My wife's scoot - damage, repair, and new paint

[BMW_Art]

After my wife pranged her Buddy 150 I started removing the front end plastic to assay the damage. What I found was she toasted the triple tree. So I bought a new triple tree and front forks assembly. In the process I also removed all the plastic to prep for new paint.

While doing so I found she also broke a tab on the lower right bottom trim piece. And her front fairing with the dead lights has a worn spot with a slight melted area too. The trim I think occurred at impact. The front fairing though looks like it has slowly worn due to the tire rubbing on it. Is that normal, or does it indicate there was some frame damage before we bought them?

I'm in the process now of prepping her plastic for Krylon Fusion paint job. She wants white on the bottom and pink on the top. Go figure.

After I took off all the plastic I reinstalled the triple tree. I bought new bearings and races but didn't have a tool handy to install the new parts so reused the old ones after cleaning. I did not see any damage to the races or pitting on the bearings. I havent decided yet if I'll take it all apart or not and install the new parts or not. Assuming I can get a tool - or maybe just long bolt, big washers, and a nut - to press in the new races. Some thought or suggestions from others that have had some experience here would be welcome.

I also found that a few washing cycles with Simple Green and a garden hose can really clean off the dirt, gunk, and watnot on the scooter. That's going to make the engine oil, transmission oil, fuel filter, oil filter, and spark plug change a lot easier. Really surprised me that I didn't even need to use a brush to clean it.

If anyone is interested in seeing how I prep and paint it, let me know and I'll post some pictures as I go.

[sc00ter]

If you mean pressing in bearing races/cups into the frame use a looong threaded rod. Put it through the head tube. Put a BIG fender washer on each end then a nut on each end and tighten away. Its the simple mans press. Also works on bearings. Hope that made sense. Im picture dumb but I have a homemade simple mans press that I have used on everything from bicycles to motorcycles.

[CountChocula]

1 vote for pics!

[cummingsjc]

Make sure you post information about your wife's incident in the "Who's Crashed" thread so that hopefully someone can learn from from her mistakes.

[BMW_Art]

Sure, but it's not a case of an oops I made a mistake. It was pure panic and target fixation. She was driving in circles and when she came out f it was pointed toward a pole. Had plenty of time to stop or change direction. Instead, she freaked, forgot about the brakes, and drove - literally - right into the pole (cement bottom) in the parking lot.

[jrsjr]

Sure, but it's not a case of an oops I made a mistake. It was pure panic and target fixation. She was driving in circles and when she came out f it was pointed toward a pole. Had plenty of time to stop or change direction. Instead, she freaked, forgot about the brakes, and drove - literally - right into the pole (cement bottom) in the parking lot.

I hope your wife is okay!!!

[BMW_Art]

Thanks! She is OK. Or recovering anyway. There was a bit of a complication because she is on blood thinners. So the bruise on her leg required draining after a few days. So the recovery has been slow, but no real long term damage. It was a light impact really.

I'm just glad she is OK and still wants to master scooter riding.

[cummingsjc]

Is she licensed to ride? I know you mentioned that you have previous motorcycle experience but does she? Glad to see that she willing to get back into the saddle though. That is the most important thing to in an incident like this.

[BMW_Art]

No. This is the vehicle she is going to use to get her license. She drove a Vespa - her grandfather's - when she was younger and decided she wanted to do it again.

[cummingsjc]

No. This is the vehicle she is going to use to get her license. She drove a Vespa - her grandfather's - when she was younger and decided she wanted to do it again.

Good for her. The more folks on the road riding scooters the better for all of us.

[BMW_Art]

I bought an air compressor today to replace the one I sold before we moved out here. If it's up to the job my air tool sander and orbital sander/polisher are ready to prep the faded plastic, peeling clear coat, and whatnot. Plus I have everything I need for basic maintenance minus a few carburetor parts. So tomorrow or a Saturday I'll start working on preparing the plastic for paint.

[BMW_Art]

I'll post some pics tomorrow as I can't upload them from my iPhone as the images are too large for the forum, but I've been prepping some of the plastic and will paint the instrument cluster top piece to make sure my wife is happy with the color.

I started the prep by using my pnematic 3" sander with 120 grit. Way too aggressive. So went back to my 3" orbital sander with 320 grit. Too bad after 9 years of sitting in storage it fell apart. So off to a 2" pad. That worked much better until it died today. Got to order one if I can. The 3" pad from Chicago Pnemstuc was readily available but not the 2" pad. I'm using a 2" pad that came with some sanding discs I bought but it's not quite the right thread size.

But here is what I learned from today's experience:

Old sanding discs should just be tossed out. They delaminates soon enough anyway to make them useless.

60 grit 2" discs with very little pressure work very well on removing the texutered paint on the inner panels.

I followed up with 120, 240, 320, 800, & 1200 and the panel is nice and smooth again.

A minor application of body putty/glaze will fill in any minor areas that need it. Hand sanding of the thin coat is recommended.

The next thing I'll do is a final cleaning with a bit of paint thinner as recommended by Krylon - and others - before I paint it. I figure 6 light coats with a 10 minute delay ought to do it. Then depending on how it looks will hit it with 2000/3000 sandpaper by hand (wet). Then hit it with Rutoleum clear enamel for UV protection snd gloss.

Not sure how long I may need to wait for the clear cost though. I'll be googling my heart out today to find out.

[BMW_Art]

Here's a few pictures as promised

[BMW_Art]

Here are the pictures of the initial sanding using a 3" 120 grit sander (no pad) followed by a pass with a 320 grit on a 2" sanding pad (orbital sander).

You'll notice the upper/lower has been broken down into sections. When I originally disassembled it I didn't notice the screws and thought it was one part.

[BMW_Art]

60 Grip pass - Notice the pilling in the close up.

[BMW_Art]

Next was the 120 followed by 240 grit.

[BMW_Art]

320 Grit

[BMW_Art]

800/1200 Grit

[BMW_Art]

Upper handlebar cover

[BMW_Art]

So, the wife likes the color, but I did this outside without my painting shelter. I bought one form Homeright on Amazon and will use that in the garage for the rest of the parts. I have some duct and a bit of peeling/rough spots that I will need to sand out. If they don't sand out I'll be painting it from scratch again.

One thing I did find out was the paint is so pale it took over eight coats to provide full coverage. So I think I'll buy some white paint and use it as a base coat before I apply the color paint to it.

[babblefish]

That's an awful lot of prep work there. You must be an experienced body man. Looking great. And yes, a white base will help make lighter colors pop and make top coat coverage easier, but I'm sure you already know that.

Just as an FYI, making a painting tent using plastic PVC pipe and plastic drop cloth is cheap and easy to do, plus it can be taken apart, stored, and reused again at any time. Just lightly push the PVC pieces together (don't use glue) and tape the drop cloth to it.

[babblefish]

Is this the look that your wife is after?

[BMW_Art]

Pretty close. It's actually going to be an off white and pink scooter. I'm not all that experienced in body work, but have done my fair share of painting the occasional moped or motorcycle.

And it is a bit of work, but not really that much since I have the power tools. If I were doing this by hand it would be much more difficult. That textured paint is just horrible to remove.

[ronfer]

That's a lot of prep work, though it looks great. Nice work!

[MYSCTR]

Not to rain on your parade but you can buy new panels in pretty much any color Buddy offered and save oh so much time, or at lest buy those panels that are missing clips, then paint to match your new color.

[BMW_Art]

Thanks for the thought but did you know a complete new body panel set is over $1000.00? I checked and it is much less expensive to DIY if you can.

Besides, this way I get to keep the tools I bought for the project.