CrazyCoyotes 85 454 Project

[crazycoyote82]

Ill be adding more to this as the project progresses. This is my FIRST bike. So far im loving it.

Heres what it looked like day 1




After a brief once over which included gen maintenance I decided to dig into the tank first. I applied paint stripper on to it and got to work.





Who knew this was still hiding under all that mess. LOL


The Paint stripper would not get the factory paint that well so I had to actually start doing some work.


Almost done




Starting to fix some dents and dings now. Dont make fun on my sloppiness LOL LOL


Hope to have it sanded down and primered tomorrow. Maybe painted as well. We will see how motivated I get LOL LOL

[kdebruijn]

ehh.. did the previous owner do a repaint on the tank.. and he left the kawa sticker on it..?

Do you know what color you're gonna paint it?

[crazycoyote82]

Yea the previous owner painted over all the stickers. Frekin stupid if you ask me. I painted the tank tonight. Its a copper color. My color scheme is Black and Copper. Not sure how well i like how it is turning out though. However I like the bobber look and that means it doesnt have to look perfect ya know..... Pics soon.

[kdebruijn]

Well sometimes it gives a nice "ghostly" look from underneath the paint if you don't remove the sticker

[BenInPA]

Not sure what you are using to paint it. If you are using rattle cans there is a 2k clear coat that another member mentioned. It is called Spraymax 2k Clear Coat. It works great and hardens like a professional paint job. Anyway I just repainted my tank. To get down to the bare metal I used an air die grinder. My cousin owns just about every air tool possible. lol The different wheels you can get for the die grinder work well. I used kind of a coarse one to get most of the paint off. Then I used a real soft wheel to strip the last of the paint and smooth it out. Pics are in photo section under "My '89 454 LTD" if you'd like to see the tank stripped. I started trying the sand blaster my cousin has but that didn't work well at all. To much rain around here made too much moisture in the air. Goo luck with the paint job. Can't wait to see the pics.

[crazycoyote82]

Have been making some progress. I painted the tank however not real happy with the look. I think I need to look into that better clear out of a can.


Also painted the gas cap while it was off.



I bought the pod filters and installed them. I had a valve cover breather from a Chevy that I used as well. Any reason this wont work?? I also installed the can mod into the filters to help it. I have the new main jets on the way. It loves to bog down lol



I got some 5/8 caps out of a assortment pack from autozone.


Im also working on the fenders as well.



Also got board and went ahead and took care of the front forks. Still need to clean up the brake and wheels though.

[eaglerider]

I used these air filters right out of the box...no "can mod". if every thing else is right, they work just fine, and have for over 5 years. These Emgo filters are the only ones I would use. There is also a small filter that matches the air filters that GWK, I, and others use.

[crazycoyote82]

Once I rejet the carbs ill take them out and see if it makes a difference.

[crazycoyote82]

Today the new handlebars and jets arrived. I only had time to do one. Therefore the handlebars got the attention. I also got the exhaust cleaned up and painted the other day. What do you think??

Before



After




Heres the exhaust painted.

[crazycoyote82]

Heres how it sits right now. Still have a few things to do but for now this is it. lol lol

[osttrefftwest]

I'm digging that copper. Nice work!

[crazycoyote82]

Thank you. I have since repainted the side covers as well.

[pony]

looks real good. did you do the side covers black as well?

[scubasteve]

What did you get your handlebars off of?

[crazycoyote82]

Yes the side covers are black as well. The handle bars are off of ebay lol. Believe they were listed as European Bars.

[kawa85]

Man your bike looks sick. All it needs is a set of new handlebar grips and you're set. You really know what you're doing. And you banged it out quick looks like too. I painted my tank but the orange peel is still on there. How do I get it rid of it? I wet-sanded before and ruined it. This is my 2nd try.

I guess you used the high heat rattle can for the exhaust? Will the krylon from home depot work on the exhaust?

You got me psyched that I can do this now

[robertg]

Jun 10, 2011 11:54:22 GMT -6 kawa85 said:

I painted my tank but the orange peel is still on there. How do I get it rid of it? I wet-sanded before and ruined it. This is my 2nd try.

You need to wet sand it with 1500/2000 wet/dry paper. Lightly sand until the orange peel is gone and then buff to a shine. You need to make sure that you have enough clear on to start with so that you have enough to sand off. On my show bike I put 7 coats on(some may say that is too much) and I ended up sanding off probably close to 3/4. If you put too much on and don't sand it you can actually end up getting cracks in the clear. Good luck.

Robert

[crazycoyote82]

robertg pretty much covered the paint aspect. As far as exhaust paint goes yes its a high heat. I used the high heat paint from the local parts store. Cant recall the name right now. I still need new grips as well as finish the seat. Ive been moving lately and that has taken precedence over the bike. I need to redo my tank as well.

[crazycoyote82]

No new pics yet how i do have a update. Finally got it running good. After redoing the main jets I had a wicked stumble so to speak. I have since shimmed the carb needles. Now it runs like a champ. I got the blinkers back on and working. I replaced the side cover gasket due to a slight oil leak at high rpms. Now it seems that the next thing to fix is the fork seals. Never done it but there on the way as I type. Im tired of pulling back into the driveway after a ride to come back out a bit later and see a puddle of fork oil sitting there. I also bought a fuel filter for it that ill install probably tomorrow.

[pony]

if you have a steady hand it would be cool to go over the raised numbers and letters with a pinstripe brush on the side cover with that same orange. just a thought.

[crazycoyote82]

Did a few more things that I have been wanting to get done.

I cut a bit off of the stock rear fender.


It helped get the tucked in look that I was after.

Then I didnt like how the tag holder looked. I took that off and relocated the tag.

[samboitaliano]

Looking good, really digging the copper on black. Nice work

[crazycoyote82]

just won a auction on some ls650 shocks. before and after pics to come!!!!

[crazycoyote82]

As promised..... Before and after pics of the shock install.

Before. With a TON of gap. lol


After the Install. I meant to take a pic of the bushings that i had to make for them but forgot to.


This is how it sits now. Im debating on some new handle bars. Maybe some sort of Z Bar? Not really sure.

[zekkfett]

So what did you end up doing to solve the shock bushing issue?

[crazycoyote82]

It was in another post. However, I went to autozone and they had some bushings for a car that were CLOSE to what I needed. I had to cut and trim to get them to fit. But they went in and i got them in. It was a pain but you can see the results.

[crazycoyote82]

My next step is the wiring for the new tag lights.

[zekkfett]

Forgot I had read that other post. Dumb me.... ;D

Mount a white led strip up inside the fender on the left side for the tag light.

[crazycoyote82]

So, I finally got around to finishing the seat.

Heres the before.


now taken apart. I had a tshirt on there for awhile. Which is not gone as well.


I started with all new foam etc... BUT forgot to take that picture. Heres a few pics of it completed.





Forgot that I also repainted it a new color and moved the gauge around a bit. My Tach broke so I just took it off.

[carpaltunnel]

Can you explain your paint treatment? I'm interested in painting some parts of my bike and I'm not sure what would be best to color and clear-coat it. I'd like to paint my rims black and the red to match my redwall tires that I'm working on.

Thanks - the bike is lookin' good!