Since I've decided to take it to the track, I've decided to invest in some inexpensive track plastics (cheap insurance). I decided since my weekends were scheduled for domestic duties through May, I'd rattlecan these myself.

To any painters who feel the need to tell me how I should do this, or should've done this, forget it - I've already read allll the posts, and yes I should've spent $XXX if I want better quality...

I was looking for a fun project, to do myself, and wasn't worried about the end result as far as having the best paint job, just figured I'd have something different from white plastics, and I wanted to do it myself.

That being said, I bought a bodywork kit from JDM, mainly due to price and the fact that I was supporting alocal guy, and someone from the Bay Area Riders Forum (BARF). He spent plenty of time answering my over-anxious questions. After giving me some sound advice on which seat option (supersport, or the OEM seat option) to go with, he mounted, drilled, and unmounted the uppers and lowers before sending, to make my job easier. He also charged me his (bulk rate) cost for dzus fasteners and only sold me as many as I needed. Everything arrived exactly when he said it would, in a large box, well wrapped - nothing bent, exposed or broken.

So I went out, bought the prereq sand paper, rattle can spray handles (to keep the tip of my finger from throwing spray), tape, plastic, alcohol (for cleaning after sanding), and a few cans of color & clear for color testing.

I started by painting a few white pieces of cardboard with a few coats of different colors, to find a color I can live with (I wasn't about to try to match the factory paint with rattlecan - nor is it THAT important to me...). Chose a red orange that I want to lay some black over, throw a few decals on, then clear coat.

Since the only piece of plastic I'm not too impressed with is the front fender (little malformed, but works), which I only have as a spare - I decided to use it as the testing ground. I sanded her down, wiped her clean, and made a few passes. Let dry, clear coated, then taped and laid down some black paint. So far, perfect for what I'm looking for.

I had been worried that the fairings would be extremely wavy, and set my expectations low; however, I was very happy when I opened the box (minus the fender), and the amount of work I expect to do. I think the ~$560 (including shipping & fasteners) was a good price, and the customer service has been great so far.

At this point, I'm waiting for the decals to show up before I lay one on the front fender and clearcoat it on. In the meantime, I'll hang a bunch of plastic in the garage, get my complicated fan system in place to complete the paint booth, make sure the mounting points are all drilled and alligned, and prepare some pieces to hold the parts in easy-to-paint positions.

JDM plastics - great price, perfect for what I'm looking for, good customer service, Joe's a great (and patient) guy.

Gsims (me) painting services - great guy - crappy painter, but damn this is fun!

I'll update as to the fit of each of the pieces once mounted, and post the final product (no matter what the outcome looks like!)



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do it in flouresent yellow for the track man. i wouldnt give a rats *** how they came out for the track, use whatever paints left in the garage and urban camo it, as long as your having fun and get to hit the track, spray on man. post pics when your done.

 

right on dude! keep us posted

 

Good on ya! Look forward to seeing what you come up with!

 

Sounds like you're having a blast and I gotta say I'm a bit jelous. Rock on and get some pix up asap.

 

sounds awesome man, nothin like steppin back and lookin at a fresh paint job. i don't blame ya for usin the rattle cans. i am a noob airbrusher and i use rattle cans for base coats and clears...for now. but u mentioned that you have fans for your make shift paint booth which is awesome, but there are VERY harmful chemicals (iso-cyanides)in uro paints that should be avoided. i have a 3M respirator that i wear when i use rattle cans. don't mean to be a wet blanket but i don't want anyone to get sick or worse. oh and don't forget to post the final results. i can't wait to see what u came up with

 

I've produced some great results with rattlecans. Great work! Can't wait to see the finished product.

 

Thanks for the good advice and encouragement....this was last Wed night...

Test fitting. Going to have to trim some places. Had to do a little cutting to get the tail piece to sit nicely over some tabs, and around the keylock for the seat cowl, as well as the 2 bros exhaust. Tail piece goes on really well now. I'm really gladthe supplierpre-fit the upper to the lower - that seems like it woulda been a bitch!

Now I need to trim a little where the body meets the frame, and where the belly pan meets the headers...

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Okay... Trimming done. Drilling done. One more round of sanding then it's time to paint.
These should be the final images of primered bodywork - stay tuned...


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Okay, painting is done, looks decent. There are a few decals I'll apply, then post pics and let you judge it.

QUESTION: there's what appears to be a vacuum box (????) below the left clip-on (in a little bracket that mounts between the frame and the street upper fairing), tubes coming from the tank, going to another little cylinder (behind the middle/lower section of the leftupper fairing - Jezzus, does that even make sense???) that has other tubes coming and going.

A) what are these parts?
B) how have you guys secured/dealt with them?, as there aren't a bunch of mounting points on the inside of the race plastics.

So close to being done!