paint for 73 z1 (info needed)

hi fellas ,wondered if anyone knows is the silver basecoat that kawasaki used under the candy brown /orange still available ,reason being that ive seen a few recently (tank and panels) but they vary in shade so much ,and wondered if this was down to the sprayer not using the correct basecoat or just laying on the candy extra thick .its got me worried as i have a set ready to be sprayed but i'm worried about the outcome .

I would imagine that House of Kolor should be able to get you close to the factory colors. I wouldn't get too worried about it being exactly correct as I doubt they matched very well from the factory. Even with somthing simple like basecoat clearcoat 5 different painters could get 5 different shades from one can. candies are much harder to do than b/c. Just paint all the body parts at once with them set up like thier on the bike, and all your parts should mathc together.

ollie:

Not to promote another site, but you might want to explore the MSN Z1/Z900 site. There is a fellow (lacquerfumes is his screen name) who, I think, has mastered the 1973-5 Z1 paint schemes.

thanks guys its a tricky one for sure ,i served an apprenticeship as a sprayer many years ago and know its so easy to get diff outcomes in shade, even kawasaki did that ,ive seen some z1 tanks though that really should of been returned to the sprayer and these were done by so called experts ,the candy looked more like chunks of metalflake .i'll let you know how i get on in my quest ....lol:blink: :blink: :blink:

I remembered the Z1 paint being discussed in the past and after a long search I finally found it.
Posted in 2004

kzrider.com/forum/viewthread.php?tid=15536

thanks steele and it was a great read

Somewhere else on this site you'll find a suggestion to checkout 'paintworkz.com', just outside of Detroit. They will sell you the proper paint(or apply it for you) and they detail the process of applictaion (for 73' and 74' 900's). My problem is that they can't ship paint to me (in Canada), for obvious safety reasons/concerns. Anyone know of a way around this? Would UPS ship?

ollie,

The 73 is a candy color but the base colors are black and white, then the mid coat color is a super fine silver metalflake, and the top coat is the candy orange. There is a website www.project-h2.com that has a good illustration of this process, look at workshop and then model identification and pick a tank.

RP

Now THAT'S cool!

RP is owner of Paintworkz and is very respected as the MAN on Z1 painting in the community of Z1 restorers! I hope he looks in from time to time!

thanks rp didnt recognise you under the new guise ,looks like youve been busy lately too ,trouble is i am to far away to send you my tank and panels

ollie,

I have shipped painted kits all the way to New Zealand. Shipping overseas costs about twice as much as shipping inside of the US.....not that bad really.

RP