My 87 BIGRED Resto is Finished. PICS!!!

[ClayW]

Well here she is all pretty. Harlan Lysne supplied me with the decals. What do you guys think? Look below for more pics and the before pics.

[crackshot]

wow. thats real nice. great job!
that son of a gun is show room. I would not want to ride that!

[ClayW]

And a few more pics :D

[350Xccelerator]

freakin awesome. how does the cobra sound?

[almac16]

Nice, very nice!!

Do you have pics of what it looked like before you started?

[Dammit!]

One of the best restore jobs I've seen. Excellent work. It looks awesome. :beer

[ClayW]

It looked like hammered dog crap when I got it. I mean big time. Took a lot of work. I actuall have got noting in it. Actually I have $200 in my pocket. LOL. All I had in it was $400. Then I parted out my parts bike, less the electrical parts, for $650. So thats $250 in my pocket for my 350X Resto. I will have to load up the pics of it when I got it.

[ClayW]

The exhaust sounds good. A little loud at times. But not too bad. I like it just fine. I used automotive paint to paint her up. The new decals set it off real good. And yes thats HONDA RED. Eat your heart out Matt. :D

Oh yeah those are SX handlebars. Gives it a lot better feel and you more control over this lumbering trike. LOL

[MTS]

NICE job clay looks great :D

[threewheelin-feelin]

sweet baby!

[renotrikeguy]

Awsome job Clay.

I bet you AtcMatt is going to be drooling over those pictures. :)

Harlan does mighty fine work on the decals doesn't he? Im ordering my 250es' replacement decals this comming friday.

[smokinp]

wow! great job...any before pics?

[85_250SX]

Awsome job Clay.

Harlan does mighty fine work on the decals doesn't he?


I'm new to the forum, so please forgive me, but who is Harlan, and how do I get in touch with him to order some decals for my 250sx?

[ClayW]

Here she is before the resto kinda. The rear fenders were not there when I got it, along with the seat and sidecovers. The handle bars and headlight assembly was also not there when I got it, and the rear swing arm was bent quite a bit. That is the original tank doctored up a bit to look halfway decent for a while.

[ClayW]

Harlan Lysne's address is as follows.

hjlysne@charter.net

Tell him Clay sent you. He has all the SX decals and many other bikes. :beer

[85_250SX]

Harlan Lysne's address is as follows.

hjlysne@charter.net

Tell him Clay sent you. He has all the SX decals and many other bikes. :beer


Just e-mailed him, and told him how Clay sent me and he can send the bill to Clay. :p

[patblkwell]

Looks damn good...you must prefer the original metal tank more than the plastic one. Looks great.

[ClayW]

Yeah the plastic is junk. Looks like crap after a while and decals dont stick. I can make a crummy looking metal tank look like new money. As long as it doesnt have any rust holes that are beyond help. Dents are a breeze to make dissappear. Takes some time, but I can make them go away. Did I mention that I re-do them for people.

[vartiak15]

clay for the dents do you just bondo them up?

[ClayW]

Yeah, I use this kind that the auto/body supply shop sells that is more of a fiberglass base, and it doesnt hold moisture like bondo. Regular bondo can hold moisture until it gets painted. If you wet sand the bondo, it will get some moisture in it. This kind doesnt do it near as bad.

[83185s]

that looks really nice clay!! great job on that it was well worth it..how does it run with that cobra?

[ClayW]

It runs great. It pulls the front end off the ground a easier with it on there. Other than that, I cant tell any other differences. I didnt have to modify the carb jets or anything. Even with the UNI filter on it.

[MTS]

hey clay...how do you find best to get dents outa tanks..i got a big round shallow dent in my 90 tank and also a dent in the front left from the forks and it bent the sucker in pretty good any suggestions? also theres this stuff its kinda like bonda works the same only its more like jb weld its a metel body filler that dont hold mostiuer and is supposd to work great :D

[ClayW]

Well on dents, it all depends on where they are at, and can you get to the back side. If you can, I push them out as far as possible. You have to be careful though, you can puncture the tank pretty easily. Once you get that done, I push on the dent I pulled to see if its going to jump back in due to metal fatigue. If it does, I pooch it back out then go thru this process. I wash the tank inside out thoroughly with hot dish soap and water to get the gas all out. Then I take a butane torch, and heat the spot up where the dent is. You can tell when it gets hot enough, it starts to discolor the metal. Then I take a wet rag and wipe it across it then pause, then do it again, again, and again. This retempers the metal. The dent wont pooch back in anymore. Then I rough it up real good and start filling the dent. If you cant get to the back side, I just fill them in. At times I might actually have to make the dent bigger to make it come out right. Sometimes the center of the dent is pushed in, but the edege is actually pushed out a bit. You dont wont high spots. So I make the dent bigger, then fill it.

[Pistonhead]

Clay awesome job on that restoration, beautiful trike, that would spend at least 3 months in my dining room looking like that!

[MTS]

hmm...well the dent in the front of the tank off centers the lip so where the U in the tank is to go around the frame the left part of it is bet out wards slightly...i wonder if i could drill some small holes in the dent and then use them thingers body shops use to pull it out then braze the hole and filler er in....or beat the hell out of the lip till its stright then filler up...lol :p

[ClayW]

Yeah, that would work. I just dont have one of those to use, or a brazing set up. I poor boy it, and it always comes out good.

[atcmatt]

Well Clay all i can say is WOW! :Bounce

That is heaps nice mate and you should be damned proud of your work. I only wish mine will come out nearly as nice as that. Im expecting the chassis and all that to come out nice (minus fenders :mad: ) but the engine that will be going into it temporarily will look ****! I just need alot of time and money to have this baby perfecto!

Sometimes i wish i lived in the states. Parts availability is so much better.

While were on the bigred restoration subject here is my 250es that i have started to reassemble.

Why am i so obsessed with detail :confused: Look at each individual bolt. My whole trike has been redone in this way. :D

ATCMATT = perfectionist :)

Matt

[ClayW]

Looks good Matt. Thanks for the compliments. :beer

[jeswinehart]

wow ,,, what can i say ,,, wow ! i ain't never seen a brand new bigred till now.


and if your 350x turns out anything close to the big red ,,,, well you will just hafta bring BOTH to haspin.



nice work clay ,,,, john

[ATCwithdrawals]

Looks good! Did you paint it yourself{the tank}. Did you have the paint comp scanned to come up wiith the right "Honda Red" color? :)

[ClayW]

Yeah, I painted it myself. I called honda of North America for the paint code for the HONDA RED. It was for a acrylic enamel. I had them cross it so I could use basecoat/clearcoat. Its much tougher paint and holds its shine forever. I have the code somewhere.

[vartiak15]

damn i wish my paint w ould hold its shine! all im using is some international tractor red on my stuff. and some clear but it duals up to easy. just sittin in the garage it is all ready all dual! im kinda pissed and i wish my dad would of painted it with the damn air compressor instead of lettting me do it with the rattle can. o well i guess i will just have to wax and polish it all up then it should hold its shine alot longer right? well all i got to say is what other people have said you beter be damn proud man, this red is sweet. and if u ever sell it or if oyu are making the 350x this nice and are going to sell it let me no. lets see waht the 350x looks like now(trailprotrailpro u restore). once again great job(i thought mine was going nice now im pissed i didnt take more time on the painting damn you lol jk man). keep up the good work!!!!!

[ClayW]

Thanks Vartiak. The problem with the spraycan paint is that it doesnt have a hard enough finish. Acrylic enamel automotive paint is much better. But Base/clearcoat is light yrs better. You can get scratches and sand then buff them out very easily. and gas doesnt do a thing to it. Yeah the 350X is coming together. She should look pretty good. Do a search for my posts, and you should see some about my $400 350x. I believe the pics are there.

[patblkwell]

Hey Clay, when you were restoring your '87, did you ever think about getting those round reflectors that came stock on the trike back in the day. I don't see many these days with those reflectors still intact. Do you know where or if those are still available? thanks

[85_250SX]

I have the code somewhere.



When ya find it, post the code, will ya?

[ClayW]

If I am not mistaken, it is R103. I will double check.

[ATCwithdrawals]

Your paint seems to match the fenders much closer than tha paint I got. I got some PRO HONDA touch up paint{code R-109 Passion Red} from a dealership . They looked it up and said this was the paint code for the ATC in the mid 80's My paint [Base/clear coat} looks a little lighter in color and you can see the difference in shade from tank to fender. I can see that you got a much closer color match. Looks like i will have to get that color next time. Keep up the fine looking work on your next restoration. :beer

[ClayW]

Hey ATCwithdrawals. You are right that paint code ( R109 Passion Red ) is the color and paint code. Paint in a spray can is never the same color. When painting, you also have to keep in mind the color of your primer. Light gray primer will make your final red color, a lighter shade. If you use black primer, you will have a deep dark red. The color the red is suppose to be. That could have been some of your problem, but most likely its the spray can paint. Touchup and spray paint never a dead on match. The R109 paint code is for an acrylic enamel automotive type paint. The paint shop crossed it in the computer and made me a basecoat that was the same color. The clear on my tank makes the finish look a mile deep. Shines like crazy. Like glass.

[twgranger]

You did a very nice job on it, looks new!

[ATCwithdrawals]

I had the touch up paint computer scanned to come up with a color match.I didn't use the spray can to paint with. I painted with a spay gun base/clear. But like you said , I must of used a lighter primer gray.I will have to try the black primer next time. Thanks