Full Tear Down and Frame Paint/Powdercoat

[Rmac86]

Being that my bike needed a few items like replacing swing arm bolt due to boogered threads, front wheel bearing and seals, OEM fork boots over the black socks from the PO, OEM decals, etc., I decided to start pulling it down last night. The further I got into it, the more I kept pulling off finding small things I wanted to get to in order to clean, paint, replace. Well once I got to the swing arm bolt removal, no bueno. Typical seized bolt situation and knowing this, I went further to remove all I could to allow me to pull the entire swing arm to put new bearings and bushings and now paint and decal it. I only intended to remove the bolt and swap for a new one, but now this is where I am at. My question to you guys, since I am this far, would it make sense to pull the bike all the way down and repaint or powdercoat the frame being I will now be cleaning up the swing arm? Do I just touch up the few lightly chipped and rusted areas and put back together and if so, what is the best brand/color to do this? The bike is already super clean, so just wanted some opinions being I always tend to go the extra mile and overdo it.

[Aulbaugh]

If I was going to ride it and I would clean/fix what you wanted to then let'er rip. Like you said, it was already clean to being with! I too tend to go above and beyond the norm!

[Rmac86]

LOL, yea I guess I am a little OCD like that when it comes to projects. Pull a shroud to put on a new decal and damn, that bracket is rusty. Pull the bracket to paint it and damn, might as well put new radiator hoses. I will have the bike blown apart all over the garage and my wife wagging her finger at me and our bank account in no time.

[knappyfeet]

From the pics your bike seems really clean.

My personal opinion..........things are only original once. I know the temptation to go through things to give them that flawless appearance. But a nick here or there or a dent here or there....as long as it looks nice like yours I would leave it alone and call it character

[Rmac86]

I do appreciate that knappyfeet and tend to lean that way at times as well. The chances of coming up on a clean and mostly original bike these days is slim to none and guys like us do tend to appreciate those more. All I did with my other trikes was hold out for that mostly clean/original "barn fresh" as they say and keep it clean and ride it.

[Aulbaugh]

I will have the bike blown apart all over the garage and my wife wagging her finger at me and our bank account in no time.

Haha, lots of us can relate to that one!

[Onetrackmind]

I was in the same quandary when I started pulling my R apart. Heck...the title of my build thread is "Refresh/Rebuild" cuz that's what I thought I was gonna do at first.

Then... I kept finding little things, more little things, tiny things and really big things that needed attention. I also found a ton of stuff that I just WANTED to address. I then found a set of near-mint OEM rear fenders and that sealed my fate.

I went all-in. Full-on REstoTARD...

I love the final product, it is absolutely incredible to actually own a piece of history like this and for it to be (in a sense) brand new like it was on the showroom floor back in '85. I still feel like my 13 yo self drooling over it.

Unfortunately, now I'm afraid to ride it. Too worried about bashing it up, flipping it, getting rock chips or heck...just getting it muddy. Bryan warned me about not obsessing over OEM, but I did not heed his advice.

So, if you want to take a really nice, clean rider and turn it into something else...go ahead. But...you may wind up in the same boat as me so to speak.


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[Rmac86]

I appreciate all the input guys. Pretty sure you all just convinced me to leave well enough alone. I think in the least I will do some minor "touch ups" to the really irritating places on the frame and be done. Is Rustoleum "Sunrise Red" still the paint of choice for this? I was up searching all night and came up with they ever repeated Sunrise Red on the chassis, Dublicolor "Universal Gold" on the swingarm, and Duplicolor "Cast Coat Iron" on the engine, which the PO already had done on the build and sent the leftover can home with me.

[knappyfeet]

All I did with my other trikes was hold out for that mostly clean/original "barn fresh" as they say and keep it clean and ride it.

Me too.

Not to polute your thread but I had a very nice 2nd Gen 200x that had nicks and scrapes and even dents. But after I used Mcguires 105/205 and some phosphoric acid and the like.....all I had to paint was the foot pegs and maybe something else....that was it. I left all the nicks and everything.

There was a dent on the other side of the tank that had me up at night wanting to paint it. But I think I was visited by the atc gods one night in a dream and they told me I would go to atc hell if I dared take stripper to the original finish on that tank......so I did nothing and it took away nothing from an overall clean survivor.

[Onetrackmind]

Wow knappy...that's a beautiful machine.


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[Rmac86]

No kidding, that baby turned out slick! Yea I have been looking around on the net and have come across some original beauties that all the guys did was clean them up and add some new shiny goodies on top of it. The contrast between the old and polished vs the new and shiny is a pretty cool look I will say. I have been in love with this 350x since I first seen it on the net about 10 years ago and that's all he did. Bought an absolute gem off of ebay and just threw on some slick looking wheels, anodized sprocket, and a few other goodies. Beautiful!

[Arky-X]

The rustic, weathered look is in. Clean it up and ride that thing.
Mine is getting the rebuild and if you do that you better plan on 6 months to 2 years because something always gets priority over it. It's just a $low process.
Yours looks great! Spend a good part of a weekend cleaning it then enjoy it.

[knappyfeet]

No kidding, that baby turned out slick! Yea I have been looking around on the net and have come across some original beauties that all the guys did was clean them up and add some new shiny goodies on top of it. The contrast between the old and polished vs the new and shiny is a pretty cool look I will say. I have been in love with this 350x since I first seen it on the net about 10 years ago and that's all he did. Bought an absolute gem off of ebay and just threw on some slick looking wheels, anodized sprocket, and a few other goodies. Beautiful!

I've seen that 350 on the Internet and it is one nice machine. It looks just like a lot of simple elbow grease and time.

I've kinda learned that corrosion on cad plated stuff/fasteners and oxidation and dirt/oil/grime left on stuff sometimes acts as...........for lack of a better term.....a barrier of protection. Once you buff up the powder coating and paint and flash dip the cad plated things in acid......they usually shine right up.

[Rmac86]

Referring to the use of phosphoric acid to flash dip knappy, you utilize this method to clean the bolts and fasteners to help clean and restore that original finish I am guessing?

[knappyfeet]

Referring to the use of phosphoric acid to flash dip knappy, you utilize this method to clean the bolts and fasteners to help clean and restore that original finish I am guessing?

Yes....your spot on Rmac86.

The way I like to do it is to dip the items for no more than 2 seconds them IMMEDIATELY rinse in a bucket of warm water or with a hose. Even the worst shape fasteners can usually take a second or 2 in the acid but some times not a second longer. Usually that's all the time it needs. But if the cad plate seems in good shape you could do it a second time. But too much time will start to burn off the old plating. It's kinda the reverse of what carpenters say about measuring twice and cutting once............... in this case you dip once.....then if you feel it needs more you can dip again....better safe than sorry.