... and so it begins ........

[Wickedfinger]

... started my 1981 ATC70 custom resto this week. I havn't done one in almost 2 years now. I've decided to do everything "inhouse" and opted not to get anything powdercoated or chromed. After a lot of thought, I'm going with a white and blue color scheme - using Maier shiny white fenders, a white Clarke tank, spraying the frame and forks with Rustoleums new Blue Metalic, might paint the engine red, rims and axles will be painted using Rustoleums gold and silver hammered metals paint and I'm having a custom seat made for it from Hi-flite. I (re) rescued it from the weeds behind my supposed buddies house after he moved it out there to make room for a new car project. He was storing it for me while I moved, got married etc. Anyway I got it home and descovered a nest of Brown Recluse spiders moved into it over the winter and after I powerwashed the heck out of it and then went back to tell him about and deal with the spiders (he has two small kids and I didn't want them to get bit) I disassembled her and this is where were at.

[RideRed250R]

well if its anything like ** 400L its going to be a kickarse trike
adam

[CHAINSAW]

did someone paint it pink?? lol

[kilabeez0]

your wasting your time, right now i'm trying to post pics of my finished 200x resto. i used the rustoleum blue metallic and sure it looks awesome, but chips VERY easy. I also spilled a little gas on my frame and it all came off. I'm telling you your wasting your time. I HEAVYILY cleaned, sanded, primed, and clear coated as well. :o

[Lots_Of_Nothing]

your wasting your time, right now i'm trying to post pics of my finished 200x resto. i used the rustoleum blue metallic and sure it looks awesome, but chips VERY easy. I also spilled a little gas on my frame and it all came off. I'm telling you your wasting your time. I HEAVYILY cleaned, sanded, primed, and clear coated as well. :o

Thats why gas goes in the gas tank and not on the frame.

[Wickedfinger]

your wasting your time, right now i'm trying to post pics of my finished 200x resto. i used the rustoleum blue metallic and sure it looks awesome, but chips VERY easy. I also spilled a little gas on my frame and it all came off. I'm telling you your wasting your time. I HEAVYILY cleaned, sanded, primed, and clear coated as well. :o
Luckily, I have access to a curing oven - so I don't think it will be an issue. Did you use the correct primer for it?.

did someone paint it pink?? lol
Yes ... ug ... it was a little girls ride at one time, she used it back in the day in Pee Wee races. The worst part is - they painted it thick with a brush!!!!

[chris200x]

Poisonous recluse spiders!!! I thought I had it bad with a wasps nest in my tail pipe.

[MTS]

Poisonous recluse spiders!!! I thought I had it bad with a wasps nest in my tail pipe.
me and my friends found out the hard way that you should take the exaust pipe off of a bike thats been sitting in the barn for 20 years befor you fire it up.....did you know mice can fly ;)

[Wickedfinger]

Poisonous recluse spiders!!! I thought I had it bad with a wasps nest in my tail pipe.
Yeah, I'm like "whats next, a Rattler or a Copperhead in the maintube ...... where am I Australia, not Pennsylvania". They were definitely "Fiddle Backs".

[kilabeez0]

i dont know, i just used ordinary rattle can primer. i dont know if an oven will help it dry any better, its not powdercoat.

[Wickedfinger]

... did a bit more today .... Check out that tape job!!!!... lol. Because of the chipping worries that were brought to my attention, I decided to use spray on varnish instead of regular clear coat for most of the parts. I'm told though that you can buy automotive Emron type clearcoat in a can now - so I might do the frame in that. The one pic is of the finished front rim in the Gold Hammered Metal finish Rustoleum - its wierd to spray and a little difficult to work with (make sure you're not too close to the surface when spraying) I like it though.

[DeePa]

looks great. So for the rims, did you just strip, prime, and spray with the gold? Is that brown rim going on the back? Or did you spray the brown rim gold afterwards? I dont get it?

I assume the brown is the varnish?

Looks great and keep it up. Maybe make it a little FAQ on correct prepping and painting of stuff. I know it would help me out a lot.

Thanks,
Mike

[kilabeez0]

looks real good. not to burst your bubble but i'm telling you its all going to chip off. probably not real bad because i'm sure your not going to go bombing thru the woods on a 70 lol, but still chip none the less.

[RideRed250R]

well i have used that paint before and it only chips if you spray it on thick, which with any paint will flake off as long as * let them completely dry between stages ** good trust me i use that stuff on a R frame of mine and i droped god knows how many wrenches on it puttin it together and it would mayb scratch or something like that it was only till i slammed the torque wrench and my pinky into the front of the frame is when it chipped i touched it back up and nothn else has happend, i dont know just my experience
adam

[Wickedfinger]

looks great. So for the rims, did you just strip, prime, and spray with the gold? Is that brown rim going on the back? Or did you spray the brown rim gold afterwards? I dont get it?

I assume the brown is the varnish?

Looks great and keep it up. Maybe make it a little FAQ on correct prepping and painting of stuff. I know it would help me out a lot.

Thanks,
Mike
... the brown is classic Rustoleum bare metal primer - I sprayed that down after I preped the rims. This is the proper primer to use with the hammered metal paint. The one cool thing about the Hammered Metal, is because it goes on so thick and the finished product is supposed to have a texture to it - you don't have to do alot of the heavy surface preping you need to do with a regular paint job. The varnish is cristal clear, the same as regular clearcoat, except that its made up of a completely different chemical composition as regular paint based clearcoat - its also much thicker and dense. The downside to it is that since its made up of patroleum distilates, its more suceptable to gas spills and solvents than regular clearcoat. It also wont last as long - but - I don't know how much less.

[Darius1502]

Hey Wickedfinger...nice job on the wheel.

Is that an LT 500 or LT 250 muffler behind the gold wheel in the last pic?

[x.system]

Its looking great, I need to find me one of them to restore.

[Wickedfinger]

its off a '90 LT250R .... its looking for a new home :naughty: Also in the picture are a straw from my slurpie, a bag with some nuts I have no idea what they go to and a kicker from the same '90 LT-R

[Dave223]

would you be interested in selling that tank if it isntrusted thru? My boys 70 is running a yellow plastic dirt bike tank of some kind . I want to restore it but cant find a decent tank. Email me at bethrcno at charter.net if interested, Dave :)

BTW, nice resto job, i too was thinking of all white plastics, red forks and tank, with a blue frame and seat cover...

[Wickedfinger]

Probably, tanks in decent shape actually. - PM me.

[Wickedfinger]

... some more work this week. I stripped, primed, painted, wet sanded and varnished the frame. I also decided to paint the engine red in hi-temp, Krylon Brake paint. I saw a red motor in a Mugen engined ATC70 and decided it looked cool. I finished off the rims too. Now I'm just waiting for the $400 worth of parts I ordered from Beatrice Cycles, the PRM grab-bar, some misc. stuff from Dennis Kirk and the seat from Hi-flite. The frame looks distorted in the one picture for some reason - but its actually poker straight.

[cliff2302]

the motor looks good, let us know how the paint holds up. good job so far

[Darius1502]

You really painted everything...the nuts, bolts, everything!!

What happens when you need to pull a cover off or adjust the valves?

[Wickedfinger]

What happens when you need to pull a cover off or adjust the valves? ... you repaint the bolts or wire wheel them clean.

[hotroddal]

hey man that would look killer if you took the valve adjusting cover off and polished them up and tookthe rewind case off and polished that up also, and took the cdi cover off and polished that also., by the way nice job

[Wickedfinger]

hey man that would look killer if you took the valve adjusting cover off and polished them up and tookthe rewind case off and polished that up also, and took the cdi cover off and polished that also., by the way nice job
I am actually seriously considering that .... I have a spare motor, alot of elbow grease, and a bench wheel! ... lol

[thefox]

As weird as it sounds, I would have to agree with hotroddal :D . That strait red paint job just isn't doing it for me but some nice polished up accents would make the difference.

[Wickedfinger]

Getting there. I got in a bunch of stuff today. Hi-Flite call today and said they are "out of dark blue ink" ... lol ... I have to wait at least 2 more weeks for my new seat cover to even be started. I think these will be the last pics for a while - I'm actually about 95% done the resto at this point, but I'll post the finished product when its done ... eventually. Frames a little dusty in the pics (happend when I pounded in the bearings).

[Wickedfinger]

As weird as it sounds, I would have to agree with hotroddal :D . That strait red paint job just isn't doing it for me but some nice polished up accents would make the difference.
I'm actually not a big chrome guy ........ I'd rather see color. Natural or stainless bolts would look sweet on the motor though. I am though considering getting chrome valve cover adjuster covers and a chrome head. You guys will see though (when I post the finished product) that I left the carb and intake "natural" and I have a chrome K&N open, tapered air cleaner/filter on it now. It gives a nice contrast to the red.

[thefox]

I agree, a nicely chromed or polised bike looks good for show but for just having a nice bike I wouldn't do too much. It's just that that is a lot of red in one place, it needs to be broken up some with other colors.

[Wickedfinger]

I agree, a nicely chromed or polised bike looks good for show but for just having a nice bike I wouldn't do too much. It's just that that is a lot of red in one place, it needs to be broken up some with other colors. Ah, to each his own I guess. All I know is I ended up picking up the trike for $50, Good Running '85 Motor for $80, spent $470 on parts - I'll get $800 + for it easy. I love rebuilding trikes on speculation.