Topic: Painting Swingarm on 750K3

[Duke McDukiedook]

Alright painting gurus, I did some searching and found a little here and there to help out in the painting of my swingarm- I also forgot what Mark told me so some reminding is always good (I know very little about painting these kind of parts properly). Got it rebuilt so now I want to paint it to take care of some rust spots and spots that got the paint scraped off it and forget about it for about twenty or so years until it needs repainting again.

I am gonna try and sand down by hand most of the areas that are not hard to reach and probably find someone here in the KC area to help me sandblast the areas I can't reach readily.

Then I guess I'll get some etch prep primer or something across those lines- I saw how Terry used some on his tank in a thread I searched on- any recommendations on products for this job on this side of the pond will help.

After that I should apply some primer in one or two coats and do a little sanding between each, recommedations on that product will help too.

Then it is on to the black topcoat, I guess one or two coats with some fine wet sanding should do the trick- again recommendations are greatly appreciated.

That sounds about it for the painting, any help or steps I missed are greatly appreciated, don't need a prize winning paint job, just something that looks decent and will last some years of abuse.

Thanks.
 

[Alan F.]

When I got mine back from Mark I was in the same boat, I masked off the pivot with blue painter's tape and hit the rusty areas with a wire brush, then I dry sanded the whole thing with 400 grit followed by a wipedown with paper towels and denatured alcohol.  Then I prepped the whole swingarm with 'Klean Strip Rust Converter'  which does a real number on the rust and turns it into a really hard primer base coat that you can paint over.

I used the rust converter from a bottle: http://www.autobodytoolmart.com/klean-strip-rust-converter-wrc22-p-12824.aspx
And had to brush it on, which left lots of brush strokes to sand out before I could paint.
I painted it the next 2 nights with black appliance epoxy spraypaint, which is pretty tough and has a very deep gloss.

But next time I'll use the rust converter in aerosol form so I won't have brush strokes to sand out: http://www.wmbarr.com/product.aspx?catid=32&prodid=124

Cheers and good luck.
-Alan

[Spikeybike]

that sounds perfect .. 

 i used engine enamel on mine and had good results.

if you have access to an air compressor sandblasting guns are pretty cheap (like under $20). it's the cabinet and hopper that are expensive... just use natural sand (that can blow around the neighborhood) and use the bag of sand as a hopper (just stick the hose from the gun into the bag) ... bring the setup in the backyard and blast away.. i've done this on little parts, but i imagine a swingarm would be no different   

[Duke McDukiedook]

Alright, I found the Duplicolor etch & primer and some High gloss  black enamel.

I am having a little trouble finding the prep cleaner before I put on the etch/primer.
I looked for the Klean Strip etch primer where they recommended looking for it at Lowes, Home Depot, Wallsmart, no luck  

Any suggestions on what/where?

[Spikeybike]

try auto supply stores ...pep boys, auto zone, napa..etc

[domer]

you only need etching primer if you are bringing it to bare metal, no other primer needed after that! appliance epoxy is probably your best bet as it will handle more abuse.
try this, sand like hell, wash with soap and water (very little dish soap to water ratio, i use a drop or 2 for a gallon)
next rub down with denatured alcohol (dont touch it with your bare hands after!) let dry.
self etching primer, id do 3-4 coats about 15 mins apart. wet sand lightly starting with 800 then 1000 then 1200. wash again, denatured alcohol again. dry.
i'd go with 4-5 coats of appliance epoxy, applied according to the directions on the can. being careful of "flash" times and what not.... voila!

[jeez]

I'm doing powder coating on it, frame, stands, swingarm.

[Duke McDukiedook]

I plan on taking it to bare metal, wanna do it right.

Damn, 4-5 coats of top, the engine enamel says only 2 coats.
The etch primer only said 2 coats.
This is off the top of my head so I could be wrong.

I guess more couldn't hurt.

[Duke McDukiedook]

Not so sold on powder coating, what do you plan on doing for your ground points on the frame?

[srook]

Your using rattle cans but your not sold on powdercoating?  Sand the powdercoat off the ground points.  Powdercoating is the most durable finish for the price.  There are some decent arguments against using it, but your frame ground isn't one of them.  It seems the powdercoat argument has been waged years ago by the British bike community (which I'm a part of) and has only recently come to Jap bike restoration community.  Simply put it is not original, but if you plan to ride the bike regularly then there is no better frame finish.  Most of the British bike community has accepted powdercoated frames by now and some never will.  I imagine it will be the same in the Jap resto community too.
Scott

[Duke McDukiedook]

I could justify it if I was doing all the work that jeez was doing but I am just doing my swingarm. Since I'll be sanding and blasting it myself a rattle can job isn't a whole lot more work from there.

[domer]

2 coats on the can might be enough for your fridge, which i hope will never see a 60 mph pebble! might be excessive, but again thats just my 2 cents.... 4-5 might not handle the pebble factor either, but it gives you room to work with. especially if you are sanding for a smooth finish, its pretty easy to sand through 2 coats of primer, when you do it back to the drawing board again. 4 coats of primer will sand down to 2 or 3 if you want a nice smooth look... i hate to do this, but  dotheton.com has a great rattle can thread. definitely worth the read...

[Duke McDukiedook]

You have a point there on the 3-4 coats or 4-5.

[jeez]

Got the swing arm back from the powder coater.  He sandblasted and worked it.  $40.  Looks great!

Grounding points, I left the bolts in the frame to keep it clean.  Should be no issue.  Here is a pic of the frame.

[Duke McDukiedook]

Yeah, I wound up having someone else blast it after I found out I would have to spend $$$ on a sufficient compressor to blast it myself.
And I wound up having them powdercoat it too, the oil ran a little on the leadimng edge of the tube though but it is out of sight and looked pretty good.