Completing the Fender Painting

OK now that I am underway with the repainting of the TINS and the rear fender I have run into another problem. FLORIDA HUMIDITY. This hasn't been such a plague but it recently has been causing my Black Paint to Dry Foggy and Gray. It is not affecting the finish as it is coming out smooth as silk BUT the drying time between coats and the shine is a strange gray color. Hoepfully in the next day or two it will be less humid and I can get the final Base Black down so I can let it set for a day or so them get my Clears on. While I am waiting I went to the Florida Bike Builder Expo and foudn some inspiration in some of the ride in Bobbers that were there. Also searching the internet for Brake lines to replace the Front lines and allow me to work the handle bars. I think turning them upside down is going to be the way to go for the near future.

Cutting the rear fender

OK. I went over and over in my head the thought about CUTTING a perfectly good fender and then someone coming along and wanting to buy an original bike. WELL I researched it and found a 1981 XLH rear fender and it cost $63 +shipping. SO I decided that if someone wants a "perfect" fender then they will have to spring for a new one and if I sell this and they want a new fender I will discount this one $63 lol. Anyway I finally pulled the trigger, broke out the Angle Grinder and whacked it. Marked my line, taped it off as a Straight guide and whacked it. Angled the edges and it looks great.

Clear Coat Tank and Tins

Clear coating is one of the easier yet a very important part of the finishing of your painted tins. I found that Painting a first VERY LIGHT coat is the best. The lighter the coat the easier it is to control the chance of a RUN. Allowing the coat to dry between 15 and 20 minutes between coats allows enough set time and also allows each coat to chemically bond to the coat before. Messing up in this stage means sanding down and repainting. SO patience is a very good thing right here. I ended up getting mine on without a run and it looks FAR better than I thought it would for being Rattle Can.

Tank Base coat on and Putting on Emblems

The tank with a Base Coat.


Finished the Tank and for Rattle Can the finish turned out a lot better than i thought it would be. It took about a week to complete. Putting on a Coat, Wating, Wet Sanding and then putting on another coat. This is a Base coat color and these pictures show the tank without any clear coat applied. Once I measure and put the Emblem on I will clear coat over the tank.


The Tank taped up ready for the emblem.
Marking a piece of String with a Middle Mark then measuring out a mark from center and then taping to the tank will help with a GUIDE for setting your emblem on the side of the tank.

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Once one side is on make sure that the emblem is adhered to the tank in all spots.
Each side should be fairly level and if you measured correctly and where able to lay the emblem on correctly it should look pretty symetrical when done.
Went with a Brass color emblem to match a Brass Velocity Stack on the air cleaner AND switching out a lot of the nuts and bolts if possible to brass will add to the Old School look I'm trying to accomplish.

Removing the rear Fender

This was one step that had to happen so since my solo seat is on its way I figured I might as well get rid of this rear fender. The turn signals presented a minor challenge but taking off the fender helped and I was able to slide the wires out of the fenders.

SOLO Seat Found

I decided to go with a All Black Leather. With a Little cushion, and no design on it. I want the bike to be true Garage and not have a lot of festoonery. This seat from Demon Cycle seemed to be what I was looking for. I was trying to deal on a "Best Offer" from a guy on E-bay he turned down an offer I made and said he would take $105, so I offered that and he turned it down. So F&%^ him.

A few things while I wait

While I wait to get parts a few things need to be done. One is the COIL is an awful Yellow color and if I pull it off, Clean it and paint it, it won't stand out and look so bad. A nice Flat Black will work. Also cleaning the connections and removing the tank will allow me to see what else is under the tank and can be cleaned. Simple Green and some rags are great to get alot of the grime off and the ugly yellow covered by a nice flat black High Temp paint makes the COIL un-noticeable. These are very minor things but details on a bike that will try to stick to the minimalist concept are everything.

Step 3 - Take the front fender off - Ironhead Bobber Project Bike

After a good cleaning I just had to take the front fender off thats just mandatory no matter what else gets done.
Then of course I want to take it for a ride and being that it is carburated of course I flood it out and one of the cylinders runs a little rich for a while. BUT it worked itself out.
Took it down to the gas station and filled it up with NEW gas and found that on the ride back the gas tank lid leaks so a nice bunch of streaks down the tank. A little simple green cleans em up nice but that seems to be the next move. Sand the tank down to bare metal.

Step 2 - See What I have

This is where I just got the bike and finally take some simple green and rags and clean off the years of road grime. I found that for the most part I can get a lot of the surface stuff off but a lot may need some power tools and some special cleaning items like long cleaning q-tips or even a dremel polisher to get into some of the cracks. The rims (which I thought were stock aluminum) where Chrome once I got the first layer of grime off them This was kinda a surprise and a let down. A surprise because it is now chrome and do I want to paint over the chrome with either red? or Black? not sure yet but thinking about the color scheme I think Black is the way to go but need to really polish the chrome to see exactly how bad it is. First look is the Front rim is about 90% good looking chrome but has the aging blemishes that just won't polish up.

1981 Ironhead Harley Sportster as Purchased.

This is my 1981 Ironhead Harley Sportster XLH 1000. Here is the bike the day I got it. There is a lot of things that I want to do to it and I am trying to figure out what to do first. I have a million questions that need answered. 1. Do I Bobber it? or leave it stock? Do I need the engine rebuilt? or can it wait? A million ?'s. Anyway I think the first thing I will do is clean it up and see whats underneath some of the oil and dirt. Once I've done that maybe the starting point will show itself.

Here is my list of things to do that I don't need to purchase.
1. Clean the bike.
2. Remove the Front Fender (the tire is too big right now for it anyway)
3. Sand down the tank that is on it. The original is with me but not installed needs some work on it as well.
4. Do something with the back end. if I remove the fender I may find something else to do but that might be a good start.
5. look at all of the connections and see if there is some cleaning I can do to make it look a little neater.
6. Wrap the pipes. (for now wrapped will have to do.

Here is my preliminary list of things to buy to start the project.


1. New Seat (bobber/solo seat) even if I stay stock it still needs to have the seat removed since it isn't stock.
2. New Handlebars. (Drag or Apes?) not sure yet.
3. New Front Tire (21" maybe 40spoke) Might as well go white wall and do both while I'm at it.
4. Exhaust some LAF Y pipes should set it off, but will have to wrap the current pipes as they are.

There will be a lot of things changing and as I do them I will post on here the results. Or the steps that I have taken. SO far I haven't done anything but title and plate her. About $150 bones later and I can drive her if I want.

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Chrome won't get you home.