Archived Posts

[Admin]

Terry i used some water based paint remover and let them sit for a while, this takes out the old black paint.
As for the application of the new flat black, since its also water based, you can in fact drop a small blob of paint into the middle of the recessed sections, and then use a tooth pick to drag it to the edges where you 'line' it neatly to the letters edge.
You are doing this with the emblem flat on a surface, so work each section quickly but evenly and once thats done if its looking a bit thin apply another paint blob and work it into the section.
You have to do this in each section before it dries and you'll get NO brush marks...
I tried to show this resto better in this pic, at least in this light you can see how the finish and shine on the letters faces came out. You can even see the reflection of the cameras lens housing too in the lower letter K,,,,,LOL

[Admin]

Heres a photo of a few pieces and ft caliper parts i stripped of paint and restored. While i did this i also cleaned up any rough edges or casting issues to help improve the look of the items before repainting.
Since i'll be using DOT 5 silicone brake fluid theres no issues with the fluid accidentally getting on the painted parts.

[Admin]

looks great. are you sure you didnt powder coat them? lol

[Admin]

Are you putting a coat of clear over the water based paint, if not, will it stay on thru the washings? This must be better water based paint then we used as a kid in school, correct?

[Admin]

Terry because the areas are very confined you cant really tape off anything properly on these ones so while that could work on side cover badges as Dofin suggested it will be a PITA on badges like these.
You can get really high quality craft or model water based paint in flat black these days, this should be good enough to last but naturally you wouldnt be pressure washing the badges anyways.
If you put clear over the black it would make it shiny and thats not the look you want.
I plan on researching a few more brands of good quality flat finish paint needed for this job.

[Admin]

Nope no powder coating Vince, just some paint applied in the required coats. Would you believe its Rustoleum gloss black from a rattle can. This paint is very durable, and can take more abuse than all the rattle can paint ive seen once it cures, which takes a few days.
This originally was glossy black but it seems to dry to a finish very close to what Suzuki used. If you apply some cream polish to it and do a little rubbing you can in fact create a very high shine, something not needed here.

[Admin]

Allan,

FYI - Rustoleum makes a very nice black appliance epoxy that's very durable once it cures for a few weeks.

Jim

[Admin]

Yup they have that appliance paint too in other colours as well besides the black.
I have also used that product as well as their polyurethane clearcoat in gloss, semigloss and flat.
They also make an industrial enamel spray paint thats very durable for painting things such as aluminum exterior light fittings.
All of these are very good paints/finishes and are as close as it gets to actually using automotive two part paints.
This range that rustoleum is now making seems to have a quick "skin factor", but it takes a long time to dry.
For those of you who have ever sprayed automotive paint it behaves the same way with application, even the overspray has that long time tacky feel to it.

[Admin]

I thought I have seen a Flat Clear, I have not looked close so maybe not.

[Admin]

Yes there is a gloss, a semi gloss and a flat clear, BUT you cant spray the whole badge with it if not the aluminum would then be flat looking too.
I've got a decent example of one of these badges from Suzuki thats not been abused and you can see the flat black paint has been painted on by hand the way its onto the sides of some of the letters.
I'm 99% sure this is the stock flat black paint cause it looks correct and has no layering of being done over.
People think of factories being all mass production now but you have to remember in the 70s a lot of outsourced work was still done by hand.
I'd even go so far as to say the orange metal flake paint on the "GT" side cover emblems was also done by hand too...

[Admin]

my side badges were done by hand with a little tiny modeling brush. i think they look pretty good.

[Admin]

Y
People think of factories being all mass production now but you have to remember in the 70s a lot of outsourced work was still done by hand.
I'd even go so far as to say the orange metal flake paint on the "GT" side cover emblems was also done by hand too...

All these years and you lose track of that thought....hard to conceive.

[Admin]

Terry can you imagine it????? a bunch of women or young girls with badges in baskets painting them in a room at the factory or even possibly at a central community facility.
Most of the time females are chosen simply because their hands are smaller and they naturally do neater work.
Even today, a lot of models and items that require the small intricate details to have hand painted features on them are still done this way.

[Admin]

I had my Cyl bore 2nd over, befor boreing you could see a large champfer on both transfer ports in the cyl. I see these in ALL T/GT500 original Cyl I have 1972 untill 77'. See picture, I hope its clear enough. What the heck are these things for and how important would it be to have them reground into the transfer ports



After boreing the Champfer is almost gone. see pic



Dofin

[Admin]

Thanks for posting the pics Dofin. Now i see the section in question it looks like Suzuki used a tapered cutting stone to quickly grind in the chamfers on the transfers.
Its an interesting way they went around it if this is indeed the case, and its possible the tools position was off by a margin on some cylinders making the cut fall more to one side.
In your case it seems it went more to the lower section on that cylinder or a batch production of cylinders.
What id do if i were you is to see if i can locate any info on it in the shop manual on reboring.
Sometimes they stipulate the angles and areas of the chamfers on rebores, or at least show an approximate area around each ports profile.
If nothing shows up as definative on it id follow the traditional rule for chamfering the ports as is required.