{"id":3301,"date":"2016-06-28T11:43:35","date_gmt":"2016-06-28T15:43:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/192.168.50.23\/wordpress\/blog\/?p=3301"},"modified":"2018-04-07T16:24:24","modified_gmt":"2018-04-07T20:24:24","slug":"update-ive-become-a-stripper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forths.com\/index.php\/2016\/06\/28\/update-ive-become-a-stripper\/","title":{"rendered":"Update: I’ve Become a Stripper"},"content":{"rendered":"

… a paint stripper, specifically. \u00a0The Dnepr project is picking up steam this week as I’ve taken some vacation time. \u00a0Aside from some work in the garage and the house, I’ve largely focused on getting the paint off the Dnepr parts. \u00a0Stripping the paint is no fun, but it’s an essential part of preparing the parts for priming and painting. \u00a0This is critical work if I want the results to be good. \u00a0It also gives me an opportunity to inspect the welds and joints more thoroughly.<\/p>\n

The paint stripper is nasty stuff, but works very well, and is probably the fastest way to get to bare metal. \u00a0It goes on thick, and starts working in seconds. \u00a0You can actually hear the paint bubbling up and falling off. \u00a0Sometimes a second application was necessary.<\/p>\n

The leading link fork I bought from a seller in Poland was mostly “new”, but the fender that shipped with it had the same horrible quality black paint that the rest of the bike originally had. \u00a0So, the paint was stripped from the new fork and fender. \u00a0When the black paint was stripped away, the original “God-awful Orange” paint was revealed. \u00a0What factory paints motorcycles this color? \u00a0The original fender had the same terrible white pinstripes that appear to have been applied with a white magic marker.<\/p>\n

A few weeks ago, while test-fitting the new fork to the frame, I noticed that the upper half of the fork yoke threads were stripped. \u00a0I had no metric dies this large, but since this part had the critical job of keeping the front of the motorcycle connected to the rest of it, I decided to buy a replacement, along with a new nut, to ensure that all threads were good and strong. \u00a0A seller in Kiev, Ukraine had one for $27, so I bought it. \u00a0The new yoke had great threads, but was painted in “Gloomy Gray”, so it too was stripped of its paint. \u00a0I would love to chat with the Ukrainian that selected the original factory paint colors.<\/p>\n

The sidecar fender was almost perfect, but the original rear fender had some damage that Uncle Graham artfully bent back to shape nearly 2 years ago, before selling the bike to me. \u00a0The fender still had some ripples in the steel, but I figured that I could further work the metal and apply a body filler to smooth the ripples. \u00a0A few weeks ago I noticed a rear fender on eBay for a good price, located in Ohio, so I grabbed it. \u00a0This rear fender has no damage, so that will save me some time and should look better.<\/p>\n

I’m currently stripping the paint from the sidecar and sidecar frame, but once all the paint is removed, I’ll spend a few days fixing some dents and ripples in the sidecar and hand-sanding all the parts. \u00a0I have a gallon of 2-part automotive primer waiting to be sprayed, but not until all the body work is completed.<\/p>\n