the painting has started again and i've been assured the engine will be stripped by friday! i have decided i need to push this along as i have just invested in another bike and don't want to neglect this beautiful ducati , small things are being done along the way, although i realize i need to step up and dig deep to do the paint, besides the engine build the only otherwork really needed is i have 1 or 2 little electrical gremlins! i will try attatch a pic of the new bike which is currently in the uk until i stumble through the import process and all its legalities , a quick and expensive learning curve, anyway im back in the shed pushing forward with the 89.

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It's all patched ,sanded and ready to prime except for the tank, which I have very minor interior surface rust which I need to sort prior to paint

Admirable progress! Beautiful Guzzi. Time warp. Good luck!

yeah shes a 1975 750 S3, i believe they made 950 of these and this one is original condition with 20,000k's and believed to be first day production, # 3, i think only 14 or so came to OZ,safe to say its not up for resto.

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Well I got it all primed today and starting to get my head around it , I need to sort any little pinholes or splits in the old paint or fiberglass, so I'll spray some black aerosol paint on any areas that look a bit suss ,that way I can see any low spots when I flat the primer with 600 wet and dry,most of the imperfections were already sorted but when you prime it all tiny pinholes etc stand out , anyway it's a start

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Alas like this where it was damaged and weakened , I just added a little fibreglass on the inside, but on the outside is a good example of where to spray a little black over there prior to sanding the primer because although I've done a fair bit of patching and sanding already you can bet your life it ain't spot on, just saying incase someone wants to try their own painting, and I'm no expert waha that's for sure

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Hi HIGHWAY89!

To me it looks good, I always love to see it when everything is in grey primer.
Can't imagine why you won't get it at least as good as it ever was!
Good luck and let the pics flow!

Frank

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Thanks Frank, and now is basically the last chance to sort it out for the base coat(colour), I will post more pics as I go

Very smart/skillful. Question Sir: what do you spray with? HVLP? Thanks for sharing and documenting your processes. Great service to inform us all on how you approach the work at hand. Good Luck!

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Not really smart I just try to work it and ask a lot of questions, and I've already made some mistakes which I have already put on here, 1,you dont finish your patching with car bog,, you finish it with a knifing putty, 2, you only use 240 grit w/ d on the primer stages ,you sand your primer with 600 or so to apply your base coat, (colour), then sand your basecoat (when you're happy with it) with 1200 or so to apply your clear, this all applies to the acrylic basecoat and color system, I wash all the sanded ready to paint stuff in the bath with clean water then air blast and let to dry properly before applying each stage,3, the finder aerosol use to find low spots must not be any enamels, I believe lacquers like the one I will post are fine, spray gun is an old style airless for mainly roof coatings, thanks for vote of confidence

There's another one waha, basecoat and clear is what I mean, the piece in that pic is new thin fibreglass and had plenty of big low areas, you can see the white gelcoat coming through the primer then still a little of the black finder coat( which should be only a light mist, so there's another mistake I made , I laid it on showed it Mario( auto paint shop)basically get that enamel off there or it could fry up the next coats and cause basically failure of the system, even on the curved areas which are most you need to use a block with your w/d , the brown color is the knifing putty, put on with a flat plastic wide blade, like they say it's all in the prep, so I have filled that sanded the knifing putty with 240, now I still have some are bubbles and a couple low spots, so I will reputty, sand ,clean and reprime

These pieces are ready for a reprime and a sand with 600, then hopefully ready to basecoat

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