Before restoration... parked in the dining room last christmas.
During restoration... stripped & looking rather sad at Gavin Fleet Care (Thanks Andy).
What once resembled a motorcycle, took on the form of something completely different today. This UK Spec 1992 Honda VFR400 NC30, was stripped for stage one of restoration. First stop & a jet wash helps to rid years of built up grease & grime. Staring at the bike in it's naked vulnerable state, I can't help but think of the film Wall-E.
Stage 2 comprised of cleaning the wheels, polishing, masking & spraying. As a girl who will climb walls to escape any sound that resembles filing or drilling, I left that part to the boys & was given the job of masking the brake discs. To say this was more fiddly than trying to paint your nails in the back of a car driven by a learner for the very first time, might be a slight exaggeration, but nonetheless it caused me to curse a few times. It was then sprayed with a heat proof black paint followed by a clear lacquer to make it look shiny & brand new again!
All foot pegs, hangers & anything else that was metal & needed a scrub, was cleaned & polished. The masking part was pretty painless compared to my next task, which was straightening up the radiator fins damaged by stones. Using a very thin screwdriver I had to push all the *wafer thin* (french accent) metal back to it's original position, to ensure that the air could pass through successfully.
Stage 3 tomorrow night! HUGE thanks to Andy at Gavin Fleet Care & Gibbo, the coolest Fettler in the world.
Just like new... hard to believe I bought this 16 years ago.
Almost finished now. The dash is actually better than it was in it's original condition after Andy took it apart & painted everything. Now it just looks sleek! All brackets are polished, the exhaust looks brand spanking new and the damage to the hanger plate made by a white van can't even be seen. Black forks, painted brake discs & sticky new tyres... just need a little bit of white paint to touch in the chips on the alloys then she's ready to rock! 
During restoration... stripped & looking rather sad at Gavin Fleet Care (Thanks Andy).
What once resembled a motorcycle, took on the form of something completely different today. This UK Spec 1992 Honda VFR400 NC30, was stripped for stage one of restoration. First stop & a jet wash helps to rid years of built up grease & grime. Staring at the bike in it's naked vulnerable state, I can't help but think of the film Wall-E.
Stage 2 comprised of cleaning the wheels, polishing, masking & spraying. As a girl who will climb walls to escape any sound that resembles filing or drilling, I left that part to the boys & was given the job of masking the brake discs. To say this was more fiddly than trying to paint your nails in the back of a car driven by a learner for the very first time, might be a slight exaggeration, but nonetheless it caused me to curse a few times. It was then sprayed with a heat proof black paint followed by a clear lacquer to make it look shiny & brand new again!
All foot pegs, hangers & anything else that was metal & needed a scrub, was cleaned & polished. The masking part was pretty painless compared to my next task, which was straightening up the radiator fins damaged by stones. Using a very thin screwdriver I had to push all the *wafer thin* (french accent) metal back to it's original position, to ensure that the air could pass through successfully.
Stage 3 tomorrow night! HUGE thanks to Andy at Gavin Fleet Care & Gibbo, the coolest Fettler in the world.
