I picked up my Spada in May and have been slowly doing it up. It was a bit of mess, (worst paint job ever overspray everywhere, forks leaking like a siv, nuts missing from the steering head, dodgy ebay speedo and tach, lights didn't work, broken choke) but the engine seemed solid and it had a nice little aftermarket exhaust. Took me about 4 hours to do the fork seals as I'd never done it before, and picked up a speedo and choke cable from the wreckers and got all that working. Funnily enough, I ended up finding out that the guy I bought it from, purchased it from @Gizziracer around 12 months earlier. Here's what she looked like when Gizzi sold her... I still can't fathom how the last owner managed to destroy her in only a year.
I'm obviously no spray painter... Had to go back to the drawing board, sand it back and re-prime. Then again, that damn crazing but this time in a different spot. Gave it a light sand over the wrinkles to smooth them out, the a dusted over the area Applied 5 coats of topcoat clear and thought it was all got but still got a tiny bit of crazing? On the bright side, it looks a million times better than the green it was before. Here's what Im aiming for, silver metal flake and blue metal flake stripes
@my67xr will be able to tell you what is happening with that crazing.. Did you use 2 Pak on the Tank? If not be very careful as fuel will take off most other paints... Yes.. a much better look than the drab green.
Naa, was acrylic... so once I've laid all the colours down and it's fully cured, should I seal it with 2 pac?
Short answer is NO. It will take months potentially for the solvents to fully gas off from the acrylic and if you lay on 2Pak clear it will potentially wrinkle up and lift off as you have found happening already. Maybe talk with your Paint Supplier and see if they have a suggestion for you other than sanding it all off and starting again. With my paint on the SRX I even have to sand off all the Primer and start again..
reaction between acrylic and enamel. probably previous coat was a pressure pack can and may even be a varnish. the crazing is a thinners reaction to the lower paint levels.
Leave it about a month in the sun and then very light coats of 2 pack clear to seal. I recently cleared over an aerosol can spray job with 2 pack and it took several light coats with about 1/2 hour between to dry but came up looking good. Don't rush or go too heavy and it will be fine.
I often find there is an amazingly consistent crazing issue with the plastic sidecovers on spadas but have never come across it on fuel tanks. It doesn't care how thin or what type of coat is used and the only solution seems to be to remove all the paint/undercoat and go all the way back to the plastic. With tanks Light coats seems to always work and with acrylic on tanks a well applied wax finish/polish a week after the final coat does a good job at protecting the paint from fuel.
So all was going well... Popped the bits on for a quick progress pic Took the tank off to put another couple of coats of clear on, and... It fell off the effing milk crate I put it on! I'm sure I'm not the first person that this has happened to, but seriously FML.
Sorry i have been away and only just saw this post. You may have had a reaction with the factory baked enamel paint underneath, the fry up's could be from a lot of different causes though, thin patch of primer after rub back etc Did you prime the tank with decent acrylic primer first? Most of the cheaper acrylic primer's will need to sit for a couple of week's before top coating, especially if you want to put on heavy/wet coat's I wouldn't use acrylic as a top coat for your fuel tank, 1 drip of fuel on it and it'll melt into the paint and cause mark's once it dry's HiChem Isocyanate Free 2 pack clear was made to cover acrylic paint's as well as base coat enamel's, i use it a lot. It can be sprayed over fresh acrylic paint, i usually wait half an hour before i give it a light coat of clear, then 15-20mins before a wet coat and 20 or so min's before the next wet coat etc It dry's hard and isn't affected by fuel drips and spill's https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/2PACK-A...-5LTR-INCL-THINNER-2K-CLEARCOAT-/301715452312
Commiserations, I've had the "tank fall off the milk crate" disaster. I went all high tech and now use 2 milk crates for tanks. Its one of those tragedies that seems to happen in slow motion and even if by some miracle you manage to catch it your grabbing a wet, freshly painted surface. That ISO free clear coat looks like a great solution for tanks. I wasn't aware of its existence, looking for someone in Sydney who can supply it right now. For the occasional amateur painter it still poses the issue of having to have a compressor, accurate mixing equipment, a decent spray gun, then the storage of highly flammable material etc. I painted my Moto guzzi Lemans tank over 12 years ago with acrylic and it still looks pretty fresh with no petrol damage. I just keep it well waxed, place my gloves around the fuel cap while filling and immediately wash off any fuel splashes.
Thanks for the info mate. Unfortunately that stuff is out of my league as I don't have the equipment and I'm doing all this in my garage (which has no power) at the block of units I live at. Just been trying to make do with aerosol cans. Gonna re-prime properly and let it dry for a few weeks before I give it another shot. cheers
The Guzzi looks great! Yeah, kicking myself as I had a second crate I could have used, never want to hear that horrible hollow thud sound of metal hitting concrete again. Oh well... Live and Learn!
You can buy proper 2 pack clear in an aerosol, cost's about $40 a tin at most good auto paint shop's, it has a button on the base of the tin you push in before you shake the can to release the hardener into the clear You only have a few hour's to use the full can before the 2 pack start's to harden
Does the 2k iso free clear coat in a spray can have the same, or similar fuel resistant qualities as standard 2 pac? Been looking on line and there seems to be debate about its fuel resistance. Supa cheap sell it but there seem to be a few unhappy campers, but most claim it works a treat. Bloody good idea , thanks, really had no idea this stuff existed.
The Supercheap stuff isn't true 2 Pack, you dont mix 2 part's together The 2K aerosol is 2K, so fuel resistant once cured (over a week), but it's not ISO free Not 2 pack This is Eastwood 2 pack clear, note the button on the bottom of the can to release the hardener Most paint shop's sell something similar
Thanks again my67xr. This is excellent info. I also just discovered my local paint guy on Taren Point Rd will do 400 ml spray cans of clear, genuine article 2pac for $30 a can. The have a 2 hour shelf life which is just about perfect for me being 20 mins away.
Painted and decalled but not running as smooth as I'd like, could that rattle be the cam chain adjusters?