Mello dude's hyper resto mod bling it job -->> MD Tech

[mello dude]

I have been meaning to do this thread for awhile, as I am starting to reassemble my standard and have forgotten how some stuff goes back together. I am fairly mechanically savy but you know, sometimes its just CRS..... So at times, I will be asking - how does this go back together. (I do have the FSM and check Partzilla all the time. )

So add a short background story...  below is the bike I saw quite awhile ago and smacked me in the face and my reactions.... talking to myself....

Oooooh - look at that bling job! I said waaaay back when....  



Ooooooh - look at those polished forks!  


Whao! Look how clean the rear brake looks and the chrome wheel!  


Rear brake bling envy......



The thing had my attention, and I never was a fan of chrome before.
What really started me out - is looking at the rear brake on mine....

- Really? C'mon Honda, how could you mess up and leave a Valk with a drab back end?



From that I pretty well determined, I was going to get some decent bling on MY Valkyrie! - Thinking, just OK, chrome the wheels and polish the forks.

[mello dude]

" Thinking, just OK, chrome the wheels and polish the forks. "

Yeah, right.  ----- I have the severe "while I'm at it disease".  When to stop on a project isnt my strong suit.

The tear down commences....




Uh - oooh, what did I do?

[JimC]

I have a good feeling that I know where this thread is headed.
Can't wait.

Jim

[mello dude]

Weally wanting wild wheel bling...

The wheels....

On the rear, I got it in my head that I wanted to machine off the DOT lettering.. but I had no idea if there was enuff material to be able to do that. So I was determined to find a scrap wheel, and cut it in half to find out..... Yes - I am a whackjob...  



And.... Whack! Whack!


Hey! Looks like a go to me..  

So I begged a local machinist to turn it on my good wheel for real....





It came out reasonable, but I added some hand sanding for clean up...




Um... This could take a few days to get this stuff all down...  

[mello dude]

Wheels #2
The first attempt was getting them polished from a local hot rod polish house... but he screwed it up!
And still charged me..
The only fix was now chrome it...

Whoa! Looks good?  




Well, A while I'm at it, rotors too... (polished)






So I would say on the wheels, mission accomplished...  


More stuff coming later..

[Hook#3287]

Looking good

[Valkorado]

Following.  I love seeing other more industrious and financially able folks what I'd like to, but can't.  Kinda like motorcycle forum window shopping.  Ooooh!  Nope, move on.

[The emperor has no clothes]

Those are beautiful 

[..]

Polished rotors still equals braking power?

[old2soon]

             So far fer me anywho it's a-lookin like somethin I'd do IF I was younger IF I had the time IF I had the coinage IF I weren't askeered ta ride er after it were sorta done. And B T W I might ad-lookin cursed good there. Alrighty-bein as you whetted a LOT of appetites with the wonderful start-PLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASE don't let us down!    I iz likin what I iz seein!  RIDE SAFE.

[NewValker]

Wow, what a difference!
I too am wondering if the rotors still have the same braking power?
Craig

[1NorthRyder]

I'll have to follow this one, I'm liking it.

[hubcapsc]

I think the bidness end of the rotors will go back to looking like they
ought to pretty quickly... like on the model bike...



-Mike

[h13man]

             So far fer me anywho it's a-lookin like somethin I'd do IF I was younger IF I had the time IF I had the coinage IF I weren't askeered ta ride er after it were sorta done. And B T W I might ad-lookin cursed good there. Alrighty-bein as you whetted a LOT of appetites with the wonderful start-PLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASE don't let us down!    I iz likin what I iz seein!  RIDE SAFE.

+1! Please continue.

[Tfrank59]

Those front rotors are wild looking. And the thing about chroming everything like you did it's so easy to clean it now. Great job. Must have been costly in terms of time effort and cash.

[SPOFF]

Looks good. Reminds me of the early days when we were doing crazy things to make Valks beautiful. (Not like today when most of us are looking for info just to keep our antiques running.) Thanks for the cross section wheel picture. That was downloaded to my decades-old Valkyrie picture folder.   

[mello dude]

I think the bidness end of the rotors will go back to looking like they
ought to pretty quickly... like on the model bike...



-Mike

Hubcap has got it. ---I dont expect that the rotor finish will stay polish for a long time. So, my plan is to trailer the thing to a studio and take mucho pics while its in pristine form.

[mello dude]

More about rotors.....
When I started out,..... I sold my stocker Valk rotors. The OEM roter centers were solid and blocking any bling to see on the wheels... So be gone...  I expectedd to take that bucks and get some kind of aftermarket.......  I asked several aftermarket companies to make me a custom rotor (front) but they all balked at the idea.  --- So for the front rotors, I went with Gold Wing, OEM. The rear was no brainers, the stock is fine....








A guy in Columbus did the polish job..  -- I'm only 90% happy with them. What you cant see in the pix is around the buttons, is not totlally cleaned up. In retrospect for a do over, I would cut the buttons from the back and then just complete chrome the centers. Then since the buttons are esentially a big rivet, find a source that could add new ones. Of course the stock rotor, I could polish again.

[mello dude]

Those front rotors are wild looking. And the thing about chroming everything like you did it's so easy to clean it now. Great job. Must have been costly in terms of time effort and cash.

I hope you are right about cleaning the thing. OMG, way to much bling now to clean!

- Time and effort and cash? That goes to the stupid category.. Waaaay too much! 

[Tfrank59]

Well if it behaves like the rest of the Chrome on our bikes a little bit of soapy water and a hose unless of course you get a bunch of Road tar and stuff stuck to it

[mello dude]

One of the things that drive you bonkers on a project is deciding what the hooey you want....  
So on the rotor bolts, I spent a couple months just figuring out what way to go? or to beer it out...
I looked at stainless, but was concerned about the material specs - what is as strong or stronger than OEM? Or googling for Chrome rotor bolts, but same concern. Then looked at titanium bolts, very strong material and beautiful. If I could have gotten red anadize titanium, I would have been suckered into that.

- But ok, since I had a large stash  of stock bolts on hand, what if I try to polish them? What would that look like. So I made a little magazine to work on them, and got the dremel out with a mini polish wheel.
Well.... day-um... looks good, I cant justify buying anything else.

[Kaahn]

Wow that looks so cool! I need to find someone that can do this to mine 

[SPOFF]

Looking at your disk rotor bolts, I think you've gone overboard. I'm in the middle of a frame-up restore. I've been carefully cleaning and polishing hundreds of parts. On many of the chrome pieces I'm finding small dents and scratches. I'm leaving it that way because on an antique the "original unrestored" look is what I'm going for. Three more seasons and I can offically put on State of New Hampshire antique plates.

[old2soon]

                 Mello dude your attention to Detail puts me in mind of a 55 Ford pickup Ross and I had seen at a car night at a Dog and Suds or an A & W in Ingleside Il. more years ago then I care to remember. The welds on his hand fabricated headers were cursed near impossible to see where they had been welded. The body work and paint were in a word-FLAWLESS. The cast in lines in both the door handles and window cranks were opened up with a very narrow metal blade by hand. You get the gist of where I'm headed here. Rattlin the old thinkin muscle I'm recollectin he said at the time da prez and I eyeballed his creation he had been at it 3-? years or so and was NOT heading for a completion date as building his dream truck took near bout all his spare time. I also recollect him stating-please don't ask how much I spent gittin it like this as when he looks at the totals he admitted he do in fact git a mite scared at times. Having raced cars M/Cs and dabbled in boats a bit I actually have an idea of how Quickly money leaves!  RIDE SAFE.

[mello dude]

Looking at your disk rotor bolts, I think you've gone overboard.

LOL

So I polished the hooey out of the bolts and so later in time they will need it again? Nada, not me. So the whackjob in me has to coat the heads with a ceramic. I hit it with about 5 coat of the stuff. Works great.

[mello dude]

I'm in the middle of a frame-up restore. I've been carefully cleaning and polishing hundreds of parts. On many of the chrome pieces I'm finding small dents and scratches. I'm leaving it that way because on an antique the "original unrestored" look is what I'm going for. Three more seasons and I can offically put on State of New Hampshire antique plates.

Best wishes on your Resto.. everybody has the idea of the way that they want things. Looking forward to photos..  ( I'm using SmugMug and starting to like it. )

Btw - a few things I have coming up may be of use to your work...

[mello dude]

Another mello dude hyper moment...
I have been going thru a detail kick on diferent products here and there. And have discovered the Pinacle products surface cleaner and coatings. So part of the hyper job is cleaning, cleaning and more cleaning.
I found the surface polish to be amazing and have been working it on the frame, then doing the
ceramic coat to finish. Well, that deserves another ... day-um.  The black frame just pops out better than factory.  Great stuff... But lots of work.


Tryed it on a valve cover... nice...

[Tfrank59]

 If you keep going like that you won't even want to ride it will just be a show bike 

[mello dude]

If you keep going like that you won't even want to ride it will just be a show bike 

Hope your wrong on that one.... Jeez, I really miss riding my Valk!.

[Tfrank59]

Well then ride it!  You'll no doubts get lots of compliments, if the response on this forum is any indication, and in the off season you can do all the cleaning to keep her lookin good.  

[mello dude]

Well  - what next? How bout some caliper bling?

[mello dude]

Some more...


How bout a brake plate?

[mello dude]

The group...        -- I'm doing 2 photos a post now... I think I crashed the site when I did more...



So Clean 'dem pistons - that Mothers polish was awesome for the job, I just had it on hand and thought, why not? Gotta remember this, worked really well. Clean one is on the left.

[mello dude]

More getting busy.. Doing the ceramic coat thing. Its supposed to stop any dirt or gunk sticking to the part. Still lotsa work...


Pretty phenomenal stuff, but a bit sensitive to how its applied. It flashes near instantly, so you have to polish it off right away. Do it right and it looks awesome. Do it wrong, and it kinda smears. I like it in some ways, dislike in others. Definately dont use it on polished aluminum.

[..]

FFS

I spent a while today cleaning up my front wheel whilst it was off. New tire.

Thought I'd done a pretty god job in the time I used.

Huh. I suck. 

[gordonv]

Pretty phenomenal stuff, but a bit sensitive to how its applied. It flashes near instantly, so you have to polish it off right away. Do it right and it looks awesome. Do it wrong, and it kinda smears. I like it in some ways, dislike in others. Definately dont use it on polished aluminum.

I finally looked up the product online, $60, for 4 oz. Sounds like from your description, you spray this on a clean piece of metal and it comes out shinny, or are you spraying it onto a clean chromed piece, I don't really understand?

[mello dude]

Pretty phenomenal stuff, but a bit sensitive to how its applied. It flashes near instantly, so you have to polish it off right away. Do it right and it looks awesome. Do it wrong, and it kinda smears. I like it in some ways, dislike in others. Definately dont use it on polished aluminum.

I finally looked up the product online, $60, for 4 oz. Sounds like from you description, you spray this on a clean piece of metal and it comes out shinny, or are you spraying it onto a clean chromed piece, I don't really understand?

The ceramic is a poly- ceramic sealant. It is a protectant first. Its main perpose is so dirt and grime dont stick and slide off without effort.   What ever you are going to apply it on, needs to be scrupulously clean. Also, the clean look is what you are sealing, If the part is already shiny, it will come out looking more "wet". I tryed it on an aluminum part and it sat a bit longer than required, and kinda smeared a clearish "cloud" on an area. It is waaaaay hard to get off, once it sets.  - It probly like paint, if you do a good prep, then the paint come out great. If you dont do a good preparation, then the paint will have flaws.

On my frame areas, I cleaned it good with the surface cleaner polish until I was happy. Then top coated it with the ceramic. - I did the calipers because they are a dirt magnet. I wanted to be able to clean with near no effort.

I guess the point is, if you top coat over dirt or blemishes or flaws,  dont expect it to fix it and clean it and leave shiny. .  btw - bring lots of elbow grease (and microfiber towels)
-- I am still experimenting with it, a good job with it is all in the technique.

[mello dude]

Triples and Forks Nite..

Some triple pics.

[mello dude]

So on the forks themselves, i had a suspension guy do a rebuild of the guts since the things went flabby.
Then send to Grumpy in Florida, since I saw another Valk guy said he send his there for polish.  The lowers we're not done (grrr) so I had a local guy finish out the lowers.

[97BLKVALK]

Dude,

Looking great!  Hope to see that beautiful Valkyrie at Inzane XIX in (TBD)   

Michael