Shovelhead Rattlecan Repaint Part - Screw it. I'm done

I'm the reason I can't have nice things. Walking the tanks to bike for the final install and I chipped the paint on the left tank on an open tool box drawer. I hate paint. Nothing good ever happens to it.


Tanks on, on to covering up the ugly around the gas cap holes. I got chrome "paint saver" rings with my used tanks. I had them powdercoated gloss black.


I think this stuff should stick them done alright. If this isn't sticky enough at least the rings will be captured by the caps.


A little goop on the tanks and some on the rings and let it tack up a bit, then install the rings. Good enough to get this pig on the road again.

Dilemmas and Compromises

So I have a buddy that has been looking high and low for a 1974 Oklahoma motorcycle plate to run on his 1974 Shovelhead. He finally figured out that there were never any 1974 Oklahoma plates issued. There was a riot and fire at Big Mac in 1973 and no 1974 plate were ever produced or distributed. So every tag issued in 1974 was a 1973 tag with a 1974 sticker. So now at least my buddy knows what he's really looking for.

Well I found one at the swap today. It's a bit rougher than I would like, but these are an odd rare bird. Then there's the rub. The gentleman that had it is someone I don't particularly like to do business with.  He's always on the high side and never deals down. So I had to figure if I wanted to buy it from him or not. It was tough to pay more than I wanted to for it, but I figured it would still be worth it if my buddy likes it.

Shovelhead Rattlecan Repaint Part 7 - Painting the hidden side

Yes, I'm still not completely done with this set of tanks. The color in the pic is off a bit, but the flat side of the tank is still primer grey. Don't leave thing just in primer. Yeah, it has a nice rat rod look to it, but the primer doesn't seal out moisture. If you run it for a year it will rust. So I'm just throwing some paint in the middle to keep the rust away.


Tape off the edge of the pretty part.


Same with the underside.




Now more tape and paper to cover the rest of the good side from overspray.






Time to paint.


That's a good coat.


Tape and paper on the other tank.


Paint.


Fish-eyes! ugh. Normally this is real bad, but not a big deal on the hidden part. This is caused by either oils or gasoline residue on the surface prior to paint. This is exactly the reason we have used a barely moist mineral spirit rag to wipe down the surfaces between coats of paint.


The paint on the first tank is dry so we need to pull the tape off as soon as possible. Oops, we taped off some of the primered spots.


We cheated with the masking and did some touch up work.


Dang missed another spot.


Another quick mask off and touch up paint.






Finally these are good enough to mount and leave on.

Adjusting Solid Pushrods on Shovelhead

I have shared this before, but it was facebook video. Don't permanent link or embed anything from facebook. Facebook loves to move things on servers and you end up with end links. Here's my youtube version. Old video, but fresh upload.

Public Service Announcement - Rear Fenders

I know motorcycles are risky deathtraps and that's part of the appeal. I am a fan of minimalist barely legal or maybe not quite legal rides, but rear fenders are important. It was 70 degrees here today and I saw two motorcycles running down the road with no fenders at all. Running without a front fender means water and dirt might hit you, no big deal. If you're running a tiny seat and no rear fender, one nasty bump and your posterior will be between the rear wheel and the frame. It would be very unpleasant to wind up castrated in such a fashion.

Shovelhead Rattlecan Repaint Part 6 - Another Round of Clear

The stripes and decal need a coat of clear to be good to go.

Tape it off, and activate the new can SprayMaxx 2K.


A quick light rub with rag with a just a touch of mineral spirits.


Thin dusting coat, a regular second coat, then after the orange peel clears up a bit(10 minutes or so) another coat.


Still wet.


The same for the front fender.


Maybe a compound rub and one more clear coat. The flat sides still need color to seal them, too.

Happy Tool Drawers...

... make me happy. The big torque wrench that Lummie gave me didn't fit in my toolbox in its case. So I took all my torque wrenches out of the their cases and inlaid them. This arrangement has freed up a bunch of space in the rest of my toolbox.(That's a magnifying glass out a junk old style projection TV, too.)

 

See also http://tearitupfixitrepeat.blogspot.com/2011/04/another-happy-tool-drawer.html and http://tearitupfixitrepeat.blogspot.com/2011/01/inlaid-pliers.html

More changes to the tool box coming soon.