Testarossa's 78 KZ1000 Fighter Build

lookin good!

leon

Were you happy with the look of the primer for your frame paint Josh? I hope I didn't steer you wrong!

Adam, its the perfect semi-gloss black that I want, but I'm still concerned about the UV protection. Will that stuff stand up to the sun over time? Should I clear coat it?

Well, when I got home today, I decided to flip the frame and have a look at the bottom. As I expected, the paint is a little thin down there. No big deal. I also picked up a little touch up gun the other day for stuff like painting inside the frame.

I started to prep the swingarm for paint, but I decided to blow it off tonight. I worked too hard in the heat all weekend, and I'm gonna be a lazy ass tonight.

I got my rear shock goodies coming from Race Tech, and they said I should get them by Friday. A little ebay trolling yielded a set of Hayabusa brake calipers for $45, a NOS headlight grommet for $4, and some experimental mirrors for $5. Pretty good scores for my luck.

I used to use that paint for black bumpers and to repaint windshield washer arms that the stock paint was flaking off of. I don't think it's necessary to clear coat, but if you do, you'll loose the semigloss look. It is after all a plastic based paint It's not powder coat though, so eventually it'll need to be redone. No paint is forever
Will the 'busa calipers bolt onto you forks? Are they 6 piston units? I LOVE the look of 6 piston calipers. If it wasn't for irishwill and his custom tree, I was gonna run 06-07 R1 forks just to get the 6 piston calipers!

I've seen that Eastwood has a low-gloss clear. Would that work?

Yes DDub, it would. My only other concern with clearing the frame is it complicates touch-ups. As long as Josh thinks he won't need to do any touch ups, clear coat away!

Thanks for re-assuring me Adam. No clear for the same reasons, touch up and future mods. I really like the single stage idea for ease of use, it's really almost as simple as spray painting with a rattle can.

As for the Busa brake calipers, they bolt right up and they are the same six piston Tokicos. I had one caliper that was quite stuck. It made it hell to load the GSXR in my truck when I brought it home. It was like trying to push a bike that is in gear or a car with the parking brake on. When I dismantled the caliper I found the usual stuff for a neglected bike, corrosion, iced tea instead of brake fluid, and crusty seals. After a lot of cleaning, and polishing, I got the pistons to slide, but they still seemed a little sticky. I don't have great hope that the caliper in question is usable, so i bought the Busa calipers for spares. If they are as clean as they look then I can bolt them up and no worries.

i have toiled over what to do with my frame. i would like to repaint it with proper automotive type candy red paint. but i would not be able to do mods. so i was thinking of the normal gloss black (easy to repair). now u have me thinking flat black to go with the rest of my bike. Can’t u get a semi gloss black paint to spray over the primer?
i dont get why u couldn’t easily do touch ups after a mod with the satin black??
what is your thought behind primmer only , rather than semi gloss black??

Mark, that epoxy is a perfect semi-gloss black, and Adam assures me that it is plenty tough for use as a top coat. It seems to me that there used to be a rattlecan Rustoleum paint that worked perfect for touch-ups on this semi-gloss finish.

It's actually what the paint supply told me to do as well. I told them that I wanted the black epoxy primer and a single stage black semi-gloss top coat. They advised me to just use more coats of the epoxy primer as well. I'm quite pleased about the finish, and the paint seems hard enough, but my concerns were more related to fading from the sun. Apperantly the epoxy primer has enough uv protection to be used as a top coat.

mark1122 wrote:

i have toiled over what to do with my frame. i would like to repaint it with proper automotive type candy red paint. but i would not be able to do mods. so i was thinking of the normal gloss black (easy to repair). now u have me thinking flat black to go with the rest of my bike. Can’t u get a semi gloss black paint to spray over the primer?
i dont get why u couldn’t easily do touch ups after a mod with the satin black??
what is your thought behind primmer only , rather than semi gloss black??

The DP90 that I nudged Josh toward is a semi-gloss epoxy primer sealer. The sealer part is important, becasue regular primers, like primer filler are porous and can absorb a small amount of water and hold it against the steel underneath to start cancer. The DP90 is not porous and gives a very nice semi-gloss finish. If it were used as just a sealer, you would only spray one coat. But in this application I would recommend 3-4 coats. That will give you the film thickness you'll need for durability. Also Josh, when you spray the final coat, start with the tight, hard to reach areas first, then transition to the outside, easy to get at areas. This will help insure good coverage and that the areas you see the most were sprayed last, leaving the nicest looking finish (no overspray from doing the inside spots after the previously sprayed coat has flashed)

Adam, could the primer 1st, then por 15, be easily touched up without notice?
say , for example,if I welded a bracket to the frame then resprayed ?