1934 Frame Rough from Rust

[leomags]

My VL frame, fork and other heavy iron have a very rough surface due to surface rusting. I'm thinking about powder coating as well as paint but after blasting these parts clean I'm going to have to fill the pits with something and then sand it smooth. What's good these days, all I remember about is Bondo?

[Robert Luland]

Thats it unless you want to go though the trouble of silver soldering them. It's a lot of work. Bob L

[Tom Lovejoy]

I have used glaze putty with good results. Have done powder coating, but that still did not fill the pit's had to do alot of sanding. Bondo has come along way and is pretty good stuff, I think by far the easiest fix. Just make sure the tubing is still strong enough, you dont want stuff braking after you git it looking good = you want it to be safe. Have seen friends machines that looked good, frame tubing was all but rusted through, also handle bars - but looked good. When you lest expect it bang, broke frame and or handle bar. Start looking under the paint and oh ****, the tubes are shot. Good luck with yours.

[harleytoprock]

First have the frame sandblasted clean. To fill in the pits and give it a good surface, spray on a couple of coats of polyester spray. The stuff is sold in a profesional automotive paint store. It is sprayed through a gun with a large tip like 2.0. You have to add and mix in a catalist hardner right before you spray. Potlife is about 30 or 40 minutes. It builds up and fills very well. Mask areas that would be a problem with the build up. Try to spray when its not too to hot. Try and keep it wet as you spray. You can ad about 10% lacquer thinner (but not more)so it sprays better. It tends to come out dry, so be careful. Clean the gun immediatly when done or it will become garbage! Don't wait more then a day to sand, as it well get very hard to sand a week later. I first dry sand with 80 grit and then 150. It gets very dusty! Then its ready for the first coat of urethane 2k primer. A lot of different companies make this stuff. Some are featherfil, spies, slick sand, nason, dupont. The stuff is basicly sprayable bondo. Its amazing what 3 coats can fill. I use the nason as its cheap and works very good.

[Robert Luland]

Can you use Bondo over this if you fine spots still in need of build up later? Bob L

[harleytoprock]

Robert, You can use bondo on top of polyester spray. But a better product than bondo is called "Icing" to fill in pits, scratches and minor imperfections. It comes in a tube, you mix it with the same bondo hardener. It's very smooth and creamy and if needed can be applied up to 1/8". It sands easier than bondo too.

[yhprum]

If you want powder coat, I have read someplace that labmetal can be used and it will withstand the heat from the curing process. There is a powdercoating forum at Eastwood that may help. Steve

[leomags]

About Rusted Frames and Handlebars

Thanks to all who responded. Tom brought up something that I never thought of and that was frame or handlebar rust which had possible gone to the point of causing a structure failure. How can you tell? You can't see inside the frame tubes or handlebars. I've restored cars before but never a motorcycle so please go easy on me.......about my lack of knowledge.

[sirhrmechanic]

We use a product called Metal2Metal. It is a bondo-like filler, but instead of using talc as the actual 'filler', it uses colloidal aluminum powder. It is a very, very good filler on bare metal. And it is hard as woodpecker lips when put on. It can be a pain to smooth, but the final finish is well-worth it. And it is definitely head-and-shoulders above Bondo, which is really low end filler. If you want to use something in between, RAGE is another good one by the same company that makes Metal2Metal.

The polyester spotting putties and fillers can be used to fill little pinholes, generally after priming. When we do major work like this, we start with Metal2Metal, then paint with Variprime (if Aluminum) or Corlar (if Ferrous). Then Uro Primer which is a primer filler. You can use spot putty/polyester on small pinholes on Uro, but once you are at this point, bodywork needs to be long finished and done with. Primer is NOT bodyman in a can.

Then top coat, usually Chroma base/Chroma Clear or Chroma Premiere if single stage. Rarely, laquer, but only on really special projects. We use DuPont, but there are other fine paints out there if you don't like DuPont.

And remember that most of these products require a mask and, in the case of Corlar, a remote air supply. Use these products w.out protection and you'll start drooling on yourself and forget your name in a hurry.

I don't like powder coating as I have had bad experiences with it and feel that there is no substitute for a good primer w. a good topcoat for finish and protection. But there are lots of people out there who swear by powder coating and have had a great experience. I just prefer not to use it myself.

Here is a car in process with Metal2Metal filler applied on the tail and behind the door.

Ghostbodied.jpg

Cheers,

Sirhr

www.vintagegaragevt.com

[flthead]

been using grey marine tex for over 20 yrs ,nothing better http://www.marinetex.com/marinetexepoxyputty.html

[Tom Lovejoy]

Maybe a shop that straightens frames could check it for you. Or folks in your local chapter with more experience might know what to look for or check. let them take a look, thats what I do - when I have questions, I go talk to those that have been doing this stuff alot longer than me, most are very helpful. Just like this forum, but its even better if their looking at you frame and your there.
My experiences have been with folks machines that they had bought restored or had along time. They looked good when they bought them. One time - this guy's bike gits off balance and he is struggling to keep it up and pop, his handlebars - one side broke off in his hand. Of course the bike fell, another time. The guy ahead of me hit a bump and pulled over, said somethings not right. Looking all over and there we were shoked to see, his frame was broke. When taking it apart for repairs, was shocked to see just how bad the tubing was on the machine - rust damage. Paint and or bondo and those things can hide alot of bad stuff. Your tubing might be fine, but sure worth checking.
Sounds like some neat products out there I have yet to try, thanks for the info and good luck on your VL.