What to do with frame

[Golfcarmad]

Good afternoon friends,
I now have the frame down to bare steel,looks quite shiny,very tempting to just lacquer it!!! Serioulsy,I would apprciate advice/suggestions.
I have no problem with spray cans.
Also I am based in Merseyside area,so if Powder Coatings is best option,anyone know if company in my "area"?
Thanks n regards
Paul

[Nurse Julie]

You are getting on well Paul.
You will get as many different opinions to your question as days in the year 
Personally, I like powder coat, if the prep is done correctly, either by yourself or a blaster, the result is hard wearing and always looks good. A quick wipe down with a wet wipe and it cleans up a treat. Once again, personally, I go for a modern 'satin' finish as to me, this most resembles the original Honda paint finish. As I don't live anywhere near you, I cant advise on where to take it.

I quite like your idea of a clear finish on bare metal, it would need to be 'peened' first, which is a very fine bead preparation and needs to be coated within an hour or so to prevent any flashing / contamination. The only problem is the clear coat finish may 'yellow' after time.

[waffey]

I'm interested in this post. I'm still stripping the bike down, just the engine, wiring loom and the forks to go. I've not decided on to powder coat or paint yet.

Clear frames are nice, take a look at the bikes CCM make http://www.ccm-motorcycles.com/bikes/spitfire-scrambler/

[gtmdriver]

Spray or brush painting a frame is a pain to get right.

My choice would be powder coat.

[Golfcarmad]

Thanks for comments. At moment I am going to spray an swinging arm as a trial-easy to strip if bad idea. Also if I did can whole frame I cold have some fun with colours.i am not after an “original”.will also ring around for prices for powder coating. Will keep you informed.

[kevski]

Spray painting all the way for me, my Zed came to me already powder coated and as happens a heck of a lot the frame number is completely obscured, my last resto was an XS650, i completely stripped it by hand and repainted it with gloss smoothrite, i then left it in my spare room for a few months whilst doing other jobs on the bike, the paint dried lovely and hard and at a fraction of the cost a readable frame number, a much better job.

[kettle738]

Here is some original Honda frame paint for comparison......very glossy, very thin, shows up every tiny detail, still looks superb, all it required was some of the welds touching in, the paint on the frame tubes is all Honda.

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[Rob62]

Lovely.... my old frame is original paint too and ok in most areas, but it needs touching up here and there. So i will need to paint some areas and then lacquer over the whole thing i guess..... but the original paint is quite glossy not satin as apparently on some old honda’s.

[Trigger]

The paint seemed to change over the year and the range of the SOHC. The early 750's and 500's had like a satin black, where the 400's and the 550F's had what I would say is a semi gloss black. Paint technology was moving very fast in the early 70's 

[Integra99]

If you are going for an original restoration paint is best.. and you can touch it up much easier and looks more original I suppose. I had my CB400 painted and baked in a spray booth, came out lovely... and was quite inexpensive vs powder.

I've had several frames powercoated as well and wouldnt hesitate to powder coat another.. as the finish was superb and very durable far more than spray or rattle can.

Paint...



Powder..

[Integra99]

As you can see Powder is far thicker than the painted finish.. hence why I wanted the CB painted!

[Golfcarmad]

Frame n s arm gone in for powder coating £90 in Birkenhead

[Clem2112]

The real cost and effort comes in the prep, surely.
Blasting is quick and will reveal corrosion damage, pitting, previous repairs etc .
Neither wet painting/stoving nor powder will disguise any underlying issues the framework has.
Some people may want to grind out the pigeon poo welds too, others like it as it left the factory.

When I had my frame powder coated I was offered a tough paint finish for not much more money.
I think that was air-curing polyurethane? , that went hard after a week or two.
If I had spent some hours with emery cloth, wet/dry etc I would have achieved a better result in a few places where the aged metal shows.
I am told there is a metal filler that will work with powder and the oven temperature used.

[Golfcarmad]

Stripped frame myself , replaced swinging arm could not find a blemish!! Finish will be perfect or no monies will change Hands )))