X pert assistance required

[guest40]

ref some of the posts on the "LS650" thread

Every now and then I get some old banger and try to restore it back to a reasonable looking roadworthy bike. I dont go to the extreme, but if I pull it apart, I try to get it back to STD as close as possible while not spending too many dollars My current restorer is a Suzuki GR 650. Yeah I know, I know... its a twin, but can anybody advise on the following.
Suzuki never painted the lower triple clamp... and it never rusted after 20 + years They covered it with a cheap crappy chrome plastic parking light. I cleaned the clamp with kero and degreaser. then used a good undercoat followed with a generous gloss black top coat. 3 days later i dusted off the frame with compressed and and hit the painted clamp and the paint just disintegrated back to the bare metal. However a scratching motion needed a fair bit of dig to lift the paint.  My guess is some sort of coating. Anybody else find this on anything in the past?
If it is a coating will it work on ally chrome or just cast iron/steel ? interesting

[Gaylord]

Hello Kurt Perth
I have read your post umpteen times and i still dont understand it. Yes i know like most other postings on here maybe you could explain, for the mentally challanged.

[guest40]

try this:
Bottom triple clamp....unpainted and au natural.

cleaned it!     with kero to get the grease off, then degreaser,  to give a fresh surface.

Surface like grey cast steel, unpainted, no rust, and I mean NO rust after 20 years of salt laden air, (like everything goes rusty in Perth , even the trees).

Undercoated the bare metal with local automotive mid range undercoat/sealer.

top coated this with gloss black

allowed to set ... 3 days

accidentally hit the clamp with commpessed air jet while blowing down the frame.

The paint on the triple clamp literally comes off like a layer of dust. Absolutely no adhesion to the metal. Paint feels ok with the fingernail scratch and needs wire brushing to remove where blow gun was not as effective.  

Has anyone seen this before and have they found out what this metal could be coated with? It would be interesting to find out as we could use it on other applications where bare metal is exposed to salty atmosphere. Its not just fish oil, but may be a silicon based concoction.

20 plus years... far out!!!



OH yeah, The frame has been scratched over the years and has many rusty scratch scars, as one would expect.