RZ350 Hybrid

[phil1rowe4]

Lol, No worries at all. I didnt think I'd written the last bit?? Thought I'd been sniffing to much paint fumes

[JonW]

Haha, well yeah, more like Ive been the one on the fumes lol. Once again, my apologies m8.

[hybrid]

The bloke that painted my car always uses the same family across the process, from primer, builder, base coat, clear.
I had issues with my fibreglass bonnet scoop reacting to the paint. One day I will re-do it.
But yeah fibreglass seems to be tricky at times.

[phil1rowe4]

Hi Hybrid,

I know you're right and generally try to use the same family of paint. Unfortunately it's quite an inconvenience to setup the spray booth for any length of time so I tried to get away with spray pack undercoats that didn't need the booth. For most of the surface area it worked fine, just those bits that I sanded back too far. In hindsight I should have done another sealer coat to make sure there was a good seal over the high build primer.

I also should have put a hardener in the colour as it's been easily damaged by the masking for the second colour and I've had to redo a couple of red bits.

I was really disappointed with the fairing and was starting to doubt my abilities but rubbed everything back and tried again. The red worked beautifully with a lovely smooth gloss finish. The black gave me troubles again. Most areas were smooth and glossy but the same patches were starting to craze again. The smooth parts make me think its not something I'm doing wrong technique wise. I ended up doing lots of very light coats which looks a little dry but managed to cover the crazed areas. It's not perfect but you'll need to get pretty close to tell. It's not a show bike, it's meant to be ridden so in the end it wont matter to anyone but me.

I've just finished the gold pin striping and Yamaha sticker on the tank and then several coats of gloss, going from lighter coats ( to make sure the decals didn't lift) to wet coats. Worked nicely so I'm happy again.

Here's some pics of the fairing back in for round 2 and the tank with gloss.

[hybrid]

Yeah even if it goes on a bit dry, as long as you've got coverage you can cut it back to smooth it out.
Paint issues like that are a bitch.

[phil1rowe4]

Finally the painting is finished and I'm pretty happy with it, in the end.

Just a few little finishing jobs to do now.
Fit bigger mains jets
Wire up lights and indicators
Finish seat upholstery
fit rear brake light switch

[JonW]

Thats does look great Phil!

The seat is interesting, custom or from something else?

[phil1rowe4]

Thanks Jon,
Persistence won in the end!

The tail started as a Honda RS125 race seat that I modified quite a bit.
I split the centreline of the seat pan to widen so it better matched the tank width, matched the seat pan to the tank(originally had a rounded joint with the tank) , added the side panels, cut out an access panel underneath to make it easier to fit and added access panel cover (pic)

I also modified the subframe and then added a piece for the rear plate and lights assembly to bolt to the frame instead of the thin fibreglass.

The fibreglass seat base was formed straight on the bike and cut to size. High density foam then glued and trimmed to shape and marine vinyl warmed and stretched to fit.

Let me know if you want to see any pics.

[JonW]

haha, yeah Ive discovered that paint is like that... you will get there, but it will test you!

Wow, nice work indeed on the rear end, its funny really... what I mean is when it looks 'so right', you just know it wasnt 5mins work :/

[hybrid]

Well done mate, it's come up good.

[phil1rowe4]

Thanks Hybrid.

[BRG1200]

Don't want to stroke your ego, but fantastic job Phil!
Most impressive.

[James W.]

Yeah, a real good effort, Phil.

Kindly get back to us - with a ride report, wont you..

(& is it a camera lens distortion.. or are you going to need to tuck in those exhaust cans - a bit closer?)

[phil1rowe4]

Thanks BRG1200 & James,

Feel free to stroke my ego; no one else does!

It's still not finished and will almost certainly need some sorting, so I'll let you guys know how it runs and handles.

James, The exhaust cans could maybe be a little closer but they're no further out than the fairing. The photos do make them look like they're out wider.

[phil1rowe4]

Finally finished the lighting electrics, final fitting jobs and put fuel in the tank.

This afternoon I borrowed a number plate off another bike and took it for a quick spin around the block. Damp road, new brake pads and new tyres made it interesting around corners but it has some getup in a straight line. Limited revs to 5k but it was keen to rev higher. Still needs lots of tuning and sorting of carbs and suspension but I'm still wearing a big grin