I'm not employed as a body shop worker
or painter, these
are things I have learned over the 20+
years that I have been
doing my own bikes” & friends bikes.
My latest project is a custom 1949 Pan
Head Trike, with a
hand made steel body & fenders of
my design” & too many
custom thing to mention, a thanks to those
that helped with
the bike & moral support.
You must keep all work surfaces free of
oil & grease, your
hands will leave body oil so be car full
to keep them clean!
While sanding keep your hands coated with
body putty dust
so you can feel the surfaces for high//low
spots & proper
curves & angles, without leaving marks;
Equipment you will need, I'am not including
air//electric as you
shouldn’t need it for motorcycle work.
1. 14” X 14” X 1/4”thick smooth
plastic or wood board for your
mixing tray, plastic is my choice as they
clean up easier & are
lighter, you must keep this tray clean!!
A warmed up putty knife
works good on plastic, the putty knife
should be hot enough to
burn the putty residue thats on it, but
not real hot .
2. 3 or 4 body putty spreaders,
the with depends on area worked,
they must be cleaned immediately after
use & the edge kept
straight! a regular file will re dress
them straight & you can file
a slight taper on the edge to allow for
some flexibility & smoother
application .
3. a cheese grater type rasp file
[ coarse ] one side 1/2 moon,
the other side flat it should have a steel
rat type handle, with no
wood/plastic handle” the rat tail will
be used to clean drilled //
tapped holes carefully; this tool will
do about 80% of your work
& it is very important to have;
& to keep clean with a hand wire
brush .
3A.the 1/2 moon side will cut much
quicker, keep it as flat as you
can while working off the high spots,
this is for roughing out semi
close surfaces only
3B. the flat side is more towards
a close rough clean up” [ leave
some material for finish work & do
your finish work while it is semi
soft ]
4. 1- putty knife for spooning
out filler & cleaning mixing board.
5. 1- junk knife [small] this will
be used to cut off excess body putty
as it firms up” this is a real time &
labour saver if your messy like
me, the tool need not be real sharp” keep
the edge flat to the work
& you can take off as little or as
much as you want if your care full
& the putty isn’t to soft or to hard.
getting the feel of the putty is
important ; to hard & you’ll be sanding
all day” to soft & you will
clog up the body files & sand paper.
6. 1- 3M hard rubber hand
sanding block tool, it has nails inside
for holding paper & 1- flat side &
1- 1/2 moon side both sides can
be used; the 1/2 moon does curved surfaces,
& if you leave the
sand paper a little wider than the tool
[ 1/4” - 3/8”], you can hold
the tool the wide way at an angle &
use this paper edge to feather
out putty edges using a light touch this
will really help you blend in
the reworked area.
7. ? amount of 36 grit sand
paper [very course] you may have to
hunt for this in paint stores, it
is important you get some sheets
of this as it cuts material fast while
semi soft.
8. ? amount of 80 grit sand paper
for finish work you can substitute
100 grit but it will take longer sanding”
the scratches left will be filled
with primer.[ buy full sheets if possible
& fold & tear into 4ths it is
cheaper this way]
8a. fold the paper the with
of the tool” the papes wide way crease
& tear.
8b. now fold the length of the
paper into 1/3rds crease & tear ”
you just got an extra sheet of sand paper.
9. 2 or 3 fizz cans of cheap brown
primer, this is for proofing your
almost finished work.
10. body putty of your choice;
you get what you pay for [think quality
you don’t want to re do it & the paint
job in a year or two] I have seen
putty stay in 10+ years if applied right
& sand blasters that had a hard
time getting it out” if you are re doing
a old area blast the old putty
enough to rough it & if it looks good
, sand with 36 grit & go over the
top of it with new putty”
“do not let putty/ hardener freeze & keep
capped tight.”
10A. Red label Bondo it’s OK but
doesn’t seem as smooth or con-
sistent from batch to batch
10B. Blue label Bondo a better
grade I think , & much smoother &
more consistent per batch
10C. UV Body putty hardens from
sun light or a heat lamp I've never
used this putty before.
10D. Micro Light from NAPA Automotive
a lighter body putty much
smoother, & consistent from batch
to batch” about $14.50 per gal.
with hardener
11. hardener should come with putty,
follow the directions a putty
that will not harden must be taken back
out” look for a consistent
colour in your mix. & work FAST!!!!!!!!
12. paper or cloth clean rags have
more than enough on hand.
13. 1- gallon of cheap thinner
for cleaning
14. ? amount of a good brand of
filler primer paint,” you can mix
it a little on the stout side & adjust
you gun settings accordingly.
15. fibber scuff pads, at car swap
meets you can some times
buy a mixed bag of them cheap & the
fine ones will help polish
metals.
Directions
1. clean the surfaces down to bare
metal, sand blasting works
best but be careful of warpage to the
steel [stay back 8” to 10”
from your work while blasting & make
shore all filler // drain holes
are plugged with rags & taped first
, take your time to do this job.
2. prep sand with 36 grit all bad
areas to be filled, this will leave
a deeply scratched surface for the filler
to bond with.
3. Blow off all surfaces with air
& wipe down with a cheap thinner
on a clean rag .
4. IMPORTANT: Mix the body putty
with a stir stick very good”
or a paint shaker for 10 to 15 min will
give you a great mix, places
that sell you the putty will mix it for
free if they have a shaker & you
ask in a decent way. Putty & paints
can not be over shaken .
5.Mix a small amount of putty with
hardener on the mixing board,
kneading it in to its self with
a spreader until you get a consistent
colour through out” you must work fast
as this will set up quickly &
can not be used if hardened to the point
where it won’t spread
evenly
6. spread on putty no thicker than
3/16” per time & as smooth as
possible
7. let set for a short time &
check for firmness with your thumbnail,
when firm but soft quickly cut off excess
with knife & file that area
flat or to shape; with the 1/2 moon side”
finish to a fairly close
surface using the flat side of the file
. [ your low spots will show
now ]
8. repeat no.4, no.5, no.6 until
you have a roughed out area the
shape you want .
9. once your area is close use
the sanding block & 36 grit to
get it closer to the finished state
& do try to blend in the areas
being worked with the other sheet metal
// putty near buy,
Watch out how much sanding pressure you
use it’s better to
go a little slow & sand
in one direction,” reversing the di-
rection often to keep the edges
even.
10. THINK YOUR DONE? now
put a light to medium mist
coat of primer over every thing &
let it dry. Sand it out with the
80 // 100 grit paper & the 3M block
using a light stroke & as
long of a sanding strokes as you can”
this will help keep out
the wavy surface you get when you sand
in short strokes; use
a short scruffing stroke to sand off known
high spots & then
go over it with a long stroke to blend
it in.
11. now your minor low spots, chips,
real deap scratches,
pin holes will show in brown primer, fill
accordingly & sand
them out with your 80 // 100 grit blending
in all areas & mist
again, when dry sand with 80 // 100 grit,
until you have the
surface you want; all the very shallow
low areas & deep
scratches will fill with 1 or 2 coats
of med. to heavy filler
primer, use the filler primer to help
you blend in the notic-
eable areas’ filler primer will
cover a lot but is not filler putty,
do it in coats & let dry between coats,
the final med // heavy
coat of primer should look smooth with
no body putty lines
or scratches showing, there you hid it
all,” but check all sur-
faces care fully in a well lit area to
make shore you got it all,
theres nothing worse than to do your final
colour & find a
small ding, dent or scratch showing.
12. Do you have areas where metal
keeps showing? this
is a high area & often needs to be
tapped down lightly with
a hammer” a 2# double headed hammer works
great if you
grab the top head & put the handle
down your fore arm &
tap lightly, if it won’t tap down you
can file away some metal
& use putty to blend it into existing
areas’ re proof that area
to see how it looks.
Note: cheap sand paper clogs quickly
& wears out fast
3M is dam good paper, & worth
the cost, Farm & Fleet paper
isn’t to bad & it’s cheap.
Note: don’t waste you time or money
on touch up filler putty in
the tubes, it’s more trouble than it’s
worth & often will let go
wrecking your paint job, a dab of
mixed filler putty put on with
your finger works well.
Note: before you spray the primer
// colour make shore you
clean your shop & it is as
dust free as possible; a square
house fan with a cheap furnace filter
works good to capture
dust & paint dust in the air.
Note: you can wet sand the primer
with 220g then 400g then
600grit if you want a real smooth paint
job, if you go through
the paint you must re primer that area’
other wise just scuff it
up good with 220 wet // dry paper
or a scuff pad
Good Luck & take your time, you will
have saved $$$$$$$ on
labour just on the body work,
along with bragging rights when
some one tells you how nice it looks.
If you wish to use this article please
ask! -& then make shure I
get the credit for writing it. Thanks.
Any questions or comments can be directed
to:
Jake on the VI-list
OR:
thomas@northnet.net
I'm the one armed guy on the Virtual Indian
web site with a beat
up Scout that I ride,” if I can do it
you can too.
Heat Resistant Paint on Cylinders &
Exhausts
by Thomas
Jacobs
You can heat paint in a lot of colors &
buy a lot of different brands that
will work quite well. I personally use
Dupli:Color High Heat paint, with
good results, { silver is nice }. A good
heat paint should have a temp
rating of 1,000* plus; & some have
ceramics in them { I haven't tried
those }. As in any painting project clean
parts are a must.
Bead blasting ranks no.1 with me; but
you can wire wheel & chemically
clean too; either way you should degrease
the part with gasoline & then
with thinner or acetone; a cheap brand
seems to work ok, make sure
they're dry & do not handle any more
than needed { oils from hands } I
like to heat my Cylinders or Exhaust with
a small propane torch first but
not too hot, then give them a good coating
of paint or preferably 2 coats.
If the parts are heated up good they will
tack up or dry quickly giving
you a nice even finish. Now for the fun
part & this tells the men from
the boys; you take the Cylinders &
put them in a pre heated oven set at
400* leave them in for 45 to 60 minutes
at 400* baking on the paint; turn
off oven & { caution hot parts } leave
set in there to cool, you should
have a nice durable finnish on your parts.
The Exhaust parts don't fit { in the oven
} to good, so I hang them with
wire, pre heat them, give them 2 good
coats & pre heat again 1 or 2
times, if the paint comes off in you hand
then they need to be dried more,
again you will have a nice durable finish.
On chrome or nickel plated Exhaust, I
heat paint the inside for 6" to 8"
again you will want 2 good coats, you
can pre heat the pipe by using a
small propane torch & letting it heat
from the inside { like normal } but
not enough to discolor chrome // nickel
this will stop your pipes from
bluing! Be fore warned that badly blued
pipes could be a sign of a bad
fuel mix or a intake leak, so set your
motor up right because the painted
pipes if done right wont show this as
quickly.
These tips have worked well for me over
20+ years & should work well
for you, but don't scrimp on the prep
work.
Jake back
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The Importance of Viscosity & How
To Get a Good Paint Job.
by Thomas
Jacobs
To all of you that paint your own bikes:
You can make a viscosity cup out of a
plastic cigar tube & some wire;
A viscosity cup allows you to time how
fast paint // thinner comes out
of the cup, { faster time is thinner paint
& every time you add thinner
or paint re time }this will give
you a better better more consistent
spray through your gun & next time
you shoot the same color it will help
match" the existing color. { hope Im not
confusing you }
cut 2" off bottom of tube
drill bottom hole in center 3/32" to 1/8"
drill 2 side holes for wire { de bur holes
& cut off }
Install wire as handle { high tech. }
Dip in mixed paint & time with a second
hand on watch
HAVE YOU PAINT SHAKEN'ED FOR AT LEAST
15 MINUTES PRIER TO USE & THEN
STIR MIX IN CUP FOR AT LEAST 5 MINUTES.
To paint you need to know;
1. type paint // numbers
2. manufactures name & number of thinner
3. what pressure it was shot at
4 tempiture
5 viscosity {drip rate }
Write these on the top of your can, this
is your formula for sucess, in
duplicating a color match.
Note:
1. high air pressure lightens paint
2. low air pressure darkens paint
3. you primer colors will also effect
the finished color
Im no painter but I do mine because you
can save a bunch of money & that
relates to new parts & the $$$$$$
to buy them. { BARGING RIGHTS }
THINK CLEAN { Anal clean }& have more
than enough clean rags on hand,
you don't want to transfer dirt // dust
// paint to a area that is to be
painted or is already painted
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