This is my trike last fall, September 2011, sitting in my yard.
This photo is of one side of the box. The wood is not all back in the frame yet, not until the fenders are on, but for now you can see the wood is now painted and the horse shoes have been changed from black to silver/chrome paint. You can also see the bungee cord. There is one on each side of the inner box to hold the tailgate closed. Since this photo was taken, the plywood floor of the box has also been painted black.
On the back, we got rid of the old signal and tail/brake lights that were about 3/4 of the way up the sides, and went with new 'all in one' lights on the bumper. Remember, the fenders still have to be put on along with their brackets.
Last year, I had a bad oil leak. The Cover Gasket was leaking badly so with it being so close to the end of the riding season, I just kept adding oil, knowing the gasket would have to be changed before I put the trike on the road this year. Phil cleaned the engine which was covered in oil, then he took the Cover off, sanded it and painted it with Gloss Black Engine paint. After the paint was dry, he sanded the high spots to remove the paint and let the aluminum show through. The hex bolts had all rusted and Phil went to clean them up so he could paint them too, and he discovered they just needed a good sanding/polishing to make them shiny like chrome.
I bought new fenders and Phil fixed up the old box as well as possible (I plan to replace the box too, hopefully by next year) and made brackets to hold the fenders on to the box (they will be behind the fenders, against the wood, so won't be seen but still he made them look nice). He then made brackets that go on the front and back of the fenders to make them more solid (these will be seen and they look very good).
The gas tank had a lot of dents in it, I think the guy that used to own it must have dropped the bike a lot. I took the "Yamaha " off both sides of the tank and sanded all the paint off of it as there were a lot of flaws in that paint job. Phil put Bondo on the tank, many coats, to fill in the dents and where "Yamaha" used to be, making the tank look like those things never existed. I took the side covers off, removed "Maxim 650" from them and sanded them enough to take the shine off, so that the paint would stick to them.
The paint I chose for the gas tank, 2 side covers and 2 fenders is called Lazer Blue Candy, and for the base coat I chose Cosmic Dust. Regular paint jobs have base coat and clear coats. Being a Candy paint job, this one has base coat (Cosmic Dust) then the color (Lazer Blue - we decided on 2 coats), then the clear coats.
Here are the side covers, all painted and baking in the sun.
And here are the brackets that will go on the front and back of the fenders to give them strength. We left them Cosmic Dust so they will be a contrast to the Lazer Blue of the fenders.
I can hardly wait until the work is all done and the trike is back on the road!! Over the next few days the painted parts must 'cure' then on the weekend they will be wet sanded and polished. After that they all need to be attached to the trike. In the meantime, the new tail/signal/brake lights have to be wired to the trike which could be a challenge as neither of us know much about wiring. However, I have faith that we will figure it all out. I also have new Fork Seals waiting to be put on as they old ones are.... well, old!! and one is leaking.
When the make-over is done and the trike is all back together, I will take more photos and post some here for you to see.
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