Talk to strangers!

[Andersd]

Started delacing the rear wheel yesterday, loads of photos to document in order to get it right when putting it together. Rusty old spokes gone and time to clean the hub. Got myself a bit of hose and built a soda blaster. Since the rear hub is wet after pre cleaning I tried the blaster on the front hub. Amazing how effective it works. Hours and hours of labour saved.

[Andersd]

I need some help please!

Working on the rear hub and got a few questions. How did it look when it came from the factory. Was the hub painted? Spokes chromed. The rim, clear coated or just polished?

And then, fork bottoms. Painted, polished, clear coated?

//A

[Steevensi]

Wow that's great work so far.

[Easter]

No paint on hubs or rims. Some kind of clear on most of the aluminum parts but it isn't powder coat or conventional paints. Not highly polished, maybe vapor blast. Spokes were shiny but not chrome.

[Andersd]

Thank you! I'm working on the rims today. Trying to get rid of the old pitted miscoloured clear coat. Tough job, can't find a suitable machine to get in there between nipple dimles. 400 grit wet papee works but takes forever.
I will not clearcoat the rims. I will just polish them and keep them clean and waxed. Right now I think the hubs are getting painted in the same colour as the engine. I believe they will be easier to keep clean that way.

//A

[Andersd]

After hours and hours of reading, watching youtube and worrying I threw myself in to wheelbuilding. After getting the rear hub cleaned and painted, the rim clean and polished I had to do it, grab the bull by it's horns an do it...

Took me two hours from start to almost finished. The rear wheel is round and straight again and shiny of course.

Using the straws as guides for the spokes saved a lot of time and scratches.

A good nights work!

//A

[Easter]

Looks super.

[Andersd]

Still here, and tonight a bit dizzy from thinner fumes, need new filters for my mask. I'm painting. All small engine parts that are supposed to be painted are now painted, almost. Engine itself still needs to get cleaned, sanded and prepped for paint and I think the heads are left to.

[desertrefugee]

You, sir, do good and thorough work. Looking forward to seeing the finished product!

[Easter]

More great work.

[Andersd]

Stayed a bit longer in the boys room last night cleaning and prepping the engine for paint. Got a couple layers with etch primer on the bare metal parts to cure over night.

Todays lunch brake was spent polishing one of the valve covers. Back from work I started painting the engine. All the really tight spots that are impossible to reach with the paint gun got attacked with an airbrush. The picture shows glossy paint through the thinner mist but when it is cured supposed to get semi glossy.

I went to the paint shop to get black glossy paint for the frame and brought one of the radiator wings with a paintflake of the original blu green paint. We found a really nice match, some Honda colour.

[Andersd]

More lunch time polishing and more after work painting. Loaded up the gun with black paint this night. A dream to work with instead of tha metallic for engine parts. Tomorrow there will be more parts to paint.
I must say it is a steep learning curve in this project. Never touched a paint gun before...

[Easter]

Great work, especially for a beginner.

[Andersd]

Thank you Easter!
I thought I'd share the paint code for the candy blue green special substitute if anyone needs it.

Honda B143M Calypso Blue Pearl is a close match.

No guarantees!

[Track T 2411]

Looks great!