know anything abuut body work

[mungersv]

need to do some painting due to damage from last season, wondering if anybody has any advice about doing body work on farings and gas tanks.

[Stoneman]

My advice is don't do it yourself.

Seriously, it's not my cup o' tea. There's a guy runnin' around the site now & again that may be able to point you in the right direction though...

Mike?

[sandman]

get it touch with the guys at http://www.empiregp.com/

[Collision pro]

Originally posted by mungersv
need to do some painting due to damage from last season, wondering if anybody has any advice about doing body work on farings and gas tanks.

My advice would be to have someone who knows do it. After the time you spend and the paint and stuff you buy, you will wish you had just paid to have it done.

[mungersv]

thanks for the advice???? I'm a do it your selfer, and this isnt the first time ive heard take it to somone who knows what theyre doing, but im going to give it a try anyway, maybe youll see how it comes out on a ride or at the track this summer

[TheIglu]

www.color-rite.com

They have all sorts of paints to match your factory paint. My Ducati tipped over and scratched up the bodywork (bright yellow). The paint I got from them was pretty much exact (first can anyways, ordered the other Ducati yellow the second time and it wasn't as good, still very close though). I fixed the cracks using ABS cement since they are ABS plastic.

Find out what type of plastic it is first, then do some searchin on the net to find the best way to repair. ABS is pretty damn easy, and I think my crappy skills did a good job on it. I took my time, spent hours wet sanding over and over again, and threw on about 7 light coats of paint, then about 3 coats of clearcoat. The $586 panel I repaired cost me about $60 in parts. I don't mind putting the hours in, so it wasn't worth the $8xx quote I got from EmpireGP. I've heard they do good stuff, but I'm into doing things myself and I was very pleased with how it came out.

Having a Dremel helps too.

[grc460]

i do body work for living, i just don't get the cleanest jobs out of my garage as some shops do, i just started doing some painting at my garage, off course i can buff stuff up, or use the paint booth at work, but anyways, if you want to make it cheaper, that's the way to do it.
i would recommend that you grind with 36 grit about an inch around the crack, then use a dremel along and accross the crack of the fairing, and then cross it like every 1/2 inch or so, that way when you put your epoxy or wathever down you are going to have some strenght, it will look like a sewed up cut, then feather it down another inch farther with 80 grit, so you dont have a sharp line "make sure that any place where you are putting your epoxy down is sanded or it'll peell off" when you put your material down it's only over the 36 grit grinded area, then sand it with 80, give it a second coat just for leveling "same spot", sand it with 180, and you are ready for primer.
from there all your doing is making sure that your job is straight, and that there are no visible sanding marks, i would highly suggest a high bilt, or filler primer, and don't just prime it and paint it, make sure that you give it three "not too wet coats of primer" and block them with 220 "flat"!!!!, then reprime with two coats, sand with 400 dry, and to make it nice go over with 600 wet. believe me man you can get almost anything you want, you just have to take your time, and ask.
this is my phone number 860 585 00 17 eddy
if you need assistance, or help " grc460@aol.com.
i hope this helped! let me know

[mungersv]

Thanks for the advice, the bike fell and the turn signals broke free form their mountings in the fraring, never really liked them anyway so i filled the hole with fiberglass cloth and smoothed it over reinforced body filler. I think the farings are ready for paint, and that is where the problem is. Im not sure what to use, or how to mix the paint and primer. I want to change the color to a matialic green (Nissian DS2?), never liked the red of my sv650s either, so i need to know how to mix for abs plastic and metal for the tank. Again thanks for the actual advice, other then take it to someone who knows what theyre doing, and if a number from NH shows up on your caller ID thers a good chance that its me. Any other advice is appriciated also.

[grc460]

i would recommend that you use ppg brand materials, you will have to look at the can of paint, and it will tell you the mixing instructions, like 2:1 or 4:1:1 that will mean how many parts of paint " 2" in relation with the reducer "1" in the first example, or on the second one "4" parts of clear to "1" of hardener to "1" of reducer, just make sure you go to a auto body supply store, not a regular paint store.
so what you are doing now is priming the whole thing "i would suggest", so you dont have a hard time getting rid of the marks that your primer ending will leave, just do the whole thing" but make sure there is not shiny spots on the rest of the panel.
remember: prime it once and block it, and then prime again to finish your body work.

[grc460]

so now, you are going to get yourself some paint sealer, that will help the paint stick to the tank, spray it evenly, making sure that you cover up the whole thing, but don't run it. wait 20 minutes and then you can paint it.
also get some adhesion promoter for your plastic, and spray it the same way, just one 1 "cover" coat, wait 20 minutes and paint it, remember if you run it, you are not supposed to sand the sealer or the adhesion promoter, you will have to give it one coat of paint, and sand the paint. you can sand the dirt out too.
get some before painting cleaner or paint prep, or ppg 330 prep, any of these will clean the grease off.

now that you are painting, you will need three coats, don't worry about it covering the panels, just give it one "mist" coat, and let it dry, second coat, and let it dry, it might not be covered by then, but dont worry, you are not roll painting, it takes time to cover, and you don't wanna run it. but three coats should do it.

after paint is all done, get some clear coat, and give it your mist coat, you won't see it either, but don't worry it will be there by the time you are praying your third coat, you really shouldn't need more than 2 coats, but because it is the first time you do it, don't rush it and be patient,
very important:
the sealer is only one cover coat
the paint is three coats, wait for your last coat to dry before you spray the next one.
the clear should be two coats, but the previous coat doesn't have to be dry, it should be "takky" stikky but not wet.
after you clear it, let dry, and wet sand with 2000 grit paper to buff it if you want. good luck let me know how you make out!!

[mungersv]

Houston we have a problem, i think. I went to a local auto parts store up here and their paint "expert" told me what to get and it was nothing like what you said

For the tank
-SEM self etching primer

For the plastic
-Advantage 333 2-k fast dry primer

For both
-Advantage 200 wet look acrylic enamil hardner
-Dupont 8022s mid temp reducer
-Dupont Centari acrylic enamil

I was told to mix the same for the plastic and steel which was i 1pt. reducer to 1qt. paint to the whole bottle (small half full bottle)hardner I belive. I primed everything last night and it seems to look ok, needs some sanding. Does this sound like a good way of doing things, I hope so because Ill be priming and then painting tommorow. If you have anymore advice or suggestions that would be great. Thanks for everything so far, if you ever come up to NH for a track day Ill show you the results.

[grc460]

I AM VERY POSITIVE ABOUT THE RESULTS THAT YOU WILL GET WITH THOSE, LIKE I SAID, I RECOMMENDED PPG, THAT DOESN'T MEAN THAT IS THE ONLY WAY TO GO, I LIKE IT BETTER MYSELF, AND HE IS PROBABLY RIGHT ABOUT USING THE SAME THING ON THE PLASTIC AND THE METAL, BUT IF YOU EVER HIT SOMETHING WITH THE PLASTIC PIECES, IT MIGHT NOT HOLD AS GOOS AS IT SHOULD, BUT AT THAT POINT IT WOULDN'T REALLY MATTER.
GOOD LUCK MAN, LET ME KNOW HOW IT COMES OUT, AND REPRIME IT, EVEN IF IT LOOKS GOOD.

[mungersv]

Thats good to hear, everything seems to be going good this far. Today a lot is going to happen Ill be spending the whole day working on it. Also Ill be putting an exhaust on the bike and cleaning my truck while Im waiting for paint to dry. Also Ill be taking pictures so every one can see the mess I have going on. Thank you again for all of your help and advice!!!

[mungersv]

Things went well the first day of painting, had a little trouble getting enough layers to show the correct color, but the second day of painting had good results, now the issue is finish. I have a very big problem with orange peal. Tonight Ill sanding that down with 1000 grit. Then I heard I can polish to get back the shiny finish. If I can figure out how to get the pictures on the net Ill poast them somewhere. As far as I can tell the bike is going to look awsome in the sun, the metalic really shines.