Anyone who has paint and body experience

[Woody]

I (and my next door neighbor ) are going to repaint my 78 Kawasaki 1000 LTD motor cycle and I need some help from those of you who are knowledgable about what paint to use, from primer to finish coats. I had the emblems removed from the tank and there is some slight surface rust as a result of the body work.
I can sand blast the rust off but what prep do I need to do to prepare it to prime. We are going to use Dupont paints and I would like to paint it 1969 Chevy code 69 hugger orange with gold pearl in the final clear coat. Can you guys advise me on the primer to use (Dupont) , reducer, catalyst(hardner), and the procedure to paint a base coat/ clear coat paint job.........that is should the base coat be sanded before the claear coat goes on?
My neighbor has painted bits and pieces of cars before but this will be the first time he(we) will attempt a 2 part paint system. Aany advice/help will really be appreciated. The tank and front fender of course are steel but the side covers, front fairing and rear fender are plastic. Is there anything special we need to do or paint to use to paint them? Thanks for any help you guys can give us!!!

Woody

 

[Drop Top]

First off I wouldnt sand blast the tank or finder. If the rust is too heavy to sand off with sand paper. Try a bead blast cabnet with glass beads. I wire wheel or 3M fiber wheel might work also.
I'm not a big fan of Du Pont paint but if thats what your planning on useing I'll try to help the best I can. I don't remember the names or part numbers of thier sealers or blocking primers. So you will have to ask your localpaint suplie store for that information.
Once you get the rust off of any bare metal you need to seal it with a bare metal primer/sealer. Then spread any plastic filler over those areas and block down. Know is the time for your blocking primer. Block the tank as many times as you feel nesessary.
After the parts are blocked and ready to paint. You will need to seal them. With DuPont paint it is important that you use the correct color sealer before putting on the base color. There paints are a bit trnsparent and don't cover as well as PPG. On orange you will use their white sealer. This sealer can also be used as a bare metal primer. It is a non-sanding primer but if it sets more then 24 hrs you will need to scuff it before basing it out. After you paint the base you will not need to sand it before clearing enless it sits over 12 hrs. If it sits longer then this you will need to scuff and reaplie a coat of color before clearing. Make shure you blow and tack the pieces inbetween each coat of base. This will help to keep the dust and lent out of the color. DO NOT tack inbetween the clears coats or you will have lint from your tack cloth in the clear. Wate10 to 15 mins between each coat. Depending on the temp in the area you are shooting the parts.
When you buy the sealers, primers, base coats and clear you will have to ask the salesperson for the right stuff to mix everthing with and how they are mixed (ratio).
A word of caution. If your planning on color sanding a buffing your parts you will want to sand the white sealler before baseing the pieces out. The white sealer has small nibs in it that will come through when you color sand. Your orange will look like it has white spots all over it.
On the plastic pieces you do the same procedure except you will need to put on a adhistion promoter that is made for plastics before aplieing your sealer after that go as normal.
If you have more questions be shure to ask.

 

[Drop Top]

I forgot to mention. If you going to spray a pearl. You can do this alot easier by putting the pearl in Du ponts adhison promoter and spraying it over the base before you aplie the clear. Go very lightly with the trigger the adhision promoter is thin and will run easley. This way the pearl is protected by the clear and if you want to cut and polish. It will not harm the pearl.
One more thing. I made it sound like you had to put filler over the sealer that was sprayed over the bare metal spots. What I ment was now was the time to use your plastic filler if it was needed.