Author Topic: Project K1 Hack (Read 33308 times)

Venturous · « **Reply #50 on:** February 14, 2009, 09:03:23 PM »

Yep, there are three kids working on this one. A 10 year old, a 12 year old, and a 47 year old kid..

Terry in Australia · « **Reply #51 on:** February 15, 2009, 01:29:46 AM »

Looking good mate!

XN · « **Reply #52 on:** February 17, 2009, 09:20:25 PM »

Looking good! I need to start working on mine again

Venturous · « **Reply #53 on:** February 21, 2009, 12:54:39 PM »

Well, except for the handlebars, the bike is about as put together as we
can get. We are waiting for a switch to finish the handlebars.

So, the body work begins. First up is to take care of the tank innards
which are rusted. No holes, but bad enough to require coating.

For this we used POR15 which comes highly recommended on
several websites. It is supposedly much better than the Kreem stuff.
It comes with a two step prep process for cleaning and then a silver
coating. The stuff seems to harden like nails so hopefully, this will hold
up as advertised.

While that stuff is curing, we started on some other body work. I made
a big boo boo by trying to use some paint remover on the plastic headlight
bucket. It softened and ruined the plastic. Opps! Fortunately I had the
original with a small crack in it we can use. So we started the old fashion
sanding of it.

Next up was the sidecar. For this we are using a stripper called
Peel Away that is used in the boating industry to remove paint safely
from fiberglass with out damaging the gelcoat. You spread it, then
cover it with paper as it works.

When I ripped out the old nasty carpet, I found the original manufactures tag for
the sidecar. I was glad to find this. I was fairly sure from past photos it
was an Spirit of America Eagle model. They were the first to produce
this style in the early 70's but it was later copied by several companies.
Glad to see this one is in fact an original American Eagle.

Venturous · « **Reply #54 on:** February 22, 2009, 05:00:15 PM »

Well today probably ranks as one of the messiest days I've had.

We stripped the paint off the gas tank and most of the sidecar tub.

Here my son applies a coating of paint stripper to the gas tank

Then scrapes off the paint.

After two coats and a little help from me the end result.

Here I remove the paper from the Easy Peel stripper we applied
yesterday. This was one messy job!

After another coat and much scraping, washing, etc, we have the top
half almost ready. We also discovered some body work from an
apparent mishap sometime during it's life. Pretty good patch job that
will require only a little filler.

A Grove · « **Reply #55 on:** February 22, 2009, 06:21:57 PM »

Your kids will appreciate this project for the rest of their lives!! I know I have with the projects me and my father have done. And now, at the age of 17, I'm able to take on my own re-build without and of his help. Pretty fun, IMO!!

BTW - its looking great, keep it up!!

XN · « **Reply #56 on:** March 18, 2009, 02:17:30 AM »

Any updates?

Venturous · « **Reply #57 on:** March 18, 2009, 04:57:56 AM »

On the bike itself, we finally found a right switch housing so we got the handlebars on now. It seems
about finished. Most of our time has been spent doing body work on the sidecar tub. Did little
fiberglass reinforcement of the fender and a lot of bondo work for nicks and scrapes. We should be ready to
build our plastic 'paint booth' in the shed and shoot paint very soon. I have a week off of work mid April
and am thinking of using that week to shoot the paint. I'll get some updated pics of pre-paint soon.

luder · « **Reply #58 on:** March 18, 2009, 06:38:13 AM »

Great build,story,and pics, we will be watching this one....luder

rachet · « **Reply #59 on:** March 18, 2009, 10:41:51 AM »

Loving the build and the family aspect of it. You're slave labor (er... "kids") is doing a great job and as the warden (I mean father...) you're teaching them right!

I'm really looking forward to the completion!

Venturous · « **Reply #60 on:** April 10, 2009, 05:00:47 PM »

Well today and all next week, the boys and I have off school/work for
spring break. So it is now crunch time. We are going to try and finish this
thing up and have it painted and running by end of next week.

Today we worked to finish up some final work on the sidecar tub before
paint. Cut and drilled the new windshield, prep'd the holes for the cover
snaps and a few other things.

Here my 12 year old cleans up around the holes for the cover snaps.

After we cut and drilled the windshield, we did a test fit. Here my son
takes the new shield for a test ride.

Next we started getting the shed converted to a clean paint room. We
stapled up plastic to make a small room inside my outside shed. When
done, it will be a complete plastic room so I don't ruin my shed and also
hopefully to make as clean paint room as I can. To the left you'll see the
intake portion of my redneck ventilation system. A cheap furnace filter
taped into a hole in the plastic. The exhaust portion is a $10 box fan in
a window on the other side. Hopefully this will provide plenty of fresh air, but
the filter will keep dust and pollen at bay. Hopefully!

Anyway, should be a busy week and with any luck... we will be taking
a test ride next weekend.. :shock:

GoatBaSS · « **Reply #61 on:** April 10, 2009, 06:14:47 PM »

Inspiring.

KB02 · « **Reply #62 on:** April 10, 2009, 07:07:52 PM »

It's looking great, man. Next week should be fun watching this thread.

XN · « **Reply #63 on:** April 15, 2009, 12:56:07 AM »

Yea man! Can't wait to see it finished!

mcpuffett · « **Reply #64 on:** April 15, 2009, 05:18:21 AM »

Wow you fellas have been busy & what a great job your doing 8)cant wait to see it finished, cheers Mick.

Venturous · « **Reply #65 on:** April 15, 2009, 06:04:22 AM »

Yesterday was mainly getting the gas tank ready. We previously stripped the
paint off and clean & coated the inside of the tank. The underside had a lot
of minor surface rust. I started to do this by hand a couple days ago but
realized it would take forever with all the little nooks and crannies. So I
borrowed a small sandblaster from a friend and used that.

First time I ever used one of these. One thing for sure, you can't have too
much protection. That sand smarts against bare skin! Here I found a old
hooded jacket, goggles, and dust mask worked pretty well.

Here is the tank partially done:

And a few minutes later:

This thing really is a time saver!

Next we sprayed some rattlecan self etching primer to prevent flash rust
before we shoot paint later this week. With the primer and bright lights,
we noticed a little dent that previously went un-noticed.

But, nothing a little bondo can't fix..

Supposed to rain next two days, but Thursday and Friday should be nice so we
hope to paint everything then.

Stay tuned... that ought to be interesting... :razz:

GoatBaSS · « **Reply #66 on:** April 16, 2009, 05:55:42 AM »

Sandblasters are cool!!!!
and passing the knowledge to the next generation is cooler!!!!

Venturous · « **Reply #67 on:** April 16, 2009, 11:06:28 AM »

Well this morning we did the primer coat.

First I gathered all the paint supplies for the whole project so they would
be at hand when needed. These paints came from Don I discovered by this website.
I had to get three kits because of the sidecar.
www.vintagehondapaint.com

Next we loaded all the parts into the plastic temp paint booth:

The first few coats went on kind of spotty. But after I adjusted the gun a bit and got a better feel for it, it started flowing better.

Here my 12 year old and I are geared up ready to paint:

After he watched a few coats, I let my son try his hand at it.

All primed. Now we wait. It has to cure over night, then the instructions
say hit with 600 sandpaper and we lay on the base coat tomorrow.

SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan · « **Reply #68 on:** April 16, 2009, 11:42:27 AM »

Nicely done. Cheap labor, too!

Venturous · « **Reply #69 on:** April 17, 2009, 07:23:28 PM »

Well today was looong day!

Started out this morning by sanding everything a little we primed
yesterday. Here my 10 year old gets started on that.

Then we started laying on the paint. Here it is after two coats of the gold
base coat:

Then after 4 coats of the base coat:

My 10 year old spraying some base coat:

The base coat finished. Looks more yellow than gold, but that will
soon change:

We then mixed and started spraying on the Kandy coats:

After 1 coat of Kandy:

2 coats of Kandy:

3 coats of Kandy:

And after the 4th and final coat:

By this time, my 10 year old son was tired so my 12 year old son
jumped in to help. Here he is laying on some of the clear coat:

We ended up putting on about 7 coats of clear before it started
getting late. All in all, I think it looks OK for a bunch of rookies.
It has a eggshell look that I think is due to not getting the gun set
just right. But after we 2000 grit sand the clear and rub it out, I think it
will look a lot better. Still have to paint the sidecar bottom black
and do a lot of finish sanding.

seaweb11 · « **Reply #70 on:** April 17, 2009, 07:51:54 PM »

WOW! amazing work

Great to see your children in there as well. I had missed this thread, but will stay tuned to the finish line.

KB02 · « **Reply #71 on:** April 18, 2009, 05:31:03 AM »

Are you going to do regular black paint for the under side, or have you thought about using the truck bed liner stuff for the underside? Just for a little extra protection.

Geeto67 · « **Reply #72 on:** April 18, 2009, 05:54:39 AM »

the eggshell finish is most likely "orange peel" and can be caused by a lot of factors but most commonly too much paint at once or not enough flash time. To knock it down I suggest you WET SAND and start with 600 or 800 grit and work your way up to 2000 (800 - 1500 - 2000 or 600-1000-2000). I would also suggest machine buffing with a quality paste (not the buffing compound you get at autozone).

Venturous · « **Reply #73 on:** April 18, 2009, 06:31:33 AM »

Yeah I think you are right. Just need a LOT of wet sanding.

We finished last evening with a sense of pride for actually being able
to paint, but a little bummed at the results. Good colors, but very rough.

I just came back from the shed where I took a small section and wet sanded
it to see how much difference that might make.

Here is what most everything looks like now. Very rough with a eggshell or
orange peel texture.

Here is small section that I sanded with 1000 grit and then 2000 grit wet sand. No rubbing compound yet.

The difference is incredible!! So, it seems our inexperience means we will
have to work a LOT hard than a pro at sanding, but I think the end result
might still be very nice.

Finished up the day by painting the bottom of the sidecar black.

We are done for this weekend. Next week hope to spray on another
couple coats of clear and then wet sand and buff into a smooth shine.

jaknight · « **Reply #74 on:** April 18, 2009, 02:33:56 PM »

Hi Venturous & Sons Company,

I have never read this thread until today (Sat). What a fantastic thread!

How wonderful that you have your sons with you in this. Such terrific memories being made here forever with your family.

Besides that, great know how and hands on experience being shared with everyone else. You guys are all doing a great job. This is most certainly a most stimulating posting I have seen on this great website. From now on, I will be checking in to follow this adventure........

~ ~ ~ jaknight ~ ~ ~

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Author Topic: Project K1 Hack (Read 33308 times)