Well today was the first day that I managed to get any time to look over my new acquisition - the 1983 R65LS previously called the Red Tomato owned by beemer. We haven't come up with a new name yet, but something suitable will be found soon..
Anyway, I've spent about 6 hours on the paintwork today. She was a bit faded, somewhere between pink and orange in places rather than bright red. So I washed it, T-Cut it, then used Dodo Juice paint cleaner, followed by 2 coats of coloured wax and another 2 coats of carnuba wax. It took a while as I've been disassembling bits to get them clean - even removed the grab handles lol. The result...
Yes she really is that shiny
I've taken the two side panels off as they were horribly pitted, so I've sanded them nice and smooth and am currently repainting them black - as luck would have it I have a couple of cans of primer and black paint handy. Two coats of primer, and one coat of black done so far. Not sure how it'll take as its a damp 5 degrees here :-/ It'll either work or it won't!
On the downside, I've found an oil leak - she's pee'd while she's been parked up, so I'll have to take a look at that before going for the MoT. She fires up on the button and runs nicely, all lights work fine, so I'm hoping that she'll go straight through. Might change the brake lines first though - not sure if/when they were changed and I'd rather not trust 30 year old rubber brake lines when I'll be doing 12000+ miles a year on her. I'll change the fluid and put ATE Super Racing Blue brake fluid in - I've been using this stuff for years in my cars and bikes and love the stuff. Anyway, that'll be featured in a later update no doubt...
Thanks for reading, I know I go on a bit lol
