81 CB900c project in Virginia Beach

Well I finally found some time between bad weather, work, and family to get a little done work on the bike. It warmed up enough to do a little painting so I did the small pieces that I had ready and the air box.










I needed the air box so I could mount the carbs that I had to do twice. I found out that I needed to connect the throttle and choke cables before the carbs are mounted or you can’t get to them.

Something good to remember for next time.





I got the front brakes sorted out but I still have the bake to work on and the seat pan is in the finale steps before paint. The tank still needs prepped for paint and some other odds and ends need to be addressed but I can see light at the end of the tunnel.

The end is near.

More to come

yeh looking good mate you've made a good job of the single seat aswell   i'll be doing a similar thing with a fiberglass single seat too but never done it before, did you make a mould first and just lay it over the top ? you also said you'd do it differently next time . any tips for when I get that far (when I get that far !  )

Well first I used the bike it’s self as the template. I put the parts on that the seat pan would touch,. Then I covered the area with blue painters tape. I fabricated the mounting points out of some stainless steel that I had. I covered everything with aluminum tape then with turtle wax as a release agent.






I put a layer fiberglass down first so the bottom of the seat pan would be sealed. I then put all the parts in place and fiberglassed over then. And continued until I had everything covered how I liked it.




Because I used a Sharpie before I put the fiber on when the fiberglass set up the line transferred to the fiberglass so I had my shape.

What I would do different is remember less is more. What I mean is when I started I used large pieces of cloth and I mixed large amounts of resin thinking I could cover a large area quickly. Well that turned into a race with time. The large pieces of cloth made it tough to keep it were I wanted it and the resin was setting up faster than I could use it. I would use larger pieces of fiber if the area is flat or close to it and small pieces around compound shapes. 2 ounces of resin seems to be the best amount to work with. I thought if I used small pieces I would see where the edges are but that was not correct. I got some plastic cups and a lot of cheap paint brushes because I used 1 brush per batch. I found where 2 ounces came up to in the cup so I could get the same amount every time.

I hope this answers your question and let me know if you have any more.

Let me clarify one thing. When I said I first used large pieces of cloth, it was one piece that went from the front to the back trying to go around all the shapes of the seat pan at one time. I would not do that again.

cheers :)helpful info for sure and will revisit this post when I do mine. 'the race against time' sounds like a panic for you and fun for the spectators   

va-bch-chop wrote:

Let me clarify one thing. When I said I first used large pieces of cloth, it was one piece that went from the front to the back trying to go around all the shapes of the seat pan at one time. I would not do that again.

Yep, if you're using chopped strand mat rather than the woven stuff it has this horrible tendency to 'un-peel' and form air pockets when you're not looking! I would strongly advocate anyone trying to fabricate with glassfibre to follow va-bch-chop's advice and use small pieces for complex angles, I use light woven mat which can be cut to shape then finish with a couple of layers of tissue, unless of course you're working with a mould, then it's coloured resin in first followed by well soaked tissue and then the heavy mat to give it substance.

Well the weekend was nice and I got a chance to do some body work. I have the seat pan ready for the final sanding of the primer then I can put some color on it. I was well on the way with the tank until it slipped and created more body work. I was trying to decide to use the Honda emblems or shave them off, I’m saving them off now. I hammered everything down as much as I could then I used some fiberglass filings that I saved from making the seat pan and the tail light housing with some reason to fill in and build up. Once it sets up I will sand it down and use body filler to make it smooth.
More to come.

I recovered from my mishap with the tank and I am almost ready for color. I didn’t take a picture of the dent because when it happened I started fixing it immediately, but here is one after the repair.





Here are a couple of pic of the tank and the seat pan that need final sanding and then paint.








My progress has been hampered this last week with my wife wanted to redo the bedroom. You know it’s spring and that when my wife likes to decorate. It’s always a challenge to balance garage time and honey do time.


More to come

done a good job of the repair there matey

Had a nice weekend so I tried to get some painting done and like other parts of this build we had a learning curve.  First I built a better stand for the tank to sit on and then I made a paint booth with a halogen work light. Trying to keep the elements out as best I could and the light keeps it nice and warm. The reason I needed to build this is I’m making the wife happy by redoing part of the house and I have had contractors at my house for a week and they took over part of the garage for materials. Like I said all to make the wife happy.





I made a mistake and had to sand down the first attempt on the tank.





But I got a decent coat on the tank on the second attempt. There is a spot on the back of the tank that I need to fix but I’m going to put blue over it anyway. I plan on having the blue on the flat sides of the tank as well as a little on the top.






The seat pan came out ok I didn’t need to start over like I did on the tank but there are some runs I need to fix. I’m letting everything get nice and dry then I will fix the bad spots on both peace’s then put a second coat on and if everything goes well I can put some clear on seat pan and the blue on the tank.





Well at least I can see light ate the end of the tunnel and hopefully I will be done soon.


More to come.

Looking very good, and I really like the shape of the seat pan, definitely individual!

Thank you. I was trying to make it flow with the contours of the tank, frame, and rear fender so it would have some nice shapes and curves. A nice transition between all three without making it any larger then it needed to be. I have a ¾ inch adhesive backed seat foam from Airtech that I will cut to shape and stick on.

Well the contractor is out of my way in the garage. So I made a drying room out of my work bench area that’s a 8 X 8 cubbyhole (without the work bench and tool boxes) that can be closed on one side. I have an old kitchen hood in it for light / ventilation so the final base coat could dry.





I try to do everything I can on any project I work on and the painting was no different. I got the equipment and I know how it works. I understand the prep work and how to do it but when it comes to pulling the trigger on the paint gun I had to through in the towel I don’t have that skill set. So I enlisted the help of the most artistic person I know, my wife. And she put on a very nice final base coat.




I always say know your limitations. Now I need to put the accent color on the tank and side plates then I will be ready to clear everything.

Move to come

Just read your project process ( I'm hoping to purchase an older bike and start my own project this year so reading as much as I can ) you have made good progress looking forward to the next instalment

Got a little more time today so I thought I would try and finish the tank before the clear coat. First I wet sanded with 1200 grit to make it nice and smooth. Then I used 1/8 pin stripe tape to layout the shape to paint and to get a nice clean edge when I removed it. Then covered everything I did not to paint with wide painters tape. Here are some pics.

Taped up before paint,






Then I painted and removed the tape and it looks like this.










More to come

Will I haven’t got in the garage for a while due to work and life in general. I did find some time to finish the paint so I can clear coat everything this weekend. That will be the end of the paint part of the project so I will start the final assembly. I put a number 13 on side plates because I like the number and it’s my birthday so it really means something to me. I added a red pinstripe where the blue meets the red. I like the highlight and it nicely covers the rough edge when I painted the numbers on. Still working with a learning curve on the paint. I really hope this project comes out the way I see it in my head.

Here’s a couple of pics of one of the side plates and the side of the tank.










More to come….



Ok just before I hit the send button I looked at the 2 pics and thought that’s not the same blue. So I put then side-by-side and I think it’s one of those light tricks.

And here’s the proof





More to come….
Really

I did get to the clear coat this weekend and hopefully that will be the last of the paint work. I do have the final clean up and buffing left to do.  After this part of the project I have a new respect for anyone that does bodywork for a living.
I gave everything bath to make sure there wasn’t anything that could cause the clear not to take. I dried the parts with compressed air and let them dry in the sun for a minute.



Then I covered everything in the garage, mixed the clear, and went at it.




I’ll give it a 90% success. I do have some runs to deal with. I found a technique online using a glazing compound. You put a thin layer over the run area as a filler to make the area the same thickness. Then you carefully block sand the area. So by the time you remove all the glazing compound you have cut down the high part of the run without sanding through the thinner clear. This sounds like a safest way to correct this error without needed to repaint.


The one thing I found that’s different with painting then fabricating or wrenching on anything is the dedicated block of time you need to give to it. If your fabricating or wrenching on the bike and you only have an hour of free time you can work on it for an hour and if you’re not done no big deal, it will be there when you get back. With paint the amount of time your pulling the trigger is the shortest part of the job. The pre setup, the post clean up, and drying time between coats adds up a good part of the day. I think that’s been slowing me down on getting this finished.  
At least that’s how I see it.


More to come…

you've done a good job, it looks a real work up and it can make or break the final look of the bike, I hope to do mine myself but definitely not looking forward to it  

I talked to the shop that I get some of my paint from and he said not to use the glazing compound as filler, it’s a lot of extra work. He recommended to just use 1500, a block, some water, be careful, and take your time. When I have where I want it use a cutting then a polishing compound with a buffer and I should be good to go.
Wish me luck a screw up is a re-paint.

Like I said last time I had a problem and I tried to fix it and made it worse. So here is the pic I really didn’t want to show but hay I said I was on a learning curve. It was a good screw-up and it looked like this.  





The next couple of pics are my attempt to fix without repainting. Using 400 wet sandpaper I tried to get rid of the run.




I even buffed it a little to see if it was fixed good enough to let it slid. But I did not like it. You could still see the problem.






So I got the paint out again and did a touchup then after buffed it and it looks like this now.



That will be the end of the paint. Good, bad, or indifferent it is what it is now,


More to come.

you've done a good repair mate that can be a problem when doing something like paint spraying when your not an expert, especially ss the look of the tank can make or break the whole project. you gonna put any writing or decals on the tank?

Thank you for the complement and at this time I am not adding anything else. Although I corrected the problem there are problem areas that I don’t like. The only way to fix them completely would be start over. That will be a different winter project and maybe then I’ll work on different graphics. So the short answer is I’m done with the paint and I will be focusing on getting it back together.

Starting to put everything back together. I put the seat on the seat pan. Got the lights on front and back. So I thought I would share some pics. I hope you like these.












More to come.