Modern Vespa

It's been a year - just cleaned and coated the bare metal rat for the riding season ahead. Chance to assess the coat… look for the dreaded brown.

Must say - being bare metal means you can see pretty much everything. Really happy with how the coat is going - no rust in all the right places. Had tiny bit crop up under some floor rails.

This is under the front guard. The stuff I welded on to bolt the split guard back together are mild steel and pretty rough edges - but no rust!

And the tail looks good too…

Floor is sweet underneath…

Stoked the underneath seems to have all held up…

Just a little rust sneaking out from under some of the rails.

Those Wera tools are the shiz btw…

Decent patch worth sorting…

Hit it with some stuff…

And some more stuff…

And some more…

Getting crazy now…

Ended up putting the rails back on with a smidge of grease underneath… think water was pooling underneath.

All back on and soaked in some anti everything stuff. ACF50 ftw. Cleaned the rest of the bike with it too - will leave it wet overnight then wipe it dry tomorrow.

Oh - and pulled put my test guard. I went with the bottom left combination - the top two are a different clear I almost used. Turns put the combination I'm using is easily the best.

kinda confusing what the end product is. penetrol or acf50 or both?

metal prep > rust converter > penetrol > acf50 ??

maybe a link added to lasts years prep...

The rust converter was just to make the brown go black/grey.

The coat is penetrol > Maston two > acf50

Klean machine there, glad it is holding up!

I really like the bare metal look !
But I wonder if ,since the Penetrol is a hard-drying coating ( I am pretty sure it is basically clear linseed oil paint base without pigment ), I question putting other products on top of it. Other than maybe wicking into seams that weren't sealed with the Penetrol or maybe self-healing a scratch, do they break-down or soften this coating or do anything additional to prevent rust being on top of it ?

Penetrol is known to improve (turpentine soluble) paint adhesion. Enamels but also some epoxys too it seems. Good on old paint - will restore it and can prevent flaking. As you say - it is a pigment-free non-yellowing penetrating oil that kind-of dries 'hard'. Gets into micro pores and displaces water and oxygen. But itself has no chemical or scratch resistance - and breaks down over 140deg C. Supposedly made for tanks in WWII.

As you can see from the test panel it made the most difference preventing rust. But needs to be coated to deal with the oil and gas that 2T bikes get all over them. Plus even dry it's a little tacky, and would need constant re-coating. And is glossy when dry. Goes on easiest with a rag (can keep it thin).

Tried clear enamels - terrible resistance to gas and melt away easily.

Used a weird product called Maston Two. It's a 2-part in a single can. The activator needs moisture to work (the humidity in the air). It is pretty hard (much harder than enamels) and really good chemical resistance. Sprays on very thin - hard to overspray, easy to use. Would need a true 2K to better it (I.e. booth, skills, respirator, $) The matte finish is very nice (can get gloss, haven't tried it).

The ACF50 is like WD40 but no white spirits. So it is good for rubber unlike WD40. Can put it on anything but chrome (you can but need to wipe it all off b/c messy). It's a lightweight penetrating and lubricating liquid that lasts 3-6months. I use it like a cleaning product. Smells nice.

The above combo seems to work - and was simple to apply in my tiny little shed (with drop sheets everywhere). And it turns out is easy to touch up later as above. I wire brushed the rust with ACF50 (equal to WD40 at breaking down rust). Converted the remaining rust as best as possible with metal prep and converter. Then re-applied Penetrol, re-sprayed Maston two, then ACF50.

Wow, looking good. This is some good info. We need a zoomed out shot of the whole scoot!

Here's the original build thread:
How to cheat and get a barn find.

All clean… can't say the same for the shed.