Fast Eddie's Aprilia RS250 rebuild & restore

[ducatilover]

true, it musnt have liked your prep work or something maybe shit conditions.. I bring my stuff inside to warm/cure off.

this seat cowl has been inside for 1.5 weeks now curing.. its almost there but i can still smell a wee bit of it. some youtube clip i watched of a kiwi in his garage said ya can wait up to 2 weeks sometimes

So you recon I should flatten it off with 1600 wet and then chuck another coat of clear on? because like I said, its been curing off for a week and a bit now I thought that was it and I couldn't put any more on it..

its lacquer paints.. base and clear.

and yea it looks pretty good, its nice and smooth cause i took my time with sanding and some light filler and sanding between coats of base.. but it doesnt quite have that deep gloss to it yet.

I wasn't as OCD with my prep as usual, was hanging out to throw some gloss black around it was a bit cold too so both the top and black coats are fuckin' soft.
I wouldn't throw any more at it, just polish it when it's cured. If you're using a harsh/strong compound use a buff and wet the wheel on it, it's quite easy to burn/damage the paint...DAMHIK

How many coats of clear has it got? I reckon she'll come up real good after a polish. Not many people get the sexy finish straight off the gun.

[imdying]

I'm not sure I'd bother trying to flatten with that grade of paper, it's a bit fine and will basically just polish the top without flattening. A 600-800 would be as light as I'd go, but TBH if I were doing it to put another clear coat on, I'd use a 400... it's aggressive enough to actually flatten orange peel out, and aggressive enough to leave a keyed surface for the next coat to really latch on to... but it's also gentle enough that your next clear coat will make the scratches you would expect to see disappear completely.

[ducatilover]

I'm not sure I'd bother trying to flatten with that grade of paper, it's a bit fine and will basically just polish the top without flattening. A 600-800 would be as light as I'd go, but TBH if I were doing it to put another clear coat on, I'd use a 400... it's aggressive enough to actually flatten orange peel out, and aggressive enough to leave a keyed surface for the next coat to really latch on to... but it's also gentle enough that your next clear coat will make the scratches you would expect to see disappear completely.

I've always used 800 on super fucked surfaces and usually 1200-2000. If I have any visible sanding marks I will throw my toys right the fuck out the cot

[Fast Eddie]

hmm gotta count.. I think I put a first coat on that was ultra light, just a dusting.. then 1 good coat, then another.. then im sure I went 1 more.. so call it 3 wet coats? but they probably werent that thick - it was a very cold day I was doing it so i was putting it on pretty light.

if 1600 would polish it maybe I could give it a wet rub with that to polish it a bit and then rubbing compound? hmmm lol...

on another part I used I did use 1200 wet and I'm pretty sure I got through the clear coat way quicker than I thought and ended up having to put more clear on/start again.. so I think maybe I do light coats of clear? hard to know.. if I go too thick I usually get clouding issues so been fairly cautious since wrecking a few bits.

[imdying]

I'm no painter so my advice is probably worth what you paid for it... but I have clear coated a few carbon parts I've made, and as you can imagine sanding scratches show up pretty easily... and I use 400 on those. The top coat needs to be sprayed thick enough for it to flow (into the scratches/keying etc), but not so thick that it runs... and that appears to be the challenge... Takes some practice, but it's generally only funny shapes that are what I could consider difficult.

[ducatilover]

Just polish it bro, I wouldn't be too keen sanding the top coat. If it goes wrong, you have gay looking paint
Imdying, have you made some carbon stuff yourself? I'm going to learn how to lay carbon, just for shits and gigs. (then I'll make a carbon, tank, tail and guard for the 600)

[imdying]

Just polish it bro, I wouldn't be too keen sanding the top coat. If it goes wrong, you have gay looking paint
Imdying, have you made some carbon stuff yourself? I'm going to learn how to lay carbon, just for shits and gigs. (then I'll make a carbon, tank, tail and guard for the 600)

Yeah some... that's basically why I did it too... I figured if John Britten could do it in his garage, so could I... of course it all spiralled out of control... now my garage has an 'oven' in the roof big enough for a car bonnet and a vacuum pump hahahahahah

[ducatilover]

Yeah some... that's basically why I did it too... I figured if John Britten could do it in his garage, so could I... of course it all spiralled out of control... now my garage has an 'oven' in the roof big enough for a car bonnet and a vacuum pump hahahahahah

Brilliant

[Fast Eddie]

I'm no painter so my advice is probably worth what you paid for it... but I have clear coated a few carbon parts I've made, and as you can imagine sanding scratches show up pretty easily... and I use 400 on those. The top coat needs to be sprayed thick enough for it to flow (into the scratches/keying etc), but not so thick that it runs... and that appears to be the challenge... Takes some practice, but it's generally only funny shapes that are what I could consider difficult.

Choice, i'v got plenty of bits to paint so plenty of practice ahead - yea only reason I don't go thicker is that when it dries it gets all cloudy for me, i don't really get runs. I tried to thin out the last layer of clear to try get it to sit flatter but yea.. its still going to need a final polish to get it glossier.

Just polish it bro, I wouldn't be too keen sanding the top coat. If it goes wrong, you have gay looking paint

chur will do, I get my stuff from a wee paint shop, I wouldn't know if they are any good or not but their service is good so I'll just buy whatever they give me eh.. its that or turtlewax from the warehouse lol

... now my garage has an 'oven' in the roof big enough for a car bonnet and a vacuum pump

haha thats awesome, fibreglassing was challenging enough for me, guess I better give carbon fibre a go too eh. nice carbon toilet seat would look good in the throne

[imdying]

Choice, i'v got plenty of bits to paint so plenty of practice ahead - yea only reason I don't go thicker is that when it dries it gets all cloudy for me, i don't really get runs. I tried to thin out the last layer of clear to try get it to sit flatter but yea.. its still going to need a final polish to get it glossier.

If you're getting bloom, then quite likely it's just too cold. Seeing as you're using a proper paint shop, ask them and they'll give your the product manufacturers data sheets. Don't spray when humidity is much over 50% (get a cheap weather station if you have to), don't spray when it's too cold. It's probably just moisture in the air getting trapped in the clear coat. There's a couple of painters on here who might know something useful. In my experience spraying in cold weather is just asking to have to flatten it back and try again... DAMHIK!

I love fibreglassing... it's so damn easy (compared to carbon) reckon I could train a monkey to do it! To be fair, carbon isn't that much harder, it's only when you want lovely undisturbed weave with a pinhole free finish that things get tricky....

[ducatilover]

In my experience spraying in cold weather is just asking to have to flatten it back and try again... DAMHIK!

Have to agree there... might be why my current paint looks so superbly shite.

I love fibreglassing... it's so damn easy (compared to carbon) reckon I could train a monkey to do it! To be fair, carbon isn't that much harder, it's only when you want lovely undisturbed weave with a pinhole free finish that things get tricky....

Glass is great and easy I'll have to buy some carbon and give it a go, I hate carbon that hasn't got straight weave when it's been shaped, looks poo. So chances are, I'll be wasting lots of money...

[theflyingkiwi]

hey imdying, what have you done to you RGV? i see that your a regular on the RGV forum, im doing the basic things like heads, power valves, zeel unit, kit pipes, got any other secrets that you dont mind sharing, like have you tryed 38mm carbs etc, i understand that the top tuners keep there secrets in a safe, so if not allgood

[imdying]

hey imdying, what have you done to you RGV? i see that your a regular on the RGV forum, im doing the basic things like heads, power valves, zeel unit, kit pipes, got any other secrets that you dont mind sharing, like have you tryed 38mm carbs etc, i understand that the top tuners keep there secrets in a safe, so if not allgood

Sure, I'll PM you... but I'm not a tuners arsehole, I didn't port it or anything like that.

[theflyingkiwi]

cheers for that

[Fast Eddie]

im doing the basic things like ... kit pipes.
(got any other secrets that you dont mind sharing)

What kit pipes have you got/getting bro? where did you get em from.. I'd like some of these elusive kit pipes..

don't hold out, share some secrets with all of us now! this is my thread after all, jeez