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General Category >> Rubber Side Down! >> The Old Girl Needs A Tart-Up
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Message started by max on 11/29/07 at 17:30:20

Title: The Old Girl Needs A Tart-Up
Post by max on 11/29/07 at 17:30:20

Hi Team Savage... can I get opinions please? I'm planning on revamping the Cherry Bomb. Since the epic trip across the USA earlier this year, I've made the decision never to sell her, as she's now my best mate. Soooo... no need to keep to the safe factory-standard paint job (which my husband reckons is always better when you're thinking "resale"). Instead, I want to customise this machine somewhat and I'm NOW thinking a glittery pink paint job with black speckles (think birds egg speckly-type effect) or tiny black stars. But I want to powdercoat the casings etc matt black, and while I'm cool with the paint idea, I wonder what the general opinion is regarding powder coating motorcycle casings. She is what she is, this lovely girl - an old bike that despite best efforts will never look like a new one, so I want to do something quite radical with her. The black engine would make the pink paintwork more "in ya face" than it would otherwise be, but that's part of the effect I want anyway. I'm not sure whether it would look great or silly, and I do wonder about the actual practicality of black powedercoating, aside from the appearance of it. What do y'all think?

Title: Re: The Old Girl Needs A Tart-Up
Post by govmule84 on 11/29/07 at 17:34:33

Use BBQ paint, or hi-temp engine header paint. Same look, waaaaay cheaper, and if you bang it up, a new can costs seven bucks.

Just my two.

Title: Re: The Old Girl Needs A Tart-Up
Post by azjay on 11/30/07 at 04:53:37

i think your color scheme is great! i'm not sure about powder coating the engine parts, my concern would be heat not being properly dissipated, it may not be a problem, but i would research it first. there are lots of black motorcycle engines out there, i think the s40 is black also, just need to find out what the factory did.

Title: Re: The Old Girl Needs A Tart-Up
Post by demin on 11/30/07 at 05:47:29

The paint job sounds great.If you are looking for colors,try to find a HOUSE OF KOLOR dealer near you,or you can get it online.But try to find a dealer and look at their color chart.There are 2 chips to look at they are Kameleon flake numbers F34&F66 called pink rose the only difference is their size.Both sparkle and change color in the sunlight. http://w2.bikepics.com/pics/2007/09/09/bikepics-1018374-full.jpgWould be very cool 8)
This pic is maroon GLOBLE from METALFLAKE co.on an '87 Savage

Title: Re: The Old Girl Needs A Tart-Up
Post by islandwahine on 11/30/07 at 21:44:30

I just painted my engine block with high temp paint (found some that's heat resistant up to 2000 degrees).
I wasn't into taking the engine off, so I spend 9 hours cleaning the engine block with engine degreaser, q-tips, wire brushes, rags, sandpaper and soapy water. (what a chore!!)
I must say that it looks great black! The paint does need to be cured, by running the engine for specific amounts of time. Haven't done that yet (tank not done). I'll let you know how it went.

Title: Re: The Old Girl Needs A Tart-Up
Post by max on 12/01/07 at 17:30:09

Thanks. Maybe heat resistant paint would be better than powedercoating, as long as I can get matt or satin finish, not gloss. I'm in New Zealand, so I need to investigate our equivalent automotive paint stockists for glitter effect paint. Had a quote for the paintwork to come in at under $1000NZ so that's ok. Just need to look at colours. Looking for a pink sort of fluro but not quite, sort of highlighter pink pen colour with crushed glitter effect under the laquer. I saw a custom car at a show recently which had orange paintwork like I want the pink, so now looking for who could supply that locally. I don't want to have to send off to the US unless I have to.

Title: Re: The Old Girl Needs A Tart-Up
Post by joebothehobo on 12/02/07 at 15:53:42

I think it sounds like a beautiful design. A real head-turner for sure. If you get it done right, it will be far more attractive than a stock job.

Title: Re: The Old Girl Needs A Tart-Up
Post by Jack_650 on 12/02/07 at 21:25:54

I got my side pieces, fenders, extra 4 gallon aux gas tank (keg look) and new to the bike 5 gallon Softail tank all powder coated a single color for $250.00. I went with a yellow they had in stock that was close to the 2k Savage yellow my bike was. If you go to exotic colors the price will go up pretty fast. And if you want to get into the world of sparkle you're going to be spending the big bucks for the coating. The good news is that they do the acid bath to strip things down to bare metal. The bad news (for me at least) was that there must have been a liner coat inside my tank 'cause after the bath there was a lot of stuff bouncing around in there I had to get out. It's a tough finish, but not tough enough for the stuff I've put some of the parts through. I now wish I had gone the rattle can approach if for no other reason than touch-up-ability.

Like others above have said, you can get all kinds of finishes, colors, glitter, crinkle coat; it's amazing what's out there at your local hardware store. Rough up the old finish, prime it, go with several light coats to avoid runs and do a few layers of clear coat if you like. You just about can't go wrong. There's a great rattle can technique thread on here from a few months back you should look up.

One fella's experience in the matter.

Jack