Frame painting (disassembly difficulty?)

[DCopp]

I want to sandblast and paint my bike's frame but am curious what kind of time and difficulty I will have disassemling the entire bike...I have experience on tearing down ATV's to the frame for powdercoating but am hoping that the bike will be easier...any advice or tips are appreciated!!!

[yamahonkawazuki]

:mrgreen: should be pretty much the same as atv, if you have tools close by, stands, ets., im thinkin' maybe three hours?.
had contest at mmi, where we had to teardown and re-assemble gs, i had it torn down in 2h 15m, back together (and running) in 2h 40m. have manual nearby, and remember where things came off of. if you forget, or forget routing, wires cables etc., look it up. can be a life saver. have fun. send pics when done. ive never seen a painted frame gs.    

[Wrencher]

yamakonkawazuki, which MMI campus did you go to and what did you think of the school?

Kinda curious, I am currently enrolled but haven't had the chance to talk to many people that have graduated to get their take on things.

[yamahonkawazuki]

went to phoenix az. campus beginning jun 01, got out (grad.) may 3 02
education i got there, was by far excellent. what they dont tell you, it helps to have seat time, riding experience, when you go job hunting after you get out., but i should have known that. education you will get there, will help in most everything you do. with your car, mowers, bikes anything with a gas engine, and anything with a tranny. clinic three was fun. have to tear down a 300cc, or was it a 350cc, atv engine, completely, measure parts&clearances, put back together, and it has to run. and shift. mine did, but i forgot to torque bolts, it ran, but it puked oil out of every orifice possible. :mrgreen: you will get your moneys worth if you stick it out to the end of your program. btw, which program are you in?, are you going import or hd?, either way , the ed. you get you can pretty much work on anything. mmi deg. carries a lot of weight in industry. good luck to you.

[Wrencher]

Wow, I started the next rotation after you graduated also in Phoenix. Signed up for all the imports right now but will probably be adding HD late model and Buell before all is said and done.

Glad to hear positive things from graduates. So far it is disappointing with lectures on identifying ball peen hammers vs brass and how to change tires, but I assume it picks up the further one goes. I have about 10 years of seat time and nearly the same in wrench time on cars and a handfull of bikes. There are the occasional "well duh... yeah, that would work better than how I was doing it" but for the most part its less new information than I was expecting (just getting started in school might have something to do with it too).

I was under the impression that the motors didn't have to run and shift until clinic 6. Clinic 3 is the machine shop if memory serves.

P.S.  Did you ever get used to the bloody heat down here? I feel like I am riding around in a giant easy bake oven all the time!

[JamesG]

I want to sandblast and paint my bike's frame but am curious what kind of time and difficulty I will have disassemling the entire bike...

It's not too difficult, just start loosening fasteners.


The hard part is getting it back together.  

[The Buddha]

What have you done to the steering neck dude...and is that chrome??? or just very shiny paint you have on it...
Cool.
Srinath.

[JamesG]

The PO welded a bit of flat stock across the steering stops for a mounting point for a steering damper/upper.

Its "Bumper Chrome" from AutoZone.  Looked pretty good when I first painted it, but it never really cured well. the silver would rub off on your hands, fuel literally washes it off, and it crinkled when I tried to clear coat it...
I'll not be using it again.

[yamahonkawazuki]

oops, yeah, sorry, it was 6, 3 is mach. shop, and 4 if memory serves me correctly, is electrical. :mrgreen: as far as the heat goes, coming out in june probably wasnt wise, but i got used to it. had good ac at the time,   was working guard at d.s.f.c.u in 120+ heat shoes and tires sticking to asphalt. speaking of campus, is charlie cavallo still there?
taught theory while i was there. the man knows something of just about every m/c ever made. if he is ask him a really stupid question like "is a carb float supposed to be sealed" :mrgreen: or why does a harley sound like its running on two cyls., ask him something like that hell give you a stupid look, but will usually make him laugh. btw, if he is there, tell him aaron said hi. if you know a lot of what they are teaching, great. but like i said, that cert./deg./diploma carries a LOT of weight in the industry.
after all, the v-rod they had in the lobby, we got 2 mos. before the dealers did. for dealer to be able to get them, they had to send mechs to mmi for that training. also survived heat by 1 night class, 2. pool at apt. and plenty of beer!!!!! keep in touch. i wanna hear how it goes. use my e-mail if you have to.

[JamesG]

[Toenis]

Never-ever try to use any of those bumper and wheel paints - those are only impact resistant if I am correct... not talkin` about powdercoating the rims and so on.