frame restauration

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Re: frame restauration

Postby Ferrous_Head » Tue Nov 13, 2018 4:16 pm

I myself would rule out powder coating on any frame. There is no way to repair it afterwards so any scratch or chip becomes a problem. It's good for display bike only. And they don't need that much protection.
The insides of the down tubes wind up with the grease from the springs protecting them. There is a small hole on the bottom of each to allow water to drain out. The grease always ends up blocking this so they fill up with grease dirt water and gunk.
If you DO ever powder coat these must be cleaned out first rt the heat will allow that grease to drain out and mess up the job.
The frames were never clear coated so I wouldn't go that either. Just my opinion. Makes them look too good.
They don't really need any more protection than good paint. Easy enough to coat the insides of the down tubes AFTER they are painted with a solvent/grease mixture if you feel you need to.
I believe the original finish was actually a semi-gloss. Over time this gets a "patina" which is fact made up of many fines scratches.
I'm attempting the same thing at the moment. I'll be experimenting a bit more with a light application of steel wool to the top coat to see how close I can get. Not as hard as you might think because a lot of the frame is hidden/protected by various things and gets very little wear.
Probably the worst thing you can do is have a shiny black frame with rusty, faded, tarnished, scratched bits every where else.
"I know only too well the evil that I propose, but my inclinations get the better of me."
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Re: frame restauration

Postby DaveC » Wed Nov 14, 2018 10:17 pm

A photo of a frame that I have done some wire wheel work on. You can see the factory red primer under the black paint.
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Re: frame restauration

Postby curiousgeorge » Thu Nov 15, 2018 7:53 pm

I have a question for Eric. What is the actual color of that Krylon industrial Paint? gloss black semi or what, please.
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Re: frame restauration

Postby wz507 » Thu Nov 15, 2018 8:40 pm

DaveC wrote:A photo of a frame that I have done some wire wheel work on. You can see the factory red primer under the black paint.

Dave,

I see the red primer you mention, but I see at least as much if not more of what appears to be a grey/white primer layer, which is exactly what I see on a 56K frame I have. Don't have any idea whether it is original paint or not, but for sure there is a layer of grey/white primer beneath the paint that looks an awful lot like all the little grey nicks and divots on your frame.

The image below is the backbone of the frame where I took a bearing scraper and removed some paint. Upon removal fine grayish colored flakes were everywhere. The widest scraped band in the foreground was intentionally taken down to bare metal.

Scraped frame backbone.jpg
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Last edited by wz507 on Fri Nov 16, 2018 10:35 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: frame restauration

Postby xlh59 » Fri Nov 16, 2018 9:58 am

That's interesting! I also have a 56 frame, that looks pretty much "untouched" was if with orginal paint. But you never know ... Anyway, the primer/paint looks exactly like yours.
IMG_20181116_083908_251_1small.jpg
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IMG_20181116_083857_021_1small.jpg
IMG_20181116_083857_021_1small.jpg (434.38 KiB) Viewed 9851 times


Maybe we can schade light in the theory of parkerized frames? Or was ist grey primer with single layer black Paint?
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Re: frame restauration

Postby wz507 » Fri Nov 16, 2018 10:46 am

We need someone with a much better memory than me, but I believe sometime in the past year or two, here on the forum, someone may have posted/referenced/cited a piece of factory literature mentioning some (or all?) components of Harley frames as being parkerized. Then again it may have been only a single component but nevertheless think there was some factory literature mentioning parkerized components adding to the product's robustness. Anyone else have any such recollection or did I dream it?
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Re: frame restauration

Postby strong56KH » Fri Nov 16, 2018 11:16 am

The 1954 accessory catalog page 22: "A Thin Skin of Phosphate PROTECTS Your Harley-Davidson". A general statement indicating if you scratch or mar the surface of your motorcycle down to the metal there is a thin surface of phospate to protect from rust. Does not specifically name any parts but seems to indicate that all metal parts are parkerized before painting.
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Re: frame restauration

Postby Vintage_hds » Fri Nov 16, 2018 11:37 am

Hi...Technically they are not talking about parkerizing the frame but phosphate wash prior to paint. In a typical manufacturing shop that paints they have a system where the part is put through a multi-stage system that includes cleaning, and a phosphate wash prior to paint. The phosphate wash is similar to zinc parkerizing but it is mainly if not all zinc rather than some magnesium and zinc like you typically find in parkerized solution. In fact if the part isn't painted right away the part will rust. There is a small amount of galvanic action when the metal is scratched...but not much with the phosphate wash. The primary purpose of the phosphate wash is to help the paint adhere to the metal surface by providing a porous surface much like the parkerized surface provides for oil to remain on the surface and not be wiped away. And anyone that has parkerized parts knows the part will rust pretty quickly without the oil bath. Having stated the above parkerizing without oil will do the same thing that the phosphate will do to help the paint adhere. And this is good practice for all types of paint including powder.
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