Gray is boring

I've been getting all my parts primed and primed again before starting to put the final colors on. They say the prep work is the most important step so I'm taking my time and being very careful and methodical. What I've discovered is pictures of gray parts are very, very boring. It feels like I'm not making much progress but I know I need to get all the parts refurbished before I can start putting them back together. Once I've got a pile ready to bolt back together, things will move along quickly ... I hope.

I've also been bidding on some missing pieces on e-bay. It's always an interesting process, getting something on e-bay. You can definitely get caught up in the bidding and shoot way past the reasonable price you had in mind for the item you wanted. I saw a set of whitworth wrenches (spanners, since they're British) go for over $100 last week. I purchased the same set from another seller at a buy-it-now price of $25.00. Granted, it was a British seller on e-bay UK but shipping was about the same price and only took about 8 days for the order to arrive.

Last weekend I was bidding on 7 items at once, all from the same seller. Each auction ended 5 minutes after the one before it. This made it possible to watch my max bid price and compare to the prices from another e-bay seller who had the same or similar parts at buy-it-now prices. A couple of items went beyond what they could have been purchased for elsewhere. Those I didn't 'win'. I did, however, get a great deal on a rear fender (mudgard in the bike's original tongue). I paid more than I wanted to spend on a rear light and license plate bracket but I couldn't find them anywhere else and wanted original parts. I think overall I got a good price when considering all three items purchased together with combined shipping charges.

I'm bidding on another part this weekend. It ends tomorrow. I've set the price I'm willing to pay as my max bid and I'm going to TRY not to watch the end of the bidding so I'm not tempted to raise my price. If I get it, great, I've found another bargain. If not, I'll keep looking. There aren't that many big things I need now. I'm going to need a LOT of smaller engine parts but those need to be new.

I still haven't ordered replacement spokes yet. It kills me that I'm going to have to spend $200 just because I have TWO broken spokes. Oh well. The wheels will be MUCH better that way and they'll look great.

I'll leave you with a few pictures because text-only posts are so gray. The primed parts are sitting on my new shelf. I was running out of space to put them and didn't want my shiny new-like parts banging against each other.

Stripped & Waiting

I got my parts back from the media blaster today and they look great! I'm very pleased with the results and can't wait to get these parts primed and painted. Here are some before and after shots for your enjoyment. No these haven't been primed yet, that's the color they came from the blaster.

Blasting revealed a couple of small holes in the bottom of the tank that I'm going to have to deal with.

before	after

Here are the holes in the bottom of the tank.

That's it for this time. I hope my next post will show them primed and ready for paint... or painted. I know the primer pictures are a bit booooooring.