For today's update, I'm showing the process I used to prepare the virago engine for painting and coating. When I sand blasted the engine, that process took it all the way down to the bare aluminum so now it's time to dress it up with the new look. Here is what it looked like when I finished sand blasting:
I want a specific look for this conversion. A subtle, non-flashy kind of understated look. For this I only want minimal shiny metal showing so I masked off the areas that will not get painted. When I'm finished painting, I'll peel off the masking to reveal the metal underneath, then apply a clear, satin finish, heat resistant top coat to seal everything up and prevent corrosion. Here is a picture of the engine in the middle of the masking process:
For the cooling fins, I laid the masking tape over the ends of the fins and then came back with a razor blade and cut away the overhanging pieces. This resulted in just the ends of the fins getting masked. Here it is all done:
And the other side:
Here is a video walk around:
On the next installment, I'll show the engine being painted, the masking being removed and the after shots.
I would have just sanded the cylinders after painting rather than taping all that off, but it should look good!
Yes I could have done it that way too. Either way it's probably the same amount of work. I'll post the results tonight or tomorrow, let me just say it looks really cool.
Lets see those results! Here's the RD I used the sanding method on
That's a very nicely executed bike! Excellent job
Nice bike, that paint job looks really good. I'll try to post the results tonight. I have video too, @andresworks makes an appearance!