Frame repaint

[Brian Moffet]

Well, mostly cleaning off the surface rust, and then repainting those parts.  What kind of paint would people recommend?  Rustoleum?  Something at an auto-store?  It doesn't need to be a 2-part epoxy like they use on airframes, I don't think.

Also, what would be the best way of dealing with corrosion on the upper fork tubes?  They have some corrosion on the area between the upper and lower triple clamp.

Thanks,
Brian

(yes, the beginning of a lot of questions on a lot of parts of the bike.)

[Night Vision]

I have used some black appliance epoxy spray paint in a can.. Home Depot I think... pretty tough stuff.

upper fork legs... I have used one part chrome cleaner clean mixed with two parts elbow grease applied by a steel wool pad... got lots of rust off header pipes that way

[QBS]

Phosphoric acid removes rust painlessly.  Available wherever swimming pool supplies are sold.  I get mine from Home Depot.

[Lucky]

but keep it off the paint, plastic,...well, everything else

[bikehandle]

I use black block paint for engines to paint frames. It takes a little longer to cure but is pretty much fuel proof.
If I am working on chrome I use chrome polish and 4- 0000 steel wool. It will clean any thing and not scratch. Use anything courser and you will destroy the chrome. 4-  0000
steel wool and carb cleaner takes melted shoe soles off chrome mufflers too and never leaves a scratch

[ps2/bikevision]

i use amonia and steel wool. works great and is really cheap.

[Glyn]

My upper fork tubes had the same problem. In fact most jap bike of this age do.
On my Vision I cut some aluminium cooking foil to the same length as the tubes, but 2 1/2 times the diameter. After a good clean with chrome cleaner, then turps I stuck the foil onto the leg with electrical tape to stop rotation. I then wound the foil around the leg, careful not to get any creases. On the last 1 cm I put a thin smear of silicone. Enoff to glue the foil to stop unwinding. I then temporarily held it all tight with more PVC tape till the next day. Take your tape off and you have a nice un corroded tubes again. Careful to get the join at the back on the leg so you can't see it. It's not perfect but looks OK and will stop further damage. I was going to put stainless thin walled tubes there (and still might). On my Z200 hack I've just would black tape all around the legs. Not prettty but stops the rot. I also put fork gaitors on everybike I own. The Vision  has Royal Enfield Bullet ones fitted.

Our climate is really wet and we are very near to the sea so corrosion is a problem.

[Brian Moffet]

Yeah, I'm in Santa Cruz, California Beach town. I live about a mile form the ocean.  Luckly it's been getting hotter every year so the fog isn't as much of a problem  >:(

Thanks for all of the suggestions.  The bike is coming out of the garage this weekend for a thorough cleaning, and then the forks, exhaust and brakes come off.

Brian