Ivy: Dress Rehearsal

Did another 5-hour session to paint Ivy's frame.  Rushed it a bit and wasn't in the best frame of mind to paint (ie, patient).  By the 3rd hour I was ready to be done but had several coats left to finish.

Best to leave painting for long, lazy days.  Still, got a decent result.

Got ambitious and tried to paint the swing arm at the same time.  Had a bear of a time getting the pillion pins out.  Both were frozen, not inside the swing arm, but inside of the pillion peg itself.  For the first one, I ended up hammering it out with a nail.  But the nail trick didn't work on the second (kept bending them).  So I just filed down the first pin and then used that to punch out the second.  Worked a treat.

Didn't do a great job sanding/stripping the swing arm, but then again because of that weird welded piece, I know I eventually want to swap it for a stock one.  So with that in mind, just didn't feel like going through a Roloc session.

Put 4 coats of Krylon Ivory on the bottom, then turned it right side up and did both sides.  No clear coat, that will have to be another day.

Also took the side covers from the new white tank (Red's) along with the black plastic Honda badges.  Looked great.

Viola Reborn: Welcome Ivy

Epic 5 hour paint day and I feel like Viola finally deserves a new identity.  Let's call her Ivy, short for her new Ivory color.

Hit an early snag when the center stand shaft refused to come out more than a centimeter.  Luckily, I had a think socket that fit the diameter perfectly.  Took a lot of whacks with the ball peen but we eventually got it out.  Sanded down both the shaft itself as well as the inside of the brake pedal (which is where the corrosion was locking things up).

In the end, I put it back on, though, thinking that it would be better to rest it on the arm, though that didn't turn out to be the case.

I sanded down some freshly rusted patches and generally gave everything a once over.  Masking took awhile and was a bit fiddly because the painters tape didn't want to stick to the metal.  Typically resorted to just stuffing paper into the large holes instead of trying to cover them.

I thought I'd need a bigger paint "booth" setup, but in the end, I was able to fit it inside the larger cardboard screens I'd already been using.

Did four coats of primer on the right side, four on the left, then turned it upside down for four more along the bottom.  Realized at that point that I should have done the bottom first.  Also needed to open up the screen to get at the front.

Had been hoping to swap the old swing arm for the new one (painted grey), but was stymied by the fact that the bolt was not long enough!  Hard to say where the disconnect is.  I'll compare the swing arm and bolt to the one on Red and see which of the three is odd man out.

Viola: Fork Seal Tool

Went to Ace and picked up some 1-1/4 steel plumbing which ended up making the perfect fork seal installation tool.  The tapered thread at the bottom fits just perfectly onto the seal.  The other pieces (2 6" tubes connected with a coupler) are just for pounding it in.  A few light taps on the seal was all it took.  I also used it to gently seat the circlip.

Also cleaned off that "road cement" gunk from the forks using a file (not the serrations, just the tip and edge).  Planning on painting these.

Tested the bike with the seat in place.  Also tried adding the two front tank rubber mounts, but just like in the past, with the mounts installed, I couldn't push the tank forward enough to fit the seat.  Weird.

Viola: Fork Circlips

Got the circlips off both the forks, though the second one took a bit of effort.  Then removed the tube on one of them.  I put the axle back in and held it with both feet, then just pulled the fork out.  Came out pretty easily in 4-5 tugs.

Only then did I realize I didn't have the tool to knock the seal back in place.  I just replaced the circlip and put the seal on top temporarily.

Also put clear coat on the tank; three coats with 10-15 minutes between.

Viola: Fork Enema

Pumped as much gunk out of the forks as I could.  Old fork oil is fantastic at staining the concrete, by the way.

Painted the other half of the tank.

Viola: Man vs Forks II

Now that I had the technique mastered, the second fork came out in 15 minutes flat, and I didn't even break a sweat.