Restoration Yamaha LS3 1972: Painting frame Yamaha LS3

After I took the bike apart I started to take all the rust and old paint off with a brass wire brush mounted on a grinder. A very slow and dirty job to do, it took me around 8 hours and 3 wire wheels to bring it all back to bare metal.

Rusty frame Yamaha LS3

Brass wire brush wheel

First parts Yamaha LS3 back to bare metal

Frame Yamaha LS3 back to bare metal

Finally all frame parts back to bare metal

I painted the frame with POR15, and on top of that a tiecoat and Hardnose, a two component coating (also from POR15). POR15 will prevent the frame from rusting again and the Hardnose paint is a tough UV resistant topcoat.The 2 coats of POR15 went on really nice and smooth, almost like a spray paint finish. The Hardnose paint also looks good but in some parts it was a bit too thick so I had to sand it back and repaint it. The trick with these moisture cured paints is to paint as quick as possible without going back to already painted parts. If you go back the paint won't flow very nice anymore, it will dry a bit bubbly and you'll see brush marks. It sounds easy but a frame has so many sides, corners and hard to reach spots that the reality a bit different. Also, don't use the cheapest brush you can find, believe me I've seen the difference in finish and you'll get way better results if you use a brush a bit more expensive.