• Husqvarna Motorcycles Made In Sweden - About 1988 and older

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'72 WR Tank and Frame paint

rob kelly

rob kelly

Husqvarna
AA Class
Hi,

I'm after some advice, I need to get the frame parts on my WR250 re painted and want it to look as original as possible, what is the best option? powder coating or painting?
Any recommendations of who could do this in the UK?
Also any recommendations on where I could get the fuel tank re chromed and painted?
The barrel and head need a coat of black, what do people use for that?


Thanks,

Rob
 
It's personal preference. I've restored a 74 and a 78. I too looked for guidance on which way to go, and opted to powder coat with a clear coat. I've been very happy with both frames being powder coated. If you go with powder coat, I recommend adding the clear coat. I was provided with a paint code from a Husky restorer in Colorado. The folks that weighed in against the powder coating said its hard to repair if its chipped, but for a race bike, its been a non-issue for me. I found a touch up paint that matched the powder coating very closely. One draw back is that when you put the bike back together after being powder coated, you lose a little tolerance when attaching parts back to the frame as the powder coat is thicker than paint. Being in California, I have no recommendations of where to go in the UK, but surely somebody will weigh in. For the black motors, my 74 motor was powder coated when it was rebuilt, and for the 78, I cleaned and painted the motor myself with a heat rated low gloss black in a rattle can. After both bikes have been raced a few times, it's hard to tell the difference between the two motors.
 

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powdercoat needs to be prepped carefully. as its a hot process, carefully degrease everything as liquid grease can appear from drain holes etc you didnt know about. make sure you have dummy bolts in all your threads as the powder will fill them up needing retapping. i had issues with shock pins being to thick and needing sanding back (powdercoat is tough.) also look at covering coil mount earth points etc so you can get a good earth.
 
Thanks cntymnty, both bikes look great. I'll have a hunt about and see if any places can match the colour in powder coat. The only thing i was conscious of was powder coating being too glossy for the original look. I'll look into the rattle can route for the engine.
Cheers for the advice suprize, i've had a few modern frames powder coated in the past and am aware of the issues. Good tip on the coil mount points though.
 
I've dropped the frame and parts off at the powder coaters today. He's going to do it in a satin silver and see what it looks like. He said if i'd prefer it gloss after seeing it then he can give it a coat of clear to make it gloss. Would it have been satin or gloss from new? It seems most restored ones are gloss.
Could i get the paint code for the red on the tank cntymnty? The tank is currently being re chromed.
 
Sorry I've been distracted with other things and
forgot to report back on the frame. The powder coaters did a very good job of it in a satin silver, colour wise it's virtually the same.
You can tell it's coated in a thicker medium due to the way it sits around welds and corners but I knew that would be the case and I'm happy with how it's turned out.
I'm going to get the fork legs powder coated
in satin black too (They are currently black, I assume this is original).
The tank came back from the chromers with imperfections so I'm sending it off to get stripped, prepped, chromed, lined and painted at a cost of nearly £1000. Hopefully it won't get dented in use!!!
 
Where about a are you Rob? Anyway a lot of people have had good results with generic BBQ paint on the engine. As for re chroming it may be cheaper to find a better tank. We have the same bike by the way, are you the guy who recently posted on the Classic MX Wales site? as for the fork legs, apparently they can warp with the heat, so maybe polish, which is cheaper?
?
John
 
hi john. cheers for that, i may just paint the forks then. I've been looking for a tank for a while but haven't been able to find a decent one. No i didn't post on classic mx wales. I'm near west london.
Rob
 
I've seen tanks off later bikes for sale but they have a a hook type bracket at the back of the tank rather than an eyelet for a bolt like on my one so i'm not sure they would fit.
 
I'm guessing you didn't go to Telford on the weekend. A couple of immaculate tanks there? Try contacting Jef Bens in Belgium He has a few and is probably the best source of parts for bikes of this age in Europe
jefbens@skynet.be Good prices as well. Are you restoring or going to race her?
 
I had planned to go to Telford but a poorly 5 month old and a bored 3 year old had other plans for my Sunday.
I have bought parts off Jeff before but when i needed some more bits he never got back to my emails, I'll try him again then.
Yes i had planned to race it but as things are turning out i'm not sure, it was totally original so i don't want to bend any of those bits. The rims came out very bad after being acid dipped and re anodized so i've bought new reproduction Akront rims for it (best part of £400), the spokes are original, just re-plated. Once the tank is done it'll owe my quite a lot and i'd be terrified of wrecking it. It'd be a shame not to use though so i'll probably just do some practice days.
I was contemplating buying a more usable less original one to race... there's one for sale on ebay at the moment in Bracknell (which isn't far from me) which looks race ready and with good mods. But then i was thinking do i need two twinshock 250s!
Here's the link...
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Husqvarn...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649
 
That's quite a bit of money and a good grand over what it should be. I know this bike and it is race ready, so may be worth a punt
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HUSQVARN...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649

If you want a cheap racer there's also this
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1975-Hus...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649

Unfortunately Huskys don't fetch the highest prices, and ridiculous e,bay priced bikes don't sell £2-2500 for a well sorted race bike tops

As for originality I think the 72's had polished rims and silver forks
 
You're only young once Rob. It feels good to turn up to a race meeting with a good looking bike, but if they get broken, it's nothing you can't fix.
I've spent the last 10 years building another '73 CCM. I'm well into a five figure sum, but can't wait to thrash it hopefully on Easter Sunday down here in Devon.
 
The tank came back from the chromers with imperfections so I'm sending it off to get stripped, prepped, chromed, lined and painted at a cost of nearly £1000.
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I guess the chrome shop that plated your tank with imperfections doesn't stand behind their work, what a disappointment. I too had a tank chrome job come back with a problem but the chrome man re-plated it at no charge and with no if, ands, or buts. You have a better chance at getting a good product if you check references first and if there are none then move on to the next guy. And don't go with the cheapest guy unless you know them personally.

I'm going to get the fork legs powder coated in satin black too (They are currently black, I assume this is original).
Click to expand...
Satin black is the correct color. If you do end up riding powder will be preferred over paint. I have no experience with those magnesium fork legs. I do know they lack mass, i.e. thinner than the gray aluminum legs of that era, so you may want to look into their temperature limitations and make sure the powder guy knows not to exceed it. I had a 3mm aluminum air cleaner cover come back from a powder guy warped.

Having restored several bikes I can say that looking at them sit on display gets old and unless you can't ride any longer or the bike is irreplaceable you should plan on enjoying it for what it was originally made for.
 
Thanks Chamber66, the first one doesn't look bad, i guess the 2nd wouldn't end up being cheap by the time its sorted out a bit.
Mine is a WR and i'm sure its a "72, it has aluminium mud gaurds which i think is right. The triple clamps are silver but the fork legs black, are they not original then?
I see what you're saying grouty, i think my best option is finding another tank i can use for riding/ breaking. I've got a modern tc125 i use regularly so the WR wouldn't get too much use so hopefully wouldn't get wrecked too quick.
Unfortunately crasholic they were recomended, i'd rather just start from scratch somewhere else that specializes in bike tanks. I was going to paint it myself but i'm just going to send it off and be done with it.
 
Unfortunately I think you will find that when you start down the classic MX route there will be no going back :o) get along to a race, no attitudes just guys having fun as it should be. And the racing is very competitive. Before you know it ( I think you have already started) is you will have too many old bikes lol The first bike is very well sorted, Rieger shocks etc. I know the bike , but not the rider if that makes sense. Get yourself down to Wales great tracks, friendly atmosphere and it never rains does it Mr Grout have you a pic of your bike?
 
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