My other bike- '81 XS400

[Scoobynut_imp]

Really nice looking bike, doubleg, nice work! You mentioned touching up the paint on the frame -- when I was restoring my RD400, the frame paint was in really good condition, except the front downtubes where the previous owner had installed clamp on crashbars; there was surface corrosion where the clamps had removed the paint.

I used some POR15 products to touch up those spots and you would be hard pressed to know where the paint has been touched up. From the POR15 starter kit I used their Marine Clean degreaser and the Metal Ready prep to clean and prep the corroded spots, then after drying I used their black gloss Top Coat paint on the frame. Rather than taping everything off and spraying the paint onto the frame, I sprayed paint onto a piece of cardboard and used a foam brush like you would use for house painting to dab the paint on. The POR15 Top Coat paint when applied with a foam brush doesn't show lines or 'orange peel' when applied with the foam brush, it just lays down flat like you sprayed it. In any case, I got very good results with this method, so you might consider giving it a try. As a bonus, the paint when applied with this method will hold up much better than typical spray paint and will arrest any further corrosion. I can get you some photos of the results if you want to see them.

Would love to see those photos! Most of the touch-up area's I would need to do is on the swingarm. I think that might be because i completely stripped the paint off that, and I'm guessing the primer I used wasn't up to the task. The rest of the frame I just sanded as needed and painted over and it seems to be holding up better.

I like your idea for touch up using the foam brush, I really don't feel like taking everything back apart or doing intricate taping jobs! (at least not until I get tired of the current color scheme)

Sorry for the slow reply, doubleg -- I have a teenager back from college and being his butler is a full time job. I'll get some photos for you today and post 'em up. You shouldn't need to do any priming or sanding (unless you just want to smooth the surface down a bit more) with the method I use.