Repainting frame...

[railer]

Hey gang, I've done some searching but can't seem to find what I'm looking for.

98 RM125 rebuild project. Bike actually ran like a top, but started to look sad and needed some TLC. So it's more of a restoration project.

ANYWAY, got everything off the frame and have begun stripping it with Aircraft remover which has worked very well so far. Tonight, I'll be finishing stripping everything and moving into getting the rust spots out. Gonna use some wire brush attachments for my drill and go at it.

Once that's done, it will be time to prep and paint. Pretty comfortable with prepping techniques, but I'm going to try painting with an actual sprayer. I prefer not to use the rattle can method this time, so my question to y'all is what kind of paint to use. Seems like a lot of people use PJ1, but like I said, I'm not going the aerosol route, so I was looking for recommendations on where to get paint and what kind would be the best for a steel frame. Any suggestions? comments? concerns? All .02 cents appreciated.

Cheers!
Brian.


edit - I'm also open to color scheme ideas. For the frame and swingarm, I'm thinking of going gun-metal grey. And what I'd like to do is black out the whole bike. My problem is that I can't find a black gas tank. It will look goofy with black plastics and a yellow tank, so if anybody's got any ideas, lemme know. Thanks!

 

[Backslayer]

If you took the bike that far take it and get it powder coated. Will last 10 times longer, just my .02 cents

 

[railer]

If you took the bike that far take it and get it powder coated. Will last 10 times longer, just my .02 cents

Good idea, but what's that gonna run me? I'm not trying to spend a whole bunch on this project, and I've already got quite a bit of money allocated to new parts once I start putting it back together, ya know. Me painting it seems the cheapest route, but then again, maybe not...

Secondly, where can I get that done? It might be difficult to find a place that will do it.

Also, can they do colors? I really don't want straight black. I'd rather have a dark greyish color...and bare in mind, I want the swing arm to match, so I will actually be powder coating two items.

 

[Bluesmoke250]

I am in the process of doing the same thing to my bike i got prices from $200 to $250 that included sand blasting well worth it for the little bit of money.

 

[colbyc28]

I went through the same thing. Luckily, where I worked had a bead blaster. Works wonders. Also, we did business with a company that happened to powder coat for us so I got lucky and got it all for free. This was 2 years ago. It has held up well...but I wouldnt say any better than what ever the factory used. It still shows signs of use....which is to be expected. I tell you what I really wanted to do...but it was going to be about 200$...is get it coated with some of that Rhino Liner stuff...like in the back of trucks. That stuff is tuff! Textured too....that would be unique as heck. I dont know how much weight it would add though....and by the way..on the powder coating...they can do any color you want.

 

[railer]

I went through the same thing. Luckily, where I worked had a bead blaster. Works wonders. Also, we did business with a company that happened to powder coat for us so I got lucky and got it all for free. This was 2 years ago. It has held up well...but I wouldnt say any better than what ever the factory used. It still shows signs of use....which is to be expected. I tell you what I really wanted to do...but it was going to be about 200$...is get it coated with some of that Rhino Liner stuff...like in the back of trucks. That stuff is tuff! Textured too....that would be unique as heck. I dont know how much weight it would add though....and by the way..on the powder coating...they can do any color you want.

I'm just really set on painting it. I want the glossy finish. I already started sanding it down to bare metal and it will take a while, but I don't mind doing the work myself. I turn on the radio, and I can get my mind off things, ya know.

I'm going to set up a "poly" room in my shop at work so I will have a good compressor to hook my paint sprayer to, and I'm spending 150 bucks on the best automotive finish paint you can buy.

Here's some pics of the sanding process, so far. I didn't realize it would take this long, but like I said, I don't mind at all.

and by the way, heres what the bike looked like in 05 when I got it.