The '98 5th gen has passed the 50k mile mark, and has developed some scratches in the clearcoat. My two main concerns are: 1) the tank, primarily because of scratches but I also want to install the TechSpec grips that I purchased a couple of years back following my first track day experience without being able to grip the tank well enough with my legs (I kept sliding into the tank and having to push myself back). It will be easier to paint before installing them. 2) the left side cowl which was purchased new from Honda following my near miss with a deer three years ago. I also wanted to add clearcoat to my pillion cover. I've painted all of the other plastics following the close call with the deer, and in the process found that the factory clearcoat is extremely thin. I was also successful in protecting the stickers, that were otherwise unprotected, with clear, and want to follow suit with these three items.
First, I have a question regarding the fuel supply line under the tank. For those of you who have removed the tank, have you replaced the sealing washers with new as the service manual suggests? I'm tempted to reinstall the used washers. What is your experience?
Here's a photo of my three subjects prior to paint prep of the tank. I've already sanded the other two with 2,000 grit
Some post 2000 grit sanding photos The tank had a heavier factory clear (no burnthrough). The Left fairing, however, was a challenge to not go too far. The clear from the factory is so very thin that you must check your work very often! I was wet sanding with 2000 and using a clean paper towel to wipe the surface dry. Doing so, you know immediately if you have gone through the clear when the white paper towel has a bit of red in the liquid that is wiped off. As noted in a previous post, I wanted to bury the sticker on the fairing with clearcoat. To do so it is necessary to give the clear some "tooth" to grab onto when it is appled to the surface. So, sanding the sticker is required. If you look closely at the bottom tip of the "F" and at the leading edge corners of the "I" in Inercepter" you can see a white spot where they were sanded through. Like I said it is challenging and touchy work! And the pillion cover.
Regading the 14mm aluminum sealing washers for the fuel line connection to the pump, I bought a couple from NAPA for a couple of dollars. They were able to cross reference the Honda part number because the same washer (& part number) is used in some Honda automobiles also.
I forgot to mention the cleaning process that was done before any sanding began. I've had issues with fish eye in the newly painted surface on my first attempt at painting auto paint and 2k clear. And I never want to deal with that ever again! So the preperation that I now go through runs this path: First I wash the part/ panel/ fairing with Simple Green two or three times. From that point until the clearcoat is cured I wear nitrile type surgical gloves whenever I'm handling the part. Then, I wipe it down with a new paper towel soaked with Prep-All, which will remove oils and waxes. What I do not want, is any of those contaminants ground into the fine groves left by the sanding process. Just before Spraying, whether it is etching primer, or clear I'll wipe it down again with a new paper towel and Prep-All. I don't wipe down the primer before applying base coat because Prep-All will remove the primer from the part (ask me how I know)!
And the post clearcoat photos: My "spray booth is the great outdoors. I was pressed for tme because it was getting late and I was in a race with the setting sun. Tempatures were about 35 degrees as I was setting up the three items on seperate pedestals outside the garage. The breeze had almost completely died down. I like spraying in the cold for a couple of reasons. the first one being - there are zero bugs to commit suicide in the fresh clear, and secondly it seems to lay out extremely clear (you be the judge). I was hoping to spray a couple of light coats and then a heavier final spray, but in the rush it didn't work out as planned. The first coat was rather heavy, in fact the first "back-and-forth" spray on the left side of the tank produced a sag and a few runs! It had been a couple of years since I've sprayed clear and those first two passes were too slow. Because the daylight was fading, I didn't notice how heavy the first coat went on untill I brought them into the garage to "flash off". I use a mid-temp aactivator, and being that it was just above freezing out, they needed more than the recomended 3-5 minutes to flash, even tho the temperature in the garage was ten degrees warmer. I used a hair dryer to help speed up the flashing. By the time I set them out for the second coat, the temperature had contuned to drop and I think it was at or just below freezing when the second coat was applied. By that time it was getting too dark for any possible third coat. It didn't matter, both of the coats were a full wet coat, and the clear would be thick enough. Am I the only one who is temped to not sand out the imperfections of the clearcoat? It looks so good. And I have a hard time seeing the bits of dust or the small craters in the clear. They were there, and I could see them when I began to sand them a week later. Anyway, the photos above are of them curing in my basement, in front of an electric heater on a low setting. I brought them down there from the garage after they flashed off for an hour and a half after the second coat.
All three of them wet sanded and ready for compounding & buffing. At first I planned to attack the aforementioned sag and drips on the tank by scraping them down with a new razor blade. This is the first time that I have had to deal with this problem. I was sharing my dilemma with a friend who has collectable cars painted by a friend of his. And he was the one who told me of the way that his "pro" removes drips and sags. Of course on an automotive panel, like a car door, the surface is relatively flat. In the case of the VFR nothing is flat. A bit of research uncovered a process of using a stiff thin material, like a Bondo spreader or some other sort of plastic, to wrap a piece of sand paper around and sand the "high spot" down. I have a small piece of ABS, so this is the method I used. Starting with 400 grit paper, and going slow and careful, I was able to grind the high runs down, and taper the sag down to a point that I thought I could live with. The trick is to do this process dry. On the new clear, it was very obvious to see the progress being made, and I could see if I had sanded outside of the run or sag. I took most of it out with 400, then worked my way up to 800, 1000, dry, and finally 1, 500 grit which was done wet over the whole tank. I'm convinced that doing it this way took me a lot less time than if I had used a razor blade.
I then sanded the Left fairing and the pillion cover with 1,500, followed by 2, 000 both wet sanded. If you've not done this yourself, I'll tell you the fairing is pretty much all hand sanding. There is very little "flat" area to use even a small "hard block" sander on. All in all, the vast majority of sanding on all three was by hand. When it came to compounding I was able to use a couple of foam applicators on my small DA tool (which you can see attached to my corded drill in the photo). Being soft and flexible, that foam was able to work over the contours. I ended up compounding each piece twice with the DA, and a minimum of twice by hand using the same foam pad that was just used on the DA. I did use two different foam pads, one that "cuts" more first, than the finer cut last.
That's better! I now notice that I also sanded a bit too much at the bottom of the "P" prior to painting...... bummer. Nothing I want to do about it now, and it's not noticeable when I'm riding, or at the speed that these red VFR's go (even when standing still)!
I started this tread by stating that my "'98 5th gen has passed the 50k mile mark, and has developed some scratches in the clearcoat." Notice that the phrasing places all the blame for the scratches on the bike. I hope Knuckles has learned her lesson, and will avoid future encounters with objects that are harder than her new clearcoat!
