catch up tonight.

I had to get more Aluminum Oxide to finish the last few pieces. The windshield and I also decided to take a few pieces off of the broken down ZX-6 that Patrick and I were planning to make a stunt bike and sand them down as well to practice painting on.

Oh that's right, almost forgot about Danny Bally. I dropped in there one day and chatted with him for a second. He' seemed a little stand offish at first when I asked to pick his brain, but very quickly warmed up to me and shared some info. I suspect he was kind of internally laughing at me for attempting to do this. I asked a few questions, he answered. Mostly was warning me that it was really hard and I should be prepared to fuck shit up and start over. He said sport bikes are the hardest because of the angles in the body panels and that flat black was also one of the hardest colors to deal with since it couldn't be sanded down and covered again and then clear coated on top of that.

So, duly noted. I'll be careful. ya gotta start somewhere, why not with the hardest task? =)

I've done more research, I'll probably do a little more. I think I want to get a book as well just to see if there are any tips&tricks that I can pick up before I get into it. I went to a paint shop this weekend where Danny had told me he buys his paint, but they don't carry the flat black, at least not any more. So I have to go back tomorrow and try to grab the paint supplies. I'll be able to kick into the painting this week

Since last time I posted I have spent a shitload of time researching parts and trying to find the right parts. I think I've got everything purchased that I need for the mods. The lighting stuff was the hardest to put together, because there's a lot of stuff out there and it takes a little bit to find the right stuff that's decent quality and that fits the bike, and that matches in color.

I'm anxious to get the new undertail in so I can start to see what I need to do to get that installed. That's gonna need to be sanded and painted as well. I took the existing undertail off and in the process realized that I need to keep half of it. So that's gonna be a tricky install. The instructions on installing that are horrible. Vague at best. It's almost comical how poorly the instructions are written. I will probably rewrite the instructions with photographs and post them somewhere so other people won't have to guess at shit like I will have to do. I hope the Angel Eyes for the headlights have better instructions than that because that requires actually sticking the headlight section in the oven for a few minutes to loosen the glue and remove the faceplate from the headlights and install some electrical shit and then glue it back. I think the electrical shit is gonna be kinda tedious. But its gonna look bad ass once its done, if it comes out like I am envisioning.

I've been teetering on the idea of making the white a gray or light gray as was suggested by a few people. I keep going back to that white though and I still really dig the contrast. I've seen a few other bikes with white and black on them and I really dig it. I do think though, that I might try to get a reflective white so its not just flat white. It would be nice if it could look flat normally and then at night when lights hit it, it reflects. I'll have to see what's out there. I have learned that paint for this gig is friggin expensive. I was told to expect the cost of paint and paint materials (like thinner and primer, etc) to be in the $300 range. I'm already at around $600 in parts. If I screw up the paint that could get expensive. All in all, not too bad to get this kind of custom job done for less than a grand. Custom paint alone is typically a few grand. So I'm still doing WAY better by doing it myself and I have complete control over it and I'm doing something creative that I love so its way better than turning it over to someone and paying and getting it back. And its just cooler to have done it by myself.

I took a bunch of pics of the headlight assembly and the undertail set up because there were so many wires connected to everything. I might just need a reference on how to get hat back together. That's another reason why I want to work on it constantly, I have a bad memory and I don't want to forget how somthing has to go back together and have to go back and study the damn technical manual.

So anyway, I think that's pretty much catching me up to date. Can't wait to get started on the painting. We'll probably end up making a paint booth in the main garage of the house instead of the shop because the shop doesn't really have the spread out room and I'd have to paint one piece at a time. and when you consider that it takes a good 4-5 hours to dry, and there's 8 pieces to paint, and each pieces gets about 5 coats, maybe 6. that could take for EVER to do one piece at a time. I'm gonna need to do one coat on all pieces in one sitting and that's still gonna take a week or two.

OK, more soon.

Step 7 - Design

I've been procrastinating on actually sitting down and drawing shit out because I haven't had one solid full bike idea yet.

I knew I wanted it mostly flat black, I was going to paint the windshield flat black too and have some sort of skull on it with flat white, and then some sort of flat white accent in other places. That's all I had. Until yesterday riding the ski loft up on my second or third run. I looked down and saw a kid with a flat black helmet on with those racing stripes that have one thick and one thin one.

Then it hit me.. that's it, that's the way to tie in the white. racing stripe that goes up the front, I'll still keep that V white and then have ti wrap around to a skull that's got a thin and thick side, very graphic and vector, simple to mask but still bad ass looking.

then have the stripes follow down the center of the bike. Flow over the gas tank and go around the gas cap like the skull.

Oh yeah, since I have the cool spiked bar ends and windshield bolts, I thought I'd throw a few spikes on the skull too, for extra bad-assed-ness.

So I started messin' with the front shot in photoshop for a quick down and dirty conceptual sketch. I even busted out the wacom, which took me a minute to get used to again. I don't think I've touched that in over a year.

So anyway, here's what I have in mind...



So imagine that thin stripe going around the left side of the gas cap, and the thick side jstu straight through (or under, sorta is how it will look) and the stripes continuing down the bike right to the tail.

Then I thought, "more spikes!!" So I added this...




And I liked it, so I thought, " how about MORE SPIKES!!"

And now Im just spike happy all over the place. I actually took a pencil to the bike pieces to draw on them because I need a closer representation of what it will look like especially when I start going nuts like that. So I sketched the thin stripe going around the left side of the seat and around the back seat and off the tail. And I quickly realized that that's WAY too many spikes.

So think I'm going to just leave a few on the front fender, a few around the gas cap, let the thin stripe go "under" both seats and throw a couple spikes on the tail and that's it.

I don't think I'm even gonna have any white on the direct sides of the bike, either.

So anyway, that's the concept for the design.

I welcome your comments or thoughts on the design.

Step 6 - The best tool yet...

So Dad bought a gallon (or so) of this 60 Grit Aluminum Oxide Blast Media for the little sandblaster and that shit worked like a charm. It took me maybe an hour to do the whole head fairing. I ran out of media but at least we know it works. So I'm getting a couple more containers to finish up the rest of the sanding with that stuff. I should have all the parts sanded and ready for primer by the end of the day. I'd drop a picture in here of the head fairing but its really just still white only more dull.

Sand blasting is definitely the way to go for hard to reach places and for all the joints, edges and holes.

step 5 - more sanding, better tool

So I got the rest of the tank done. I switched over to a RotoZip with a Nylon polishing pad and that seemed to do really well against the tank. I wouldn't be able to use that on the plastic parts because its too powerful for plastic, but it works great on metal.

I attempted to get the head piece sanded a little with the power sander but that just proved to be a hassle and not very effective.

Im gonna need that sandblaster to get that and the rest of those tiny hard to reach spots in the other plastic pieces.

We got some tougher grit media for the little sand blaster that we have here, so i'll try that tomorrow and see if that does anything.

Meanwhile, time to start on the designs. I've been putting that off and now its time to start messin' with it.

I got in some of the parts so Im excited to get them on. The spikd bar ends came in, I got the spiked windshield bolts, & the K&N Air Filter. Now I just need that new tail piece and I'll ve ready to roll.

Step 4 - is really still step 3, that's right.. sanding

I tackled the tank tonight. Not even all of it either. I'd post up a picture but my arms are too tired to lift any higher than the keyboard. I haven't touched any actual "work" work in a few days. I've been researching parts, checking to rent a sandblaster and over all just really busy with work.

So tonight I intended on tackling the whole gas tank with the sander. still using #60 Grit. I got it about half way done and had to stop for the night. My arms are killing me. (doesn't help I swam 30 some laps at the gym before starting the sanding)

It's really astonishing how well that pain is on there. If I didn't want to scratch it, I could accidentally drop a nickel on the tank and lay a scratch in it, now that I WANT it off, I am strong arming an electric sander to it and its taking for ever to even scuff it.

That's just gonna have to take up two nights, and then, I'll probably still need to do some hand sanding. Maybe I will have found a sandblaster by then.

I plan top call a guy named Danny Bally (Ball-ee) who has a shop nearby and does custom painting on bikes and some car hood s apparently. I'm hoping that he's nice and doesn't mind me picking his brain at all. We'll see.

I found out that the custom tail I ordered only came in red so I was almost set to order a new one and I found out that it comes apart really easy and that I can sand that down and paint that too. unfortunately, more sanding. sheesh.

I haven't really taken the time to sit down and sketch yet. I'm sorta procrastinating on that because I don't have any one complete design thought out yet.. which is asinine because I know that its gonna take sitting down and working thru it to do it, that's just my perfectionism putting me in a stranglehold right now. I'll work thru that soon. thing is that's probably my favorite part, other tan shooting pictures of it once its done.

ok I'm in too much pain to type anymore. more to come tomorrow.

Step 3 - More friggin sanding

I suspect that sanding will be the net 18 steps. holy cow. First you gotta sand to get all the paint all ground up and the glossy coat off and all the stickers off, then you have to come back again and sand a couple more times to smooth out the sanding that you just did.

I'm totally gonna check into a sand blaster and see if that doesn't speed this process up. There has got to be a tool that's better than a power sander for this crazy angled shit. if I have to hand sand that whole head piece, that's gonna SUUUUUCK! I can't even imagine.

I may also check into a local custom bike painting shop and see if they'd just do hat sand blasting for me and how much that is. There is a guy near the house that is supposedly pretty well known for custom paint jobs. I might see if he'd be wiling to chat with me and give me some advice as I go through this process. we'll see, he could be really cool, or he could be a jack ass and not want to share any info.

Here's a few more shots from today. I'm just continuing on with the same grit #60 and trying to hit as much of the pieces as I can. Today I did much better than last night, in 2 hours today, I did the other side panel, the front fender and the tail piece all in just a little longer than it took me to do the whole left panel yesterday. But now all the big areas are done and its time to get into the small shit. thus the break to find a sandblasting solution.

the side panel today made some really cool contour lines from the layers of paint. I really dig the effect.

Step 2 - Sanding

The next thing to do was to start prepping the body panels. which means sanding off the paint and getting it down to a paintable surface. I expected this to be a pain in the ass. But I thought with the power sanders that Pops has it would go by pretty fast. Yeah, not so much. That's still a bitch. It took me 1.5 hours to do one body panel last night.

I still had to muscle the sander pretty good, a lot harder than I expected. I also powder coated myself in red paint dust. Which sorta looks like you've been dusted by the pink fairy.

The Stickers are the hardest to remove that just takes a lot of working it. and then the angles, this bike has so many tiny little rounded corners and edges that its gonna be a bitch. I'm already dreading the front fairing, there's just no way to power sand that. I am thinking about going down to Daniel Barry's shop and seeing if he can sand blast it for me. Otherwise that's gonan take hours to hand sand down.

So far today I've ordered a bunch of parts, the new tail section, some bar ends, the new air filter, and some cool spiked windshield bolts to match the spiked bar ends. =)

Rather than buyign a new windshield Im gonna attempt to sand and flat back that as well and then maybe put on some design, like a skull or soem line graphics. Not real sure yet.

I've pritned out a bunch of line drawings of the profile of the bike I scanned in form the owner's manual so I can sketch out the paint job.

Here's a shot of the 1 sanded panel and the shelf of all the parts waiting for their de-skinning.