Before Saturday’s rains I was able to hand-sand all the primed pieces, first with a 360 grit then a fine 600, per the paint manufacturer’s instructions.  The 2-part urethane paint was mixed at the recommended 3:1 ratio of paint to activator, then loaded into the paint gun.  The paint was much thinner than the primer.  This stuff is also nasty to breathe, so I donned my respirator and safety goggles and tested the spray pattern against a cardboard box.  The pattern was a perfect oval, so I moved on to painting the parts.

The paint went on very well, with no running.  All parts received at least 4 coats of paint, using nearly the full gallon I had.  In the end, the painted surfaces were quiet smooth – better than I had expected.  I’ll be away for the next 2 weekends, which will give the paint more than adequate time to cure before I wet-sand and buff the paint to a high gloss.  When the buffing is done, I’ll work on the white pinstriping on the fenders and sidecar body.

The pictures are difficult to see, since the bright sun was in the way, but you’ll get the idea.  Hopefully soon I’ll be mounting the front fork and rear swing arm then installing the new wheels, then setting the engine into the frame.  The project now enters the fun stage – reassembly.

Getting the sidecar frame ready for priming was a big job.  The accumulation of rust on the frame required tedious work to remove.  After many hours of sanding, the sidecar frame was shiny bare metal, ready for priming.  Glad that’s behind me.

Over the next few weeks, I should have the parts painted, sanded and buffed.  I can then begin the assembly of the parts, starting with the newly trued and balanced wheels on the frame.  Assembly is the most fun part of these projects, and I can hardly wait.

The paint stripper is nasty stuff, but works very well, and is probably the fastest way to get to bare metal.  It goes on thick, and starts working in seconds.  You can actually hear the paint bubbling up and falling off.  Sometimes a second application was necessary.

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.  So, the paint was stripped from the new fork and fender.  When the black paint was stripped away, the original “God-awful Orange” paint was revealed.  What factory paints motorcycles this color?  The original fender had the same terrible white pinstripes that appear to have been applied with a white magic marker.

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.  I 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.  A seller in Kiev, Ukraine had one for $27, so I bought it.  The new yoke had great threads, but was painted in “Gloomy Gray”, so it too was stripped of its paint.  I would love to chat with the Ukrainian that selected the original factory paint colors.

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.  The 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.  A few weeks ago I noticed a rear fender on eBay for a good price, located in Ohio, so I grabbed it.  This rear fender has no damage, so that will save me some time and should look better.

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.  I have a gallon of 2-part automotive primer waiting to be sprayed, but not until all the body work is completed.

It’s difficult to convey the quality of the paint job in pictures, but you’ll get the idea.  The 15 parts will be hauled to Alden this Friday so that I can begin reassembling the ’65 Honda Benly this weekend.  The front and rear suspension will be installed first, followed by the wiring harness.  These little motorcycles go together quickly, but I still haven’t received my wide white wall tires, so I won’t be able to finish the bike until then.

I’ll post updates with any significant progress this weekend.