Need someone to paint my KZ1000 MK II fuel tank.

I have been in a search to find someone who can fix the small dents and dings, and repaint tank in the '80 color that Kawasaki calls "Ebony" which is their paint code of "8G" I am not looking for someone that paints Ferrari's and charges those kind of prices. The quotes I have gotten so far are crazy.

From one of the last postings here on KZR, Paintworkz is only doing his personal painting projects right now. I have found the striping kit already for the '80 paint job. I gave up on finding someone to paint the '79 Luminous Navy Blue Metallic I really want. For another 100 dollars I can buy the complete set of repop bodywork for what I have been qouted!!!.

As far as the dents in tank. The hardest one to fix is the one that is on the sculptured line on the side of the MK II tanks. Just some filler should fix this I hope.

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated!!!

Those dings don't look very tough
I can ask my cousin in Chino Valley if they know of anyone, have you talked to any car painters?
maybe someone in Prescott has the time to make some quick cash, black is easy.

bluej58 wrote: Those dings don't look very tough
I can ask my cousin in Chino Valley if they know of anyone, have you talked to any car painters?
maybe someone in Prescott has the time to make some quick cash, black is easy.

All I have found around my area are custom harley painters. I will not give them anything of mine. I just don't trust them to paint some "jap crap" as they call our bikes.

I never thought about custom car painters before you mentioned it. Thanks for getting my brain in gear!!! Going to hit my local hot rod shop that did by welding. He should know someone i hope.

If your cousin knows someone that would great if they want to do the job.

Hi Dr.
Maybe network this thru some other AZ members of KZR.
Old Man Rock,
Kawaholic ,
Noblehops ( Nils at Restocycle )

Just a thought

Dave

Any body shop that has a good reputation will have a good painter, I started spraying when I was seventeen and believe me with the right tools and spray paint, I bet even you can do it, painting a motorcycle tank is not that hard, and if you make a mistake, you can always fix it.

That would be an easy paint job. I wouldn't even waste the money on a decal kit, just use pinstripe tape.

Can you do some of the work yourself? Strip the tank and use body mud to fix the little dents? Assuming yes, then all you need is some car painter guy that's willing to shoot the paint.

A couple good layers of epoxy primer followed by a couple layers of fill primer. You won't even need the fill primer if your body work is good. Take the tank back to your shop and rub it down with a gray scotchbrite pad to smooth everything our really nice. Get some basecoat of your choice and then have the painter guy shoot it along with a couple or three layers of clear. Take the tank back again and scotbrite it again. Then lay down the pinstripes. After you get it all ready take it back to the painter for two sealing layers of clear. Simple as can be.

I did this tank using pinstripe tape and it looks almost exactly like yours.

Maybe find someone like the guy in this video to do the pinstriping. Crazy skills, especially with someone giving a tour while he was painting...

Crazy skills is right! That dude is AMAZING!

I have always been a stickler to detail. Fanatic would be a better term to use for my attention to detail. Thats why I don't try to do any of my welding, major machine work, or cylinder porting. If I can't do it 100%, I find someone who can!!!

I have never been real good at body work, plus I could never make the pin striping match from side to side. If it was like a 1/8 inch off from side to side, that would not be good enough for me. Like I said, fanatic. I have not had any bodywork painted since back in the mid 90's. Boy the prices sure have increased dramatically since then. I don't have the unlimited bucks I used to have either. This living on a budget really sucks!!!

I had a couple shops quote me between $650 to a high of $875 to paint an UN-dented tank with two coats of clear.
That's I went back to doing it myself...

Yes, I hear horror stories from Guy's looking for paint jobs from so called Professionals at Bike & Car shops!
I do part time work for friends and my own stuff. This past summer I helped a Guy with an old school shovel head HD rigid frame,
we cut up a back fender, mounted it, drilled some holes, welded up some tabs, the peanut tank was new, but you always have to put mud on em! He bought 8 ounces of "MATRIX" paint, I had the primer and clear. I told him $100 a part! I made $200 in 2 days.
He had quotes of $500-$600 WTF?
He wanted an old gold metalic color, he had an old 20" banana bike with the sissy bar when he was a kid in the 60's.
My paint Guy found a 1967 Ford color. Looks Great! Done out of the gun! no runs no drips no errors!

Then I felt bad for a friend whose daughter ran into a wall with a Dodge Caliber? I could not say no, but this was a pain, I had to build a jig to hold it steady and use flex additive. I charged him only $100 bucks, and got some favors in return.

Yes, paint is tough and expensive when you have to buy all the materials! You need to be a chemist nowadays.

Dr Gamma, that crease in the middle by the Kaw emblem will require some patience! someone will be mixing up some urethane polyester putty a couple of times.

Here are a couple of phone pics from last summer.

Very nice. I want to build a little building for projects like that.
Steve