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CHAPTER TWO - 9
I now
have all the painted parts back and have unwrapped the
frame and fuel tank, I find that I am standing there and
thinking, “it’s very, very blue”. Everything is blue!
The
finished colour looks nothing like the colour on the
chart. I felt like phoning the sprayer and saying “it’s
the wrong colour, change it”. I must admit I was hoping
that the colour would be darker than it is, but of
course that was the colour I chose and that is the
colour it will be.
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The colour that I picked was quite close to the
original but it’s a slightly deeper but lighter
blue. It was a difficult decision to make, the
sprayer gave you one of those cards with small
coloured squares on it. From this you are
expected to see how the motorcycle will look
when it’s finished, of course it is impossible
and the best you can do is a good guess or pick
a colour you fancy.
I compared the original colour with the sample
card and decided the original colour was too
insipid, so my choice was two colours up, and
call “Himmelblau”. To me it’s just blue but to a
sprayer it’s one of 30 blues in one particular
section. |
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The paint has been applied in two ways; the
frame and small parts have been power-coated.
That means that paint is applied and then heated
to a couple of hundred degrees, this should then
produce a nice glossy finish. The other parts
such as the fuel tank mudguards, etc. were all
wet spayed in a normal spray booth. I must say
that both finishes have come out very well. |
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I have
started to get a few parts together ready to reassemble,
such as the rear shock absorbers. Not owning a spring
compressor, it can become a hazardous occupation trying
to compress the spring enough to slot in the caps to
keep it all in position. On the Dnepr rebuild I nailed a
length of 2 x 1 to the side of the workbench, then using
that as a lever compressed the spring. After several
attempts at the “ducking the spring” procedure, I
finally managed to get the caps in.
On the
Ural I thought that another approach was called for, so
off I went to the DIY store and acquired a 3 ft length
of threaded rod. I had the great idea that this time I
would compress the springs by winding down the nuts.
This part of it was OK, but the top and bottom of the
tool I made of ˝ “ ply wood and used a jigsaw to cut out
the holes in the middle.
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The first shock absorber went together quite
well, although I was watching the plywood top
bow considerably, but it held and in went the
caps. The second shock went almost as well, but
just as the caps were about to be put in the
plywood gave way. It gave way just as the first
cap was half way in and went with a twang and
grabbed the cap. I thought the cap was going to
fly off, but it held by the tip of the corner.
After I got off the garage floor I peered at the
shock and pondered what I could do, it looked so
precarious, one touch would send the cowling and
the spring off up to the roof. |
Carefully I placed the second cap in position, and with
a large screwdriver on one cap, gave it a sharp whack
with the hammer in the right place to push it into
position. Surprise, surprise, it worked.
Having
assembled the shock absorbers it was quite nice to stand
back and think, “that looks good”, and felt pleased to
have started the reassembly. |
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