TOPIC:

Had enough of polishing this. It is nowhere near perfect, the plan is to fit it back on then bring it up to a better standard on the bike with frequent, short attacks with the drill bourne polishing wheel. Looks better than it did at least.

What I know about cutting and buffing- You can sand the finish down with 800 wet and dry paper, nothing courser than this, and get a uniform appearance. Then go at it with 1500 wet and dry to take out the "scratch marks" of the 800. Next is to go at it with a paint polish Like Farecla

www.farecla.com/products/compounds-glazes-waxes

Not sure how many coats of clear you put on after the color coat. If you only put on 2 coats of clear, you may want to flatten out the clear with the 800 wet and dry and put on another 2-3 coats of clear. Trust me, you can polish out almost any dust, debris, flies feet etc.provided there's enough material (clear) to polish out.
This paint job I plan on for my KZ will entail a primer coat, then a base silver orion coat, then 3 coats of medium metallic, then 3-4 coats of intercoat clear, then wet sanded down to achieve a flat finish, then 5 coates of inter clear with candy additive, then 5 coats of urethane. Then the work begins and what I described above will be the polishing process. Needless to say I've done a lot of research on this topic since the local paint shops want $1500 - $2,000 to do the paint work for me. I'm not afraid of taking a crack at it just like you have done. If you want the ultimate paint finish it's nothing more than a lot of elbow grease. If you buy a high end car, this is their process. The only other way of getting a near perfect paint job like a factory paint job is in a hermetically sealed paint booth and no autobody shop will spend the money for this kind of set up.

Thanks for the paint tips. You are exactly right in that I haven't used enough coats of clear. The result I have got is ok for the moment but I will redo it when I have decided whether I like the colour or not.

Here are Marc's Pics:









Thanks for contributing.
Bill

I have now repainted the wheels and disks. I used Rustoleum high temp satin black because it matches the original wheel colour quite well. While everything was apart I whacked in a set of bearings and seals just to be sure. The fork legs are painted with Sunox but I will probably redo them with Rustoleum which seems to be a tougher paint. The final drive case is not perfect but I am fed up with it. The break through came when I tried some valve grinding paste on a dremal felt bob- it really cut through the rough bits of casting allowing a much easier polished finish. I intend to keep at it by doing it every so often while it is on the bike. The tyres are BT 45s. All the disk bolts have been changed for stainless jobs and I think they look ok. The front calipers are still at Past parts ltd having new liners and modern seals fitted. If the front calipers come back looking as good as the rear did we will be in business.
It is definitely starting to look more like a Z13 again now.

You sure do nice work. Love where you're going with it.

Just a word of caution and something I would ask you to consider. You mention changing out the disc bolts for stainless. Stainless fasteners are usually fairly soft due to the nickel content. If you've ever experienced thread galling, it's due to the softness. Take a ball peen hammer to a piece of stainless sheet and just see how soft it is. I suspect the bolts that hold the brake discs to the wheel hubs are grade 8 fasteners which are very tough. I'd hate to see you brake hard and have the bolts shear off and then no brakes. Just check the grade of bolt you used in this particular application.