Before Pictures of my Bike. Tomorrow I will post pictures of the bike brought naked and in the middle of sanding. As the weekend progresses I will put up pictures of the paint i'm laying down.


Shot with SPH-M520 at 2009-09-04

looking forward to seeing it.
Just don't get addicted like I did. Within a week I'd ordered:

LED Indicators
Dominators
GSXR750 k6 pipe
bar end mirrors
clubman bars
vapor digital dash

and had

removed fairings
cut off the passenger footpeg brackets
destroyed the speedo bracket for a mount to secure the idiot lights.

And I'm not done yet


Always interested in seeing what others do with their bikes, and really interested in paint ideas.

First I got my bike stripped naked and wet sanded.

While I had everything pulled off the bike I performed a fenderectomy. Heres a couple angles.

And now for the paint. Well the primer. But here it is primed. Yeah I know i love steps and pictures.




And now for a base coat. I used a metallic turqouise blue so that it would shine through in the light.

Next I started laying a green dyed clearcoat over the turqouise to give it that greenish blue look I've been aiming for.




Finally I laid a snake pattern scaleing with some wire mesh I found in a heating vent. Worked beautifully. Didn't come out perfectly in the pictures with my phone but i'll get some better ones tomorrow while i'm laying clear coats.

Wow man, I really like the look of that, Could you give more detail on how it was done.
Thanks.

That paint looks awesome! The only other special paint I've ever seen is that color changing paint, and I'm not usually too crazy about it, but your bike is going to look great.

Yeah i likes too.  Looks realy good! You are doing the painting yourself? I am excited about seeing it put back together

THIS IS MY DISCLAIMER.

Note to the Do it yourselfer. I have been painting with a spray gun for YEARS....let me reemphasize that....YEARS!!!  So if you undertake this and have less luck than me. Practise more and try again. After all you already bought the equipment and the paint was only 80-100 dollars (and if you're like me you have enough for a full extra paint job)

THIS IS MY DISCLAIMER.

Alright now that I have said that step by step, word for word details incoming...by the way this could be wickedly boring.

Obviously I removed all of the fairings.
Step One - (Materials needed: 800 grit sandpaper, water hose, warm sunny day) Start by wetting down the part you are going to sand and soaking the sandpaper with the hose. Begin sanding away the TOPCOAT ONLY....you are trying to break the clear coat of the paint. NOT sand to the metal or bare plastic. The process goes like this. Sand. Wet. Let dry. Check for clear coat remains. Sand. Wet. Let dry. Rinse repeat until clear coat is no longer present on all of pieces you would like to paint.

Step Two - (Materials needed: lacquer based universal automotive primer (i used gray), lacquer thinner, 400 grit sand paper, 800-grit sand paper, air hose, air compressor, gravity feed paint sprayer and this is no lie you dont need a million dollar gun mine actually cost 12.99 at harbor freight) 50% primer, 50% lacquer thinner...that depends on the brand you are using of course... combine and spray over all pieces that you have sanded the clear coat off and allow to dry (roughly ten minutes with a lacquer based primer) BUFF with 800 grit sand paper...buff is very different from sand, buffing is a light touch to smooth a surface and remove settled flaws in the primer. Sanding is what you will need to do with any runs and visible defects in the primer. Sand these types of defects with the 400-grit paper and then run back over with the 800-grit paper. Add multiple coats of primer. I used 3 coats.

Step Three - (Materials needed: base coat metallic paint (I used a turquoise blue made from several different green and blue metallic paints I had in my shop) remember this color WILL show through if you follow my steps, automotive paint reducer,  air hose, air compressor, gravity feed paint sprayer, 800-grit sand paper) Mix 50% base coat and 50% reducer.  Spray an even coat of base mix and allow to dry before adding a second coat. Not really any sanding or buffing needed unless you have runs or spatter. Obviously if you do sand and then buff that area, feather the surrounding paint into the area you sanded with your 800-grit sand paper and add another coat until you have no mistakes. This coat needs to be smooth all over to accept the next coat.

Step Four - (Materials needed: Green automotive paint dye, Clear automotive topcoat, automotive paint reducer, automotive topcoat hardner air compressor, air hose, gravity feed paint sprayer) Mix topcoat and green dye and automotive paint reducer. 50% reducer, 50% Topcoat-dye combination. Now mix in a proportionate amount of topcoat hardnr according to the brand you are using. Obviously dye the topcoat till you are satisfied by the result. Spray ONE COAT and be CAREFUL to avoid runs and any defects in this coat of paint because it is semi-clear and everything can be seen very well. Also you CANNOT sand dye jobs because if you sand and then apply another coat you will change the color around the sanded area NOTICEABLY. I used only one coat of green dyed topcoat because I was completely satisfied with the look and the showing of the turquoise color through the green dye in the light and in the dark.

Step Five (optional as it was for the snakeskin look of my bike) – (Materials needed: Black metallic automotive paint, automotive paint reducer, air compressor, air hose, gravity feed paint sprayer, wire mesh lath from propane water heater roof vent, god I wish that was a joke but it worked and it looks GOOOD)  50% black paint, 50% reducer (see the pattern yet) Spray in a random design through the wire mesh held about 1-2 cm from the piece being sprayed until about 90% of piece has been covered with "scales." Wash the screen in lacquer thinner FREQUENTLY to avoid excessive splash and over spray. (Yes that is the source of the only screwed up portion of my paint job on the lower portion of my right side fairing, I got excited because everything was looking so good and splat....so here is your warning  you cannot sand this you have to just live with the mistakes you make or start over)

Step Six – (Materials needed: clear automotive topcoat, automotive paint reducer, automotive topcoa hardner,  air hose, air compressor, gravity feed paint gun, 3000-grit sand paper and no its not 300 it is three thousand grit) 50% clearcoat, 50% reducer. Add propotionate amount of topcoat hardner according to the brand you are using.  Spray several coats (3-4) allowing to dry in between. Buff the last layer with 3000 grit sand paper until perfectly smooth and stand back in awe and happiness at your beautiful paint job. Add a final layer as SMOOTHLY AND CONSISTENLY as possible as this will be the touchable layer of your paintjob.

Step Seven – Put you bike back together and love it more than ever with your thousand dollar paint job for about 300 bucks in materials.


THIS IS MY DISCLAIMER.

Note to the Do it yourselfer. I have been painting with a spray gun for YEARS....let me reemphasize that....YEARS!!!  So if you undertake this and have less luck than me. Practise more and try again. After all you already bought the equipment and the paint was only 80-100 dollars (and if you're like me you have enough for a full extra paint job)

THIS IS MY DISCLAIMER.

The final reassembled bike. All washed up and posing.













I'm really impressed with the look of the new paint combined with the fenderectomy. Can't wait for new bars and blinkers. Next month needs to come faster.

Nice Job 

Guaranteed Not to be another one like it 

That's not a scratch under the pillion grab bar is it?

I see the bar end knobs have been given a different color but not the chain guard.

Michael

that color's not my cup of tea, but that's definitely quality work! grats.

Fortunately its not a scratch just an odd reflection. By the way you scarred the shaZam! out of me and I had to run to te garage to make sure. And I didnt think about repainting the chain guard untill i started putting the bike together and the green dyed topcoat had dryed up. So no more parts were getting that paint. Just my loss. I still love the look of the bike and feel like the changes I'm making will far outshine my overlooking of the chain guard.

Haha, this reptilian GS will really live up to its cold-blooded nature. Long warm-up times will finally make sense!

It's a little flashy for me...but...WOW you have some seriously mad skills.  Very very very impressive.  That has to be the most impressive GS500 paint job I've ever seen.

If a bow down smiley face was one of the options I'd put it here.  Since it isn't an option, though, this  will have to do instead. 

Quote from: ineedanap on September 07, 2009, 08:00:34 PM
It's a little flashy for me...but...WOW you have some seriously mad skills.  Very very very impressive.  That has to be the most impressive GS500 paint job I've ever seen.

If a bow down smiley face was one of the options I'd put it here.  Since it isn't an option, though, this  will have to do instead. 

This one's from ineedanap: 
And this one's from me:    Very nice work

HOLY SHYT!!!!

I wasn't liking the initial turquoise color, but the final product is pure SEX!!!   

Quote from: eralor on September 07, 2009, 03:04:59 PM
Fortunately its not a scratch just an odd reflection. By the way you scarred the oh my goodness out of me and I had to run to te garage to make sure. And I didnt think about repainting the chain guard untill i started putting the bike together and the green dyed topcoat had dryed up. So no more parts were getting that paint. Just my loss. I still love the look of the bike and feel like the changes I'm making will far outshine my overlooking of the chain guard.

I think it looks quite fine without a black chain guard as everything in that area of the bike is black anyway.

And just for double good measure, here's another  for a job Well done.

Nice.

Just nice.

And I say that in a Bloody Awesome Work kinda a way.

Michael

That is a really impressive looking paint job.  Did you spray the windshield with the green dye mix also?