Wheels and gauges

In my last post I mentioned my plans for the wheels. This weekend I worked on the wheels and refinished my gauges. I'll cut to the chase. Here is the front wheel:

 

I masked off all the nipples and spokes then painted the rim with duplicolor wheel paint. In prep for the paint, I sand blasted the rim with play ground sand. Although I sanded the rim, the paint seems to still have issues sticking the the surface that was once chrome. I will most likely be redoing the paint with something a bit more durable, but this was enough for me to figure out the look I was going for. This paint scheme looks great with the rest of my bike. As for "something more durable," I am looking into a home powdercoating kit from Eastwood. All I need is an electric oven big enough to cook parts, and I'm set. Here are a couple of pictures from the prep work on the wheels. I used baking soda on the hubs, so I wouldn't damage the softer aluminum. The baking soda does wonders for the finish. 

Here is the rear hub before I started prepping the wheel. Note the rim, it looks pretty rough. 

Here is a picture after degreasing the surface of the hub with Gunk brand engine gel degreaser. 

Here is a picture of the rear hub while soda blasting. The difference is pretty noticeable. That brown colored stuff was not coming off with any kind of solvent I had in my arsenal. The soda blaster made quick work of removing it.

Here is another picture of the rear hub but the other side. This is the "drum" for the rear brake. There was a lot of baked on brake dust. 

 

It all came loose after a couple passes with the blaster. Clean enough for an area you cant even see on the bike. 

This is how the rear wheel sits now. There is still some work to be done, but it's a huge improvement from what I started with. The rim has also been cleaned with the soda blaster, which won't really damage chrome. The rear wheel will eventually get the same treatment as the front. 

I also refinished the gauges here's what I was working with.

Rusty mounting bracket.

Chrome on the backs was in bad shape.

So I pulled them apart. For anyone who is thinking of doing this on their own bike, I say go for it.

 

There are three main parts for each of the gauges. The top (with the glass), the bottom (it's usually chrome plated from factory), and the foam that insulates and protects the gauges. The foam is sandwiched between the top and bottom and is removable. I removed the foam insulator rings and masked off the glass. Then I sand blasted everything.

 

After sand blasting, I repainted them. I used dupli-color bed armor for the bottoms and the dupli-color matte black wheel paint for the tops (the wheel paint is a no primer, high temp, chip restistant paint). 

I will be replacing the hardware on the bottom of the gauge and replacing the bulbs with LEDs. Here is the finished product: 

That's all for now. I'm working on a wiring harness and headlight option to replace the old sealed beam. If you don't already, follow me on Instagram, check out @550project for more updates.