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.