Frame prep for powder coat

I am in the process of tearing the frame completely down to have it powder coated. I have a couple questions... Any one have any advise on removing the foot peg studs and the rear brake lever? Are these threaded where I should use a strap wrench or will they slide out with a little persuasion (read BFH)? Also, those of you that have had your frame powder coated, did you also have your triple trees coated or should I paint them? Any other advise would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Tee

there is a nut on the inside of the frame and the frame is threaded

You can use a set of jam nuts to get the footpeg mount off, or a large pair of vice grips. Just depends on how worried you are about the bolt.

As for prepping the frame you can use a chemical stripper from your local autoparts store and sandblast it or just sandblast it, or just pay the extra money to have the shop do it for you. A frame here locally runs 250-300 for sandblasting and coating. I blasted mine myself and spent about 110 total with powder coating.

As for the triple, I blasted and had the lower coated. I removed the bearing race first as I put tapered bearings on before reinstalling it. And I polished the upper and am going to get a clear coat powder coat on it.

The rear brake (if it is a disc kz650) should tap out once the lever is off. I say powdercoat anything that you want encased in plastic. It is fairly durable and looks pretty good. But if you really love your bike you will get the frame chromed. Good luck.

Prep:

degrease the frame and i am assuming you are going to have it sand/bead or other media blasted. There is nothing worse then giving the guys at the shop an oily frame and bits. As far as your bolts you dont need to remove them you can tape off the threads. The place i use for powedercoating has special tape that they use on all exposed threads and other surfaces you dont want coated. Make sure you point out these areas and they should be able to tape them up. If not i would find another poweder coater.

I got everything off the frame that I needed to and its ready to go. Just got off the phone with the powder coater and made the appointment to drop it off tomorrow. They are going to blast it, bake it, wash it, bake it... then prime it with zinc phosphate and then powder coat it. It should last forever then I hope!

Not to rain on your parade...I have found powder coat should last forever...however if it chips or you wanna change color...good luck fixing chips or stripping powder to repaint...just my thoughts on powder.

I see your points however I have been told that the zinc primer will protect the metal forever and any neccesary touch ups would not be difficult. Now, the most important thing to me at this point is that I am not yet sure that I have a 'final' version. In other words...what if I want to change something once I get this bike back together? This is my first major project so I dont know what I might end up with. Sooo, I think I am going to have the shop blast the frame then I will paint it myself.

Yah see... I like to change things to often for powder...and I'm a rattlecan redneck painter...lol

For what it´s worth, when I had my 650 frame powdercoated I asked the guy if I needed to do any prep - he said no, I didn´t even have to degrease it. Delivered the frame as it was (put a bolt in every thread and washers over the steering stem and swingarm races), they dipped it in some sort of acid bath and coated it, came out like the pic below. In case I want it redone (was coated 5 years ago) I can just drop the frame off, they'll strip and recoat it for around $ 200 - I´m in Europe so pricing may vary, what I´m getting at is that a powdercoat isn´t necessarily a final job, it can be done again.

These guys are not bike specific but industrial coaters willing to take on a backdoor/moonlight job, I originally had the frame and all associated bits and pieces (swingarm, trees, battery box, side stand etc. stripped and coated for $ 250 including having my exhaust sand blasted).

Aarghh, double post please delete. :S

My local guy is going to do my frame for $100. I might have to spring extra for the lime green but thats ok. The worst part is I have to fully assemble the bike due to having an air shifter and mono shock. I would hate to get it done and have to weld something else on that I forgot. :ohmy:

my two cents, let the powder coater clean and prep the parts, that way they will be done the way he wants it and he is the one who stands behond his work.

on a side note, I ran into a guy who does polished powder coating, you could not tell that it was not paint it had that much shine to it, he was telling me the process for the prep is not the same and the material is different also.
I am going to look into this some more