The rescue of a 92 CB750.

[TheDarkFox]

So a few months ago i bought 92 CB750 with several known problems. The engine ran and there was no structural damage, but that was where the 'good things' list ended. For reasons i cannot even begin to comprehend, the PO had decided to spray primer over the factory paint job and leave it like that. So not only did he NOT strip off the original paint first, but he didnt even re-color it after he primered the whole thing.

The bike had been dumped on its left side going about 30mph, according to the PO, and since he had HORRIBLE taste in handlebars *and* did not properly test fit them first, his left grip was pushed into the gas tank during the crash, putting a dent in the tank about half the size of a baseball. So on top of the scrape damage on the entire left side of the bike, there is also a massive hole to contend with.

The shift linkage cover (or something like that, i'm not a mechanic) also leaked oil at a steady rate. So that was item #1. Had to pull the engine off to get to the leak, because the PO had been fidding in the deep parts of the engine prior, and LEFT SOME BOLTS AND GASKETS OUT. So i got the gaskets and bolts ordered, sealed off the linkage cover with a proper gasket, and now the leak pretty much is corked as far as i can tell.

This is the image story of what i got, and the 3 skins its been in since.

UPDATE PIC. Going to maintain a before and 'thus far' picture here in the first post from now on.


This is how i received the bike:



Leaking oil (I caught hell for using girlfriend's cooking pan as my drip pan lol )

$450 in labor and parts later, that leak was fixed. -_-


Since this is my gf's bike and she's a little shorter than what this bike calls for, i decided to find a way to lower the rear end. So i took out my dremel tool and cut the factory welds that held on the shock plate to the swing arm. Here is the swing arm after the two plates were cut off. (I dont have a bike stand so we set the bike on its side onto a plank of cedar).


So i turned the shock plates around backwards and brought them to the back of the swing arm as far as they would go. I got out the tac welder and got busy...



This is where it WAS:


This is where the shocked moved TO:


And this is it reassembled:

(After much riding, i determined there was no loss in suspension quality, cornering ability, or any other noticeable factor)

Onto the paint.

Girlfriend and i scratched our heads for a while and eventually decided on a blue and black color scheme. I wasn't going to half-ass the paint job so i stripped it all the way down. This is what was underneath the layer of primer:



Here if you look for it on the far side you can see the big dent in the gas tank:


This is the tank filled with body filler:


Our first color scheme was all blue. Blue engine cover pieces, blue gas tank, blue body pieces. Unfortunately as we found out, because the body panels were in such rough shape when we got them, they showed every little flaw even at a good stand-off distance. Here is what it looked like nonetheless.


A quick note on the headers. I bought thousand-degree blue paint for the headers, but accidentally painted the front forks with that paint, and painted the headers with the normal blue paint. (the paint on the headers later burned off of course. I have yet to re-do them).

So we decided to go with more black for the 2nd attempt. Here is the gas tank redone with black and blue:

I used electrical tape for the stripe, and it turned out fine.

So then we had this:

Starting to hide those flaws a little better. But it lacked the high gloss shine that we were looking for.

I recently decided to redo the black paint with rust-o-leum and a high density foam brush. Here are some of the parts re-done:
Gas tank with flash on:


With flash off:


And one of the body covers. Both covers and the rear fairing all looked about the same.


So now the bike is parked in my living room so i can continue working on it (because its too cold outside right now).




You can notice the black on the wheels is much sharper than the black of the tires.

So there is my project SO FAR. I like to hear constructive criticism if it will help me improve the bike. :)

[mikefootusa]

So Sorry...but it looked better when you got it.

[TheDarkFox]

The right side looked okay because it wasnt torn to shreds, and you couldnt see the random blotch of black and blue paint on the tank, or the huge dent, or all the torn up rubber, metal, and plastic. Plus *none* of the original chrome had any luster left in it. Everything was dim, grey, cloudy. The engine was caked in dried carbon and neglect.


Back wheel when i got it:


I've got more work yet to do.

Right now the headers are the big eyesore, which is why i have a mission to get them done ASAP.

[TDodge7]

If you want that paint to look good you're going to have to wet sand.....and wet sand.....and wet sand.....it's a vital step to paint. What happened to  your fender and fork brace? You aren't riding it like that are you ? I suggest VHT flame proof for the header, I've used it on a few bikes, and if you actually prep it correctly it's a pretty tough finish.

[TheDarkFox]

The front fender is flimsy. The bike didn't come with any kind of fork stabilizer like what i find on my honda magna. I've rode it a couple times with and without it.

The paint's coming along. I've got more layers to do, and yes, so much sanding to do lol. Right now though, in person the tank and body parts look pretty sharp. It's really hard to see the surface imperfections until you get up close.

I rode through the rain yesterday so my bike's covered in dust =/

I'll look into that VHT paint. The headers are only a day's worth of painting, maybe two. Depends on the paint's dry time. I'm probably going to start on it tomorrow because its an eyesore

Here's an open opinion question.
My exhaust is chrome, but heavily scratched and scuffed up. If it were you guys, would you sand it down and re polish it or paint it black? Tomorrow the headers and engine case are getting their coats of black, so the bike's definitely black with blue accents. So should i just black out the whole exhaust or try to bring back the exhaust's shine? It's currently one of very few chrome parts on the bike.

[Option13]

No offense, but that's not the right way to lower a bike. The suspension will be less stiff the way you have it than it was stock because you have changed the arc it moves through when the swingarm moves. Should have bought shorter shocks. It  works, obviously, but that is far from ideal.

As for the paint, if you're going to paint it again, go with rattle can. It goes on much thinner and smoother than any brush.

[TheDarkFox]

No offense taken. A lot of people dont like the idea of changing the lever ratio of their shocks, but since i am not among them, this worked well for us. Like i said, no noticeable difference on the road. Plus this way was free, vs spending 300 or 400 dollars on shocks which we just simply didnt have. But i digress.

The reason i got away from the rattle cans is they dont leave a deep color or high gloss. I tried buffing, waxing, and polishing my rattle can results, and could never get that deep shine i really wanted. And since i dont own an airbrush or air compressor, painting by hand was my next choice

By surface imperfections, i'm not referring to bubbles or anything like that. I dont have many during the process, the few i do i sand away. The body panels themselves and the gas tank were heavily, heavily scarred from the previous owner's crash. I went over them many times with body filler and body glaze and got probably 90-something percent of the big cracks and scars out. I've made peace with that they will never be perfect because of how badly they were screwdd up when i got them.

I'll take more pics tomorrow after the next go-round of painting and sanding. :)

[Option13]

Maybe the tank's texture comes from a crash, but sidecovers don't get wavy unless you really heat them up. It's the paint.

Rattlecan can't look deep? You obviously never saw pictures of Laminar's DIY paintjob on his Mach III Kawasaki.

[TheDarkFox]

Mine dont look wavy. You're probably seeing something in my camera lense or something.

As far rattle can, i've tried everything i could find at lowes and autozone, and yeah i could never get a quality finish.

[Option13]

Rattle can work. Ignore the fingerprints, those aren't flaws in the paint.

[TheDarkFox]

If i could find a paint that would produce a finish like that, i'd use it. As i mentioned, all the ones i have available dont produce anything near that good.

[TDodge7]

Well a good paint job doesn't just spray out of the can all pretty like that , you have to do your part. Do a search on here for spraymax and you'll find quite a few threads where people have done their own spray paint paint jobs the right way that actually last and won't be hurt by gas. If you just empty a spray can at a part and expect it to look like that you'll be disappointed every time. To get spray paint to look like glass it needs to be applied correctly, on a properly prepped and smooth surface, and then wet sanded super smooth, and then top coated with clear which also then needs to be wet sanded super smooth with buffing and polishing to follow. It's quite a bit of work and very time consuming but it's worth it if you get it right.

[Laminar]

Rustoleum gloss black, rustoleum metal flake, Testors candy red, Spraymax 2k clear.

[TheDarkFox]

Cool. I'll take a look around tomorrow and see if anybody has it in stock. :)

[Floridamtbiker99]

AWESOME JOB!!!  Check out my thread.  I did the same thing.

http://nighthawk-forums.com/index.php/topic,10712.msg173060.html#msg173060

[TheDarkFox]

At least yours still had factory paint on it. -_- Mine was a piece of freaking crap when i got it.

[TheDarkFox]

Update on today's project progress.

I went out to our local paint and body shop and got some paint mixed out of the catelog book. I got a blend made from the 2009 Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep book, the black they used notably on the Dodge Ram's. They had some fancy name for it, but i know it as 'black with fancy speckles' lol. $35 for the quart though. Ouch >_o

I went this route because nobody, including Lowes, Wal-Mart, Sherwin-Williams, or Autozone had any rattle can spray paint with metallic speckling. But now, as a big MOPAR fan, and nighthawk lover, i get to mix hobbies, so to speak :)

I got proper 2000 degree primer, and trying out 500 degree paint (we'll see). Header's and exhaust. (I do the headers in phases, you can see the underside still needs the first coat, etc)


Anyway, here's a close-up of the tank's surface now.


And here's one of the side panels:


This is only the first layer of paint, mind you. I figured while it was drying i would show the progress.

The other side of the project, i decided to paint the engine case and repair the alternator cover (was previously dropped, got some rash on the cover). Here is the engine case as it sits now, still wearing all the protective tape of course.

[AmericanClassic]

That already looks a million times better than your first "paint-job."

Its a shame you decided to paint the engine though. Im jealous of the silver engine of the early hawks.

[TheDarkFox]

I was on the fence about it. I really like blacked out engines (i'm a sucker for nightsters), and this engine had no luster left in it what so ever. The paint i selected turned out to be WAY more glossy than i expected, which i guess i can live with :P

Thanks for the improvement comment.    I think it looks better too. This was my learning bike as far as cosmetic work goes. I'm figuring it out as i find out what *doesnt work lol.

[Floridamtbiker99]

Did you header bolts snap?  it looks like they did from the pictures.  How are you going to fix it?   I wish I had a welder.   I want to paint my header pipes but affraid of breaking the bolts.

Any advice?   

I too, want to paint my engine black with some gold.

[FearThis SC]

It's great seeing another NH rescue.   Your new paint scheme looks so much better than the previous one!  Keep up the good work!

Ride Safe...

[SirSeanSean]

It's great seeing another NH rescue.   Your new paint scheme looks so much better than the previous one!  Keep up the good work!

Ride Safe...

+1

[floridahawk]

Rattle can work. Ignore the fingerprints, those aren't flaws in the paint.

     Perfect rattle can work !!  Its not just the rattle can, its all work of wet sanding, compounding, and  polishing. But You can get perfection in a can. You will learn a lot on this forum. Keep at it, you'll get it right. I have!!!

[TheDarkFox]

Did you header bolts snap?  it looks like they did from the pictures.  How are you going to fix it?   I wish I had a welder.   I want to paint my header pipes but affraid of breaking the bolts.

Any advice?   

I too, want to paint my engine black with some gold.

I do own a welder, yes, but no none of my bolts or nuts have snapped. I took them off yesterday without a fuss. The PO set this bike up with a vance and hines exhaust, so its 4 into 1, so its easy to work with.

If you're a hobbyist, BUY A WELDER lol. It's a fantastic and fun piece of equipment to have, opens up so many doors for you.

My next item is a tabletop mill so i can actually do some decent metalworking.

[TimmyJ]

I would make sure everything mechanical was taken care of first, I wouldnt even touch the paint yet, that comes last. And blue headers and a blue engine? I dont get it...