I’m almost to the point of putting The Bride back together.
Sunday afternoon, I got a second coat on the frame and swingarm.
I also finished removing the unused lugs from the fork leg. It’s not flawless, but it’s a “20-footer,” which is within tolerance for the vehicle it’s going on. Rather than try to strip off the yellowed clear-coat and polish the whole thing, I am planning on shooting both fork lowers with a coat of “aluminum” finish silver paint.
I’m also attempting to clean up the fuel tank’s appearance, courtesy of acetone and a razor blade. It’ll never look great, but at least I can remove the dirt stains, chalky oxidization, and petrified decal adhesive. Some custom vinyl overlays would hide the permanently embossed “Can-Am” lettering.
I plopped the tank on the frame to see exactly how badly the colors were mismatched. They’re definitely different, but considering that the tank itself has about 10 different shades of “wrong,” I find this acceptable. The swingarm is not permanently installed yet. I just wanted to see how the swingarm and frame looked with matching paint. I need to do a few little things before I bolt them together permanently: install a zerk fitting, grease the bushings, and shorten the swingarm bolt slightly.