White SP

[xine]

Oki.. I've wanted to do this since forever but juz dun hav e time. Rem eons ago when I juz bought my bike it's in a rather sorry state wif paint peelin n stuff, but I still love it coz its an SP! Sports bike r so darn cool rite? lol So I made up my mind to revamp it.. respray white, change parts, etc. I got some tips from a fren who is sprayin his bike at tat time too, so I gt a partner in crime.. like when usin e carpark fire hose, ahaha

 

Anyway, in order not to mess up too badly on my first try, I scoured through e web researchin and got lots of information and guides from SBF, like spray techniques or pple sharing their invaluable experiences. However, there is never enough pics to satisfy my lust for visuals, so I'm left tryin to imAgine wat a bike looks like when this guy screams 'It's ruined!'.

 

I tot it would be pretty neat if someone could put lotsa photos up along wif their documentation of the entire sprayin process. I tot it would be quite useful to the uninitiated if they can see where to start, what they have to prepare b4hand, how to go abt doin things, etc. I tot wth~ this forum have been such a great help to me, I might as well be the one to do it! By sharing my experience, be it gd or bad, at least I have a chance of helpin other clueless first-timers like me

 

Shades, I'm drifting kk back to e topic~~

 

'SO WHERE R THE %$$^$%^ PICS?!' e impatient ones muz b shoutin now.

 

...

 

Rats.. I juz realised I cant put pics and captions below em to make for easier reading. There's a cap limit on file size too.. mayb that's y I dun see too many sprayin pictorials ard. Oh well, I'll juz hav to make do~

 

Phase 1 of my project was actually getting it started again after it has been laid up for almost a year.. If you wanna end a layup, here's a link to guide you along -

http://www.singaporebikes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=155573

 

I've also gt some useful links if ure tinkin of overhaulin SP engines or parts -

SP Part Prices

http://www.singaporebikes.com/forums/showthread.php?p=3476346

Engine Overhaul

http://www.singaporebikes.com/forums/showthread.php?p=3476346

Overhaul Discussion

http://www.singaporebikes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=79658&page=960

SP FAQ

http://z13.invisionfree.com/NSR150SP/index.php?showtopic=1

 

Phase 2 is bike design. Well, I spent quite some time here.. guess I'm procrastinating the laborious work that was to come, ahaha. I kop e first 2 SP templates from some thread in this forum (sorry forgot who issit le ). The third pic shows another design that I modified into a template. It's sort of more accurate bcoz of the angle of view of the bike. More imptly, this version shows where all e fairing plates separate, so it's much easier to estimate how to spray the design when you have dismantled it all apart. Unfortunately, I only roughly do it so I din save e blank version of it. Mayb you all could paint over the existing outlines if you wanna use it? I could do it too sometime, if anyone really need it.

 

One thing abt bike design, its all aga aga de. That's e case for me anyway. The magic you did on photoshop will only be a rough guide to how you wan ur bike to look like. When it comes the time to mask my bike for spraying, I look at the pic on my hp (I transfered it into my hp) n try my best to visualise the angles that should come up - the pointed edge issit nearer the hole at the middle or nearer the side. Does this border ends at the halfway or 3/4 mark between the handle and bottom of the fuel tank.. stuff like that. Hope you get my drift, if not I can elaborate but you will probably only get more confused, lol. Well, there muz b a better way to do this I'm sure, but lazy bums like me always use the lazy ways, ahaha. It doesnt look half bad at the end, so everything's gd

 

Oh, and another thing I realised abt bike design. I went for a simple design coz I liked it that way (c 4th pic). My frens commented that it looked too plain but I figured I could always add stickers or wat b4 lacquer if I nt happy wif it. But surprise surprise, when the fairing is fixed back towards the end, the final design doesn't look plain at all as compared to the computer pic! This is probably coz the details like screws and borders on the real bike was ignored on the template.

 

Phase 3 is the spraying part. First, dismantling. I dunno abt other bikes, but SP is supposed to be easy wif mostly screws n nuts. However in my case, some screws screw me and some nuts drive me nuts. The bike too old le I tink, some of the screws are stuck fast! In comes my dad with a lifetime of DIY experience, but even he have to struggle for an hour before a particular bad screw give way. I still keep the deformed screw wif me, mayb I can sell it to WD40 for em to showcase it as a warning if pple dun use their product regularly. Aside from these sad cases I have not much probs wif e dismantling. Special thanks to Mat, a mechanic at Planet (an Ubi bike shop) who gave me the directions on how to take out the fuel tank. It's really as easy as it sounds - unscrew the main screw first, close the fuel knob den unplug the tube, unhook the electrical wire below, den somtin like lift and pull it out. When I first heard these instructions I was skeptical if I could do it, but when I managed it I was like.. achievement lo, ahaha If someone like me can do it, I'm sure most pple can~

 

Next comes the part that no one can escape - sanding. For my old bike, I not only have to sand the surface smooth, but have to try and get rid of the stubborn centuries old stickers as well. Like the dam screws, these cursed stickers are stuck too! After days of sweat at the staircase outside my hse and one ruined pair of shorts that will forever retain a tinge of dark green from SP original color (from the powdery stuff that was sanded off), I manage to do a gd job of sanding every part up.

 

As you can c from pics 5 n 6, the glossiness was sanded off to ensure that the coming spray job I gonna do will 'eat into' the surface, like will stay on and wun peel off easily. Pic 6 shows some of the epoxy patchwork (black rings) I've done after sanding the part - I pulled out the old screw washers which were stuck to the fairing, thus pulling out some parts of the old paint too and need to patch it up wif epoxy. Some pple prefer putty coz it's easier to mold, but I wanna try epoxy this time coz it's said to b stronger.

[xine]

Pic 7 shows how I try to smooth the edges of the diff colours. Because my SP haven been resprayed b4, the white part makes a very obvious layer height difference when you run your fingers over the coloured edge. Therefore I have to use STRENGTH and SAND the darn border down HARD all e way along the line, thus creating this wavy wavy effect so the different coloured heights can smoothly merge into each other. Pics 8 and 9 is yet another amazing display of the strength mortal fingers are capable of - sand until the metal of the fuel tank showing liao >.

 

Oh ya, I forgot, but pic 9 actually shows some of the masking I've done to prevent water from goin into the tank. At this stage, the only masking (wif masking tape) you will need to do is only to cover the parts you gonna spray that cannot kena water – namely the fuel cap as in pic 9, the fuel tap below the fuel tank and the electrical wires below the tank. Juz anyhow wrapping the whole thing up in several layers of masking tape should do it. But for the fuel tap below, I wrapped it wif a plastic bag first. Not necessary I tink, I juz had a plastic bag at tat point of time and was wonderin wat to do wif it

 

Finally we get to the real spraying stage. My research on the forum generally brought me to the conclusion that spraying 3 coats of primer, den 3 coats of the desired colour, den finishing off with four coats of lacquer is enough. However, the kiasu Singaporean in me wun allow enough to be enough. Basically, I did 2 coats of white primer, 2 coats of white base, 3 coats of white colour den four thick coats of lacquer.

 

I do realize that primer is just used to check for defects in the sanding done previously, and white base coats are used to lighten the dark colors of the previous paintwork, hence not needed in my case. But the more layers of white the beta mah, ahaha.

 

I prepared cardboards beforehand for the spraying job and conducted my operation on the roof of the multi storey carpark below my flat (as you can c from pics 10 and 11), coz they say that sprayin under the white hot sun will be better, glossier or somtin abt the paint being more gripping or wat. That’s pretty stupid of me, coz for a predominantly white SP, I dun need glossiness. Furthermore, my friend stated that I only need to spray the lacquer under the sun, not the whole white process too XS

 

Neway juz for the record, the way I did the white spraying is by spraying thin coats on, den allowing it to dry for abt an hour before I started on the nex coat again. Yes, I timed myself I was aiming for 10 coats of white, but my white paint ran out after the 7th (FYI – One coat of paint on all SP fairing + Fuel tank = 1 ½ can of Pylox spray can) And so, I spent a lot of time downstairs and made frens wif the bangala who tried to wash the MCP. We were both xianz we saw each other. I had to move my things here and there coz apparently my operations base was at a central drainage hole.

 

Masking the white part so I could spray the other colors comes next. Lotsa newspapers and masking tape is needed for this. Normally I concentrate on the design and line the edges of the borders I want with masking tape first, den I cover the rest of the white spaces with newspapers stuck onto the fairing by masking tape on the masking tape that makes up the border of the design (c pic 12). So you see, masking tape is really your fren when it comes to bike spraying. Buy a truckload of it, it’s usefulness is infinite.

[xine]

Spraying the colour in thin coats and letting it dry for abt 15 minutes between each coat, I did 3 coats (c pic 13) before I left it to dry for one day before applying lacquer on it.

 

4 thick coats of Lacquering was done next, but you have to be careful not to be too trigger happy and spray too much coz it will kena like bubble like tat, den jialat. I sprayed the four coats at intervals of about 30min. Actually wanna dry the whole bike for 4 days after that coz some master in SBF commented b4 that ‘should dry for at least 3 days because laquer hard to dry’. However, it was durin the last week b4 Xmas n I aimed to finish the whole thing by den. So.. I tried to b clever and used the fans to dry the parts indoors (c pic 14 and 15). December is not a good time to spray bikes coz rain threatens ever so often. I lost count of how many times I have to run and rescue my parts from the roof because the sun suddenly invited the rain over to play. Neway I hav to resort to usin the fan indoors for 2 or 3 days b4 assemblin the bike up again in time for Xmas. Be warned! No use de! It may look ok but after I dismantled the bike again for another job, I discovered that the fairing retains some dented marks from the screws and washers fastened earlier when the lacquer is not yet fully dried. So well, lesson learnt for me.. lesson gained for you, haha.

 

Juz for the record again, apart from MCP washing bangalas and angry gods that unleashed rain onto your bike, I am also suay enuff to kena pranksters who tink throwing eggs at a rooftop target is a fun hobby. Pics 16 and 17 shows the shrapnel of the weapon and the defenses I’m forced to build up against future aggressors. I understand that the sight of some hapless soul workin in the middle of the wide green roof makes for a temptin target, but I’m sure there are more constructive things to do than throwing good edible eggs at him. Like a fren who kena his bike vandalized, I humbly curse the culprits’ kukujiao to rot away into nothingness sometime soon. That #%!%@$# din manage to hit me or my parts, but he(should b a ‘he’ bah?) managed to stain my cardboard wif an eggy smell which makes my work nauseating and keep me away from the roof whenever possible, which is pretty inconvenient.

[xine]

Since I’m revamping my whole bike I gave it a thorough Washing too. Refer to pic 18 n 19. As you can see, plastic bags are utilized to their fullest potential here – juz wrap the thing ard all e electrical stuff and seal it tight with masking tape. I tink stuff like the dashboard and tail lights that will kena the rain anyway should be waterproof bah. Disclaimer: I do NOT condone usin the fire hose to wash your bike, as suggested in pic 18. Fire hoses should only be used by taxi drivers to wash their taxi at the third floor of MCPs on Sunday afternoons.

 

Okay.. I did a b4 and after thingy here and this white SP is the best Xmas present I gave myself last yr! C pics 20-23!

 

So there it is, a large part of my sprayin involves moving all the fairings and a ¾ full tank up and down the flat and five storey of staircases daily. If I din get a nicer looking bike after all this trouble, I buay song, but still ok. But when my bike looks worse than it otherwise might be after all this effort, I feel like punchin someone or something till I hear something break permanently. From the completed pics above, you might not notice the difference coz of the lightin or wat, but the truth is.. my bike is YELLOWISH! Pic 24 tells it all!

[xine]

Therefore, four months after my first spray job ended, I started Phase 4 to finish up my ideal bike once and for all! First I changed the design abit to fill up some white spaces meant for lines of stickers I’m nt goin to put after all. Den, I bought 2 rolls of blank stickers (one white and one transparent) abt 128cm x 18cm for abt $6 each from an Ubi shop, tinkin I could cut e HONDA letters of a font of my liking out myself. It failed coz e lines were crooked, so I decided to ask e shop to print it instead. Spent abt $24 for two copies, den stick em onto e transparent sticker myself so I can stick em onto e bike before putting on e lacquer.

 

This second spraying is mostly damage control to cover the yellowing, so I did the whole thing juz outside my hse for convenience (C pic 25). After lightly sandin everytin once, I masked the colored parts and sprayed abt 5 thin white coatings over the existing yellowing 1 as well as cover some designs that I’m goin to change. Thin coats all the way~ Dun be alarmed when your first thin coat does not seem to cover your prev darker color (c pic 26), coz by the fifth thin coat it’ll all be good (c pic 27). Maskin the bike coz I still wanted to retain most of the original design is tricky and time consuming. Bcoz I was too hasty I din mask very well and some grey got spilled over to the white, etc. So end up hav to patch up by maskin den resprayin white on the affected part again after everytin dries.. very leh ceh! But that’s the price you pay for slipshod work

 

The final finishing to my bike is the wheel rim sprayin. I have zero knowledge of dismantling wheels so I dun wanna risk it. I dcided to juz try and spray and cover as much as I can with white, den use a brush for the inner areas. From what I’ve learnt from bike spraying- in the bigger picture, your bike will look fine as long as you dun xpect perfection. Ultimately, everytin boils down to ur xpectations and pride, both of which is lacking in my case I guess, ahaha

[xine]

I tink sanding the bike rims is necessary, so cannot zhao, haha (c pic 28). The brush I bought was useless, so after masking the best I can (c pics 29 n 30), I unleashed abt 7 thin coats on it (c pics 31 n 32), in intervals of.. I dunno, 15 min? Coz I juz keep goin - after finishin the last wheel face den go back to the first wheel face continuously. A lot of huffin and puffin at this stage too coz I wanna keep the wheel masking I’ve already done for the lacquer stage. Therefore I cannot just push and move the wheels, so the only thing to do was to lift one side at a time n move a few feet at once in the desired direction. I gotta move e bike back to the parkin lot after sprayin mah, coz cannot spray at the parkin lot there.. no space.

 

As I was quite sure lacquer is the cause of e yellowing last time, I was very careful with it’s use this time. I sprayed very thin coats on it and tried to observe if the whole part is turning yellowish again. By only the 4th thin coat, the dam thing is startin to yellow again so I stopped immediately. It may be more susceptible to scratches now, but at least it’s more presentable (c pics 33-35). I will also try to shore up the protection by using wax polish or other stuff. Some useful links abt that too-

Maintaining white

http://www.singaporebikes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=165371

 

Waxing

http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/showthread.php?t=1942893

 

If you’ve followed me until here, I’m astounded. I know you read until xianz liao. I also type until xianz liao, lol. One last thing den, I’m using Pylox spray cans (c pic 36). I’ve heard that mayb other brands of lacquer like RJ wun cause e yellowing I kena, but I juz dun feel like mixing brands to use on my bike juz yet. The cans in the pic was only used in the first stage of my respray.. Pylox should make me their shareholder one day XD

[queirtus]

wow im amazed at how u did all this by urself,i dun even dare to take out all my fairings for my bike

[kurarensu]

great job..

[danielsin2]

respect and upz!!

 

and guess wat!!

 

HONDA SP ROCKS!!

[Yatz86]

nothing beats a bike designed by ureself, satisfaction guranteed =)

[warrior.c.o.n.p]

wow... nice one bro.. y not create an M.O. upz for u bro.

[Shiloh]

i loved your narration and how detailed your explanation was.

a great do-it-yourself article here.

very helpful with the other extra links and pictures.

well done bro!

respect to ya.

should make this into a sticky for everyone who wanna spray

their bikes on their own.

[AhGui]

Damn... how i wish i got the time to do something like that....

[xiaobanz]

Wah, this is total respect man.. If me i also wanna do all of that..

[ma0ma0z]

hi bro .. no offence here, tats the diff between DIY sprayshop .. wat i salute was ur effort .. coz i did DIY spraying on my rims oso .. end result not as gd as sprayshop .. but enuff to satisfy us .. i haf no pics to show .. coz pics does not realli potray any difference .. ill describe it here ..

 

my original rim was "normal" black rims .. after a few mths of owning my bike, hands got itchy, polished chrome my rear rim .. dun lyk the end result .. therefore, i spray the rear rim back to "metallic black" wif chrome edges .. loved the end result .. tho theres abit of flaws here n ther .. but it gave mi the satisfaction ..

 

so guys .. dun wait anymore liao .. wan new paintwork ?? DIY urself .. its fun !! if no proper knowledge, post it in forums .. i guess there wud be alot of pple can help u guys ..

[ma0ma0z]

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn278/ma0ma0z/Image045.jpg

 

heres my pic of my bike .. ohh ya !! thumbs up for TS abt how he spray his rims .. tats the way i used too .. not to brag, but i tink tats the best way .. coz u mite tink tat u can use the same size spanner to remove the nuts tat holds the rear rim .. but take note, if u gonna fix it back, the strength to tighten the rim may not be enuff .. so to play safe, use the TS way .. ^^y

[fx110]

pOWER bro......

Totally respected:thumb: :thumb:

[ractive89]

er..haha..mayb its not an sp..its an rr...good diy spraying..

[SinFilled]

wow, this is a very detailed phase of ur revamping... nice work bro.

Honda SP is the best!! haha

[ma0ma0z]

er..haha..mayb its not an sp..its an rr...good diy spraying..

 

its an sp, juz tat i tink TS uses an rr pic to do his draft paintwork .. then apply the paintwork to his sp .. ^^y

[army_ncc]

er..haha..mayb its not an sp..its an rr...good diy spraying..

 

its an sp, bro.. upz for ts!!!

[nihaoma]

power lah bro...upz for your effort done....cheers!!!

[waadee]

u get my up TS

[eedwinn]

I followed through all your posts and you've really gained my respect! Nicely done dude!

 

So how much did you spend together?

[kirkjay]

ups, i totally understand your hardworkingness...

 

I too have sprayed my bike with cans before...

 

so i know the labour you went thru...

 

though i have upgraded to using airbrush and spray gun for my next spray job...http://www.singaporebikes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=159081

 

it was much, faster i tell you...

 

but just to give you a fair warning...

 

the Nippon lacquer will never outlast the normal 2k Clear Coat used by shops...

by all means keep your bike out of the sun and never spill any of the petrol when filling up...

one the lacquer do have UV filter that will block out the sun and the paint will fade...

and two petrol is lightest solvent around....yet it can eat into the lacquer...

 

Great narration, but sorry i didnt read thru( too long)

 

congrats on new paint job...have fun...

 

By the way how long was the downtime for the whole project???

1 week?