1974 XS/TX650 rebuild

[th62]

A couple of surface finishing ideas. The plastic guard under the seat of the TX650 was in terrible condition: badly scarred, and gouged, much like the rest of the bike. I was going to bin it and either make an ally one or buy a new one, but, being a bit tight with resurrection money, i did a little experimenting. First I hit the plastic guard with a polishing mop, that didn't work at all. Next I tried a nylon fibre wheel, even worse. Next I tried a scotch brite wheel, uh, uh as well. So , as a last resort I tried scrubbing it down with some fine sandpaper, got tired of that real quick, so put some fine paper on the random orbital sander and it didn't come up too bad. Then I had a brain wave, chucked it in the blasting cabinet and blasted it with glass beads. It came out in a matt finish, not shiny as per the original, but pretty darn good. A lot of the scratches and gouges are simply too deep, but once smoothed over with the sander and then blasted with glass beads it comes up pretty good, good enough to reuse as a hidden part anyway..

Second finish is a random orbital sander on ally, this gives a really, really nice, even finish which can be clear lacquered afterward to retain the finish, Bead blasting and then hitting it with clear lacquer also gives a nice finish, but not as good as the random orbital sander. As well as a nice looking finish it also provides a good base for painting with clear lacquer. Although, it is only workable on flat surfaces, trying to get an even pattern on something like an engine side cover would be impossible. Perhaps bead blasting and paintinng with clear lacquer would look alright, but, I'm addicted to polished side covers so that's out for me. Anyway some pictures: first picture is of the plastic inner guard, don't have any before shots, but trust me, the guard was in disgusting condition. Second pic is of ally finished with a random orbital sander. So, if you'er like me and balk at spending a million bucks on resurrecting a 47 year old motorbike, give these two ideas a shot, you will be surprised.