So after spending an entire day prepping the wheel for paint and then painting it last night I get to do it all over again...

 

The wheel is lucky i didnt throw it out the window last night but after closer inspection today it is official

I think I need a night off...

 

I had heaps of trouble when I changed my wheels from the original factory black to white with polished lips.

Took weeks to get them right! Paint kept frying up everywhere. Next time I will powder coat and be done with it.

 

Yea Im gonna wait a couple days for the paint to cure before i go at it with sandpaper again, in the mean time I will paint the front. Luckily the previous owner of the front wheel polished it so its already smooth and he/she removed all the casting marks so I just have to sand it down.

On the topic of wheels and tires, has anyone used those balancing beads as opposed to stick on or clipon weights?

 

You could use a PC liquid cooling system reservoir for a coolant tank like by buddy Chuck did with one of this TLR fighter builds 0000

 

Thats a sick looking fighter, and thats something I didnt even think of (surprising because Im a huge computer geek) but the CO2 tank is already in the works... I can always change it later though

 

Huge computer geek huh? Me too LOL. Here's my latest build I did last year: http://themodzoo.com/forum/index.php...89-haf-xb-mod/

 

damn thats a nice build, too expensive for my tastes, I dont know how many times I've put together a full shopping cart on newegg and just couldnt pull the trigger. eventually... but i'm more of that guy that takes everyones old desktops and laptops because they are "broken" or "too slow, I need something faster" and I fix them and keep them for myself. I have about 5 desktops, 4 laptops and 6 or 7 monitors in my basement, most working, some stripped for parts lol. And I'm a linux guy so I like to try out different distros and modify them, I'm into programming and security/hacking. You really learn what distros are ACTUALLY fast when you run them on an old pentium4 or athlon processor...Anyways we can talk more about that away from the build thread

Back on topic, after even further inspection of my rear wheel I may be able to save it after some wetsanding and buffing havent decided yet.

started reaming out the swingarm, basically I have reamed out the front and rear end of each slot, now working on cleaning up in between, its definitely not pretty but is centered and there is very little play when you slide the axle in. Will post pics in a little bit.

 

Luna moth!

 

correct and its a male, theres a page and half debate on my build thread on the other forum

 

I've been running the balancing beads for around two years now, and wouldn't go back to weights. Smoother ride, and handling. Your build is looking great.

 

Thanks for the compliments!

as for the beads, after doing my own due dilligence, I have decided against using the beads due to my riding style. I know people run them with great success and some that do not. However with their disclaimer of not for racing purposes I will not be using them. No I do not race this bike, however most of my riding is city riding i.e. quick turns, hard acceleration and hard braking, and I just dont think it would suit my purposes. If I was still doing a lot of highway/long distance trips I would.

As for the bike, the rear wheel is ready for paint however I decided I'm going to wait til tomorrow to paint it. After wetsanding, it being hollow cast, the extreme humidity here and my bad lighting in the garage the last thing I need is for a nice big drip of water to dribble out and **** up my paint. So it is ready to go for tomorrow.

As for the rear wheel, I will most likely be sanding and prepping that tomorrow for a redo which I will spray thursday night. If all goes well my bike should be on its own two wheels sometime this weekend. I still have to finish my work on the swingarm then the adjuster blocks to accept this massive axle which will happen within the next couple nights, or tonight, I dont know how I'm gonna feel...

I am also in the process of painting my res tank black tonight, yes it was black already but I happened to mar it up slightly while drilling holes in it (drill bit caught) so that will be ready tomorrow or the next day to finallize my cooling system...

 

swingarm is ready to fit beefy *** axle... still need to modify adjuster blocks

 

front sprocket cover is painted, coollant res is painted, carb brackets are painted

 

Keep going mate we want to see it finished!

 

So picture time...

reamed out the swingarm at both ends of the slot with a 1" stepping reamer, hand filed the ridge inbetween, then used the 1" drill bit to make sure its clear all the way front to back. Like I said, its not pretty at all but it does the job...





and a little size comparo


Because i chipped up the finish on the CO2 tank I sanded it down cleaned it up and painted it



I also painted the front sprocket cover which is the last engine cover to be painted



And lastly painted the carb brackets. Too bad no ones ever going to see them once they are hidden in the engine bay, these came out awesome

 

Looking sweet!

 

Thanks man

so finished up the res tank, just have to mount it and hook the hoses up

 

Coming along nicely!

Looking forward to the finished article!

 

So I havent been able to work on my bike much in the past week, daycare was closed so I had my son all day monday as well as thursday night through a few hours ago. Also started class this past week so I've had almost no time, the short time I did have I was way too beat up from work to do anything...

However after dropping my son off tonight I finished prepping the front wheel and just finished painting it a minute ago, as usual sorry for the shitty lighting but at some point this week I'll have it mounted and can take a daylight pic.




As for the rear wheel, I finally dismounted the tire off my old wheel I just need to get some longer zip ties to mount it on the new wheel. once its mounted I will be doing a quick sanding to fix my fuckups then prep, tape and paint. Hopefully I can get that done in the next couple days...

next up is rebuilding and painting the calipers so I can finalize my brakes...

 

Don't forget to clean up the brake disk mating areas on the wheel you've forgotten to mask off - otherwise you risk brake disk runout problems.

 

Yes, I plan to block sand it down. Due to the previous chroming that area has a very bumpy surface and I feel better block sanding it after it cures rather then taping it off for fear of chipping...

But thanks for your keen observation

 

I wish I could start tonight over, I am having the worst luck with this rear rim, all I can really say is thank god I had already planned on repainting and fixing my previous fuckups with this rim...

 

Alright, my original plan was to mount my sweet *** CO2 tank to the subframe but as I was mounting it up tonight I realized I was going to run into some serious tire clearance issues and short of spacing out the peg bracket ATLEAST an inch, I decided to move on to my plan B location, and I have to say it looks ****** awesome...

Thoughts?

 

It looks good there, will still fool those that don't know.

Good work, I feel for you with the back wheel, mine took ages to get it right.

 

well the rear rim is resanded and ready for paint, not gonna paint tonight because its 2am and I gotta be up at 630 for work.

on the bright side, this time around could prove to be a better finish then last time could have been... apparently I didnt do that good of a job of filing down the casting marks and some of them were showing through the paint, but it is sanded down smooth.

so tomorrow I'm going to pop in the fresh bearings, tape, wipe down and paint the rear wheel. and hopefully finallize the front wheel and get it mounted.

 

What type of paint are you using?

I had untold drama with mine when going from original factory black to enamel out of a rattle can.

In the end it was all worth it!

Keep going, it's really starting to take shape.

 

Oh man this rear wheel...

lol its just hilarious now...

its all good, itll be done tonight

and to answer your question VHT roll bar and chassis paint/epoxy paint... it has proven to be very durable

All of my master cylinders, res tank, bracketry, thermostat housing etc... is painted using this stuff

 

So last night I popped in some fresh new bearings for the rear wheel, finished prepping and then painted. The front wheel is good to go back on the bike once I clean up the rotor mounting surfaces. I still need to modify the CBR adjuster blocks for the rear wheel, pop in a new bearing on the sprocket carrier and I think thats all I need to mount the rear wheel...

 

Alright got the front wheel ready to be mounted, next up, the rear...