Blue SL 350

$Pat Cklarkin is married to my sister Kathy (aka Katwoman) and they own an auto body repair shop, Two Rivers Auto Body, in St. Ignatius, Montana. I go visit over the 4th of July holiday and they take the parts from my two SL 350\'s and paint them - first Pat fixes a dent in the fuel tank caused by handlebar impact.$

Pat uses his stud gun to affix pulling studs to the dent in the tank

After pulling the dent out with the studs, Pat does some hammering to get it close to the correct shape

Some other small dents get the pulling stud treatment

Next, Pat roughs up the damaged area to prepare for filling the remaining low areas with lead

I hold the torch (and iPhone camera) while Pat does his magic with the lead

After filling in the repaired dents with lead, Pat sands it to the correct shape

Pat uses Evercoat fiberglass filler to get the final shape on the tank

A coat of Evercoat Metal Glaze goes on for the final shaping and sanding

Pat and his son (my nephew) Josh Clarkin discuss which wash primer to use on the bare metal tank

Pat and Kat have a paint mixing room and spray booth for their auto body work - this is the computerized paint room featuring Sherwin-Williams automotive paint

The SLK 350 parts are hanging - awaiting their turn in the paint booth - first the Honda must be finished and pulled out.

Josh mixes up the primer using the computer controlled scale

Two sets of SL 350 parts primed and coated with a sanding reveal coat to show the high spots and dimples

I am put to work with 800 grit and a spray bottle and instructed to sand until the parts are perfectly flat and smooth - I thought I knew how to prep and paint - but little did I know. My sister and her family are professionals and my level of quality is not nearly high enough for their standards!

After much coaching and training, I was able to produce acceptable results with sandpaper, water and grey Scothbrite pads. This took many hours of work by Pat, Josh and me to get all of these parts prepped and sanded.

$Pats takes some time to finish the Honda insurance job in the spray booth. It\'s amazing how the color matching is much more of an art than science - even with their computer. Kat looks at it and modified the formula until the gold color is a perfect match - then she sprays it on.$

After priming, the base silver is sprayed on

The silver will form the base for the candy color

It takes a few coats to get the correct candy red color

After three coats, Kat declares the final level of candy color is applied

I bought a kit of Topaz Orange, but after spraying the candy red, it was very apparent that my pint kit of orange would not be nearly enough to do a complete set of parts. So we made an on-the-fly decision to paint the other bike Cany Apple Sapphire blue - a 71 SL 350 color.

Kat went into the paint room and concocted the candy blue from her cauldron and sprayed on three coats

Looks really, really nice - I like it better than the Topaz Orange!

Parts baking under the UV lamp - early morning sun relfecting on the tank

$Time to disassemble the Blue Bike - it has orange fenders, but they are spares and all of the parts sister Kat painted blue will go on this bike when it\'s done.$

Not in bad shape, typical corrosion on the aluminum parts, some rust on the frame, wiring is fine, it all works, just need cleaning up and restoration

$Missing items include the toolbox cap and some pieces of the mufflers - I think I can repair the mufflers, I\'m handy with an oxy-acetylene rig and I have a very nice valve-forward torch$ $After a couple of hours this evening it\'s down to the heavy bits.$ $Lots of cleaning, stripping, blasting and wire-wheeling to do on the various parts. My friend Tom found a good chrome shop in deep dark industrial Seattle that I\'ll send all the chrome bits to. There\'s a cad plater in Auburn that I plan to use for the hardware and cad-plated parts$ $Not sure the shocks are original - they don\'t look like SL350 K1 shocks, so they\'ll probably get replaced.$ $The engine runs very well - it\'s healthy, so I\'ll yank it, clean it up, paint it and re-install.$

After disassembling the blue bike, I start to clean up all of the parts. This wheel hub will need sanding and polishing

Everything will come apart get stripped, blasted, wire brushed and cleaned, the either re-plated, chromed or painted.

The engine needs a thorough cleaning and corrosion removal

Lots of parts, cleaned and ready for rust removal

The frame stripped and ready for the wire wheel

I zinc plate some of the smaller parts like springs, clamps, etc.

The dark colored parts are freshly zinc plated, the shiny gas cap part is after polishing the zinc

Painted frame and engine ready for cleaning

Lots of parts zinc plated and ready for polishing

Lots of parts arriving in the post daily

After thoroughly degreasing the engine, I use Marine Clean to get it spotless.

Next I stripped the clear coat from the case with stripper, rinsed and then applied Metal Prep conversion coating to prepare for the silver paint

I lay the engine on the table and install the frame around it, easy job for one person!

Engine in the frame with no paint nicks :-)

Blue bike needs sanding, decals, clear coat and chrome.

$The aftermarket period Koni\'s cleaned up nicely$

Time to install all of the cleaned, painted, chromed and new parts - gee this is fun!!

Installing the fender with new bolts and washers and nuts

I love this blue, sister Kat sure did mix up a beautiful color!

$I need to sand and polish the stator cover, it\'s pretty corroded and pitted$

I attach it to the rubber backing plate for my Milwaukee body grinder, spinning very fast!

Using some soapy water and emery cloth, I cut the aluminum cover down smooth to clean up the very rough surface

1200 grit and some aluminum polish applied with a scotch-brite pad gets it very smooth and almost polished

Final polish with a rag and aluminum polish gives it a nice shine, followed by carnauba wax

New Supertrapp 3M muffler going on the blue bike

Installing the inner components of the mufflers and 7 rings for low end torque.

I made some hanger brackets from mild steel I bought at the Home Depot.

They work great and sound very nice, throatier then the old mufflers that were rusted away inside.

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