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BILL'S PERAK PROJECT (Part 4)
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Deciding to go with the foil then meant I had to decide between two choices for painting the emblems on the sides of the tank. Either way I had to paint the tank first before I put the foil on. Then I could paint on the emblems over the foil or I could remove the foil from inside the emblems leaving the paint visible. I decided trying to paint emblems over the foil was more risky than trimming foil out of them.So that launched me into prepping everything that was going to be painted. Lots of cleaning and sanding. What little filling I needed to do was only a bit on the tank and on both fork tubes. I sanded every piece, by hand, with 80 grit paper, then 120, and finally 300. |
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The top coat painting was pretty exciting. I really enjoyed watching all the pieces become the shiny red finished product. Each piece was painted twice and a few pieces were given another touch up. In the process of doing the second coat, however, my respirator died and before I realized it I had gotten a pretty good snout full of paint fumes. That paint is great on the Perak but it's not too nifty to inhale. I felt pretty rotten for a few days and was probably 3 to 4 weeks before I fully recovered from it. But, the painting was done and I was pleased with it.While the paint was curing, I went at the engine. The cylinder and head got painted, the engine case got cleaned and buffed with steel wool, and the side covers were buffed on a buffing wheel. Looked pretty spiffy. I reassembled it with a new piston, rings and gaskets. |
The tank was the only place I used the ¼ inch pinstriping tape. On the rest of the bike it's 1/8th inch.So there it was - all ready to start putting it back together. I had to replace the wiring so I threaded the various wires through the frame. Getting the forks and headlight nacelle together was a bit of a challenge because of the close tolerances but, with perseverance, it did all go together. The rest of the reassembly went quite smoothly and quickly. All of a sudden, it seemed, there it was in all its glory. "My God," I thought, "what a neat little bike." I spent quite a bit of time just looking at it sitting there in the sunshine. |
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With the assistance of folks by email we tried to track down the problem. I have no idea how many times I set or checked the timing, or how many times I pulled the carb apart. At one point I thought I found the problem - a leaking crankshaft seal. So I replaced it but doing so made no appreciable difference. The best I could do was to get it running acceptably above idle but it still seemed to be pulling in air somehow between the carb and the cylinder. I did go for the odd ride on it but I didn't want to break anything. Meanwhile, the riding season was slipping past. I was getting pretty frustrated. I had other commitments and so for a couple of months the Perak only got admired and periodically dusted. |
I finally finished the new tank for the Perak. I had played around off and on with various paint thinners, etc., to get the maroon paint out of the insignias on the sides. There is paint remover available but it's pretty strong stuff and quite likely would stain the chrome. Finally, a few weeks ago I went at it with the finest steel wool I have (000).With light pressure it would remove the paint without marking the chrome but it was a fairly long process - like about 6 hours. After that it was just regular fare of light sanding, masking off the chrome, prime, sand, and spray on the top coat.The insignias were partially chromed in so were not going to be easily painted. I went to a local sign maker who made up the insignias and the strips with a good quality vinyl sticker. It went on pretty easily and definitely looks better than anything I could paint on freehand. |
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