Paintwork

Hey, I'm nearly up to date!

The tank and side panels are currently away being refinished and that has been a bit of a saga.

I'd decided long ago that the colour would be changed from blue to the deep metallic burgundy that my old 400-4 had been. The Dream was available in this colour, or something very similar, but it's not that common. The Honda colour is Candy Antares Red - it can be obtained from RS Paints, but is expensive and I wasn't obsessed with getting a perfect match. The colour I've chosen is actually a Malagutti colour.

Thanks to my mate Paul by the way for recommending Roger Smith in Hoylake 07771 895 674 for the painting. He has been really good - not the cheapest, but real personal service and a lovely guy to deal with.

Here's how they looked before they went to Roger, not terrible but showing every sign of their 34 years:

The tank underside was quite corroded and Roger suggested having it sandblasted back to bare metal. The painting has now been completed and clearcoated and looks gorgeous. Are you waiting for the "but"?

But, when Roger came to apply the decals I'd got from Sunrise Graphics, the problems started. He'd left the paint and clear coat to go off for 2 days, as instructed; applied the decals and squeegeed a few air bubbles out as he did it - all normal till now and the job's looking good to finish in the morning. Anyway, he came back the next morning to find hundreds of little "micro-bubbles" under the decals. Obviously, they couldn't be left like that, so Roger called me down to have a look.

After calls to John at Sunrise, the conclusion was that, though the paint was hard at the surface (hard enough for Roger to polish in fact), it hadn't quite given up all of it's solvent and the bubbles are trapped solvent vapours that came out of the paint overnight. It had been cold that week - maybe that contributed? Anyway, Noel's Top Tip is to wait at least 7 days after painting to apply the decals, not 2 days as stated in the instructions.

Roger removed the decals without any damage to the paint with a bit of heat from a hairdryer and we are currently waiting for a new set to arrive, probably this week. Once on, they can be clear coated and job done. The paint will have had a couple of weeks to harden by then, so they'd better be right this time!

I'll post some photos as soon as it's all back.

It has always been my view that you should judge companies on how they react to problems, not how they sell you goods. Roger has come out of this as a shining example - he's been open and honest at every stage and can't do enough to help sort it out, even though we're both pissed off that the decal instructions were followed to the letter. The decal suppliers on the other hand have been patronising and defensive throughout, even dismissing my suggestion that they should change their instructions to allow a few more days for the paint to go off. I know who I'd rather deal with in future and where my recommendations will go.

I heartily recommend Roger Smith of Hoylake 07771 895 674   ;-)

While the tank's been away, I've cleaned up the Honda badges and they are ready to go back on as soon as it's home.

The Grand Plan

Having stripped everything down into a hundred boxes and bags, it was time to think what needed doing; what I could do and what needed to be sent off. In no particular order, this was the plan - some of it now with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight.

• Powder coating - the frame, swinging arm, main stand, side stand, footrest brackets, engine mounts and loads of other bits and pieces were sent off to Elite Engineering in Aintree to be blasted and powder coated in gloss black.
  
  I spent ages putting old bolts in all the threaded holes etc but this was a waste of time as John took them all out again and used his own tapered plugs! I was really pleased with the service, but make sure you allow a couple of extra weeks! Speak to John Heckle 0151 524 2838
• No Honda rebuild can survive without copious amounts of money being spent at David Silvers of course! http://www.davidsilverspares.co.uk/
  
  Great service and very helpful. I got loads of stuff: full exhaust system, new seat, indicators, bearings, brake pads etc etc - the list was endless and the boxes big..........
• Paintwork: I changed tack several times. I'm no stranger to using aerosol cans and was going to DIY here. But as more money got piled in, I just thought I wouldn't be able to do it justice. Finally I took the plunge and got a local guy to blast and repaint the tank and side panels. I also got him to apply the nice reproduction decals that I obtained from Sunrise Graphics in Lytham. http://www.sunrisegraphics.co.uk/sunrise/
  
  Would I recommend them? Well the decals are great, but I don't rate his customer interface highly if I'm honest - maybe it's me, but he seems to do nothing but moan whenever you talk to him.
• The wheels. The plan changed lots here. I was originally just going to rub them down myself and repaint them in silver. But the inside of the "spokes" was very corroded, so I decided they needed blasting and might as well then have them powder coated. Then I had THE VISION that ended up costing me so much time and money......... See the section later on wheels.
• Chromework: most of the chrome was in a pretty horrible way, but was straight. The grab rail had been damaged by fitting a rack which rubbed against it, so I knew I needed a replacement. Over a number of months, I managed to pick up a number of new old stock (NOS) or good secondhand chrome parts off EBay and from the wonderful Stafford auto-jumble. Anything that I couldn't get was sent off to Niphos in Crewe for rechroming. http://www.niphos.co.uk/
  
  Lesson learned here is to be clear about what you want from them. I told them that I wanted the chrome to be good for everyday use, not show standard. And that is exactly what I got - can't fault them. But I probably would have been happier in hindsight to pay a bit extra for them to have put more time into the prep to end up with a better finish.
• Zinc plating: I decided not to go down the "stainless everything" route, but wanted to re-use as much of the original bike as I could, so sent most of the nuts, bolts and brackets off to Niphos again for zinc plating, after I'd degreased and cleaned it all up with a wire brush. This is relatively cheap and looks fantastic! I subsequently also sent the wheel and swing arm spindles there as well and decided to get the tool kit replated, which is a great finishing touch.
• Engine: I'd decided to take a risk that the internals will be OK, having done only 10,000 miles. The casings were shockingly dirty and corroded and I spent loads of time cleaning and preparing these for re-painting, which I did myself. Following an internet tip, I used silver alloy wheel paint. It looks great but we'll see how it stands up when used in anger.
  
  The side cases will be polished by me. The barrels, head and cam cover will be vapour blasted and the cam cover will be sprayed like the cases.
• Carburettors: I sent these off to CCs http://www.carbcleaning.com/ with a Keyster overhaul kit for them to fit. What a fantastic service - they vapour blasted the outsides, stripped them down, ultrasonically cleaned them and re-assembled using the new jets, gaskets etc from the kits. The choke spindle bush was still a little tight when they came back but after lots of 3 in 1 it is fine.
• Sundry brackets etc; I've spent ages cleaning, rubbing down and repainting brackets, master cylinder, brake caliper etc etc. But I like this bit - lots of job satisfaction at getting something looking nearly new again. Just the deep cleaning and polishing can make a huge difference.
• Alloy polishing: I bought a polishing kit from Halfords - not up to the job for motorbike stuff at all - you need heavier duty mops and abrasives from somewhere like Polishing Supplies on EBay. I did the fork legs, footrest mounts, brake back plate and will soon be doing the engine side cases. But the hardest thing I did was the wheel rims - see later story. Polishing is a horrible, horrible job but with a very, very satisfying end result.
• And finally for all those cables, chain and sprockets etc I used good old Wemoto.  http://www.wemoto.com/