Paint Code

[toystoretom]

I searched the archives but didn't find much that would help me. I am going to repaint my 75 Firemist Orange bike and I wondered if anyone had a paint code or the name of a paint that was close.

Thanks!
Tomo

[goandy]

They don't really seem to exist for motorbikes. Usually you have to go to a paint shop with a sample and they try and match it. The Firemist Orange is a fine flake silver base with either orange candy or orange flake over the top. Haven't worked that one out yet.

The blue is a black base with a medium coarse blue flake on top. I've got some flake samples and when I get half a second spare I'll paint a few samples and see which is closest to what I have on my bike. That's not to say it's the same as another bike though as I've seen a few different shades on them!

[t140v]

Hi Tom, this company in the UK make a paint for it,
www.rsbikepaint.com/en-gb/colours.php#makeid=141&modelid=3785&prodyear=1974&colourscheme=10429

Looks like its a 3 part paint, base, paint and laquer.

Regards Stuart

[Jess]

Original paint was a three step process.

1. Silver Base coat
2. Metal flake
3. Translucent top coat

This is why every bike is different... it is much more noticeable in the Firemist red than the blue. The top coat gets darker the heavier it is applied. You will find bikes that are original that the side covers headlamp bucket, and tank are all a slightly different shade. Yet, they are still original as they did the best they could to get close... but parts were painted in batches.

If you park 4 original Firemist red or blue bikes side by side, it is very obvious.

This is also why I laugh when a guy calls and asks for "original paint". First of all, 40 years on... there aren't any... Second of all, it isn't going to match.


I sent original paint to the PPG lab several years ago for laser scan and match, and am happy to provide that Data to anyone who asks. It is a good reproduction, not a perfect match.

Just my 2 cents.

Best

[goandy]

Thanks Jess... confirms a few suspicions I had about the paint.

[toystoretom]

Thanks for the replies. I'll have my paint guy scan it and see what he comes up with. I don't know what kind of paint he normally uses but I'll find out, I wouldn't be surprised if it is PPG. I'm going to take the parts in the first part of next week. I would think that the paint under the gas cap / radiator cap door would be fairly non faded and would be a good place to get a scan.

Tomo

[HGH 770N]

Pieman had his paint scanned and he sent me a sample  card to match against my NOS tank.
I would say its very good match and his newly painted bike looks great and all the same colour. As Jess said the items were painted in batches and the headlight shell and panels are different some panels I have are allot heavier in the flake , I have many panels and tanks and its impossible to get a set that matches.

Piemans route to repaint all panels would be the best way to go, and who would knows what is original .

Rog

[HGH 770N]

My original side panel showing extra flake compared to the sample card that matches the tank.

[didge]

If you're in the UK Tomo, go to RS paints as per the link in t140v's answer, if you've got to put money on the table for paint, it might as well be for the right paint.

I bought the firemist red off of them and it came as a total package, basecoat, metalflake, and Translucent top coat, not cheap, but wadda they say "Good paint aint cheap, and cheap paint aint good"

[toystoretom]

I'm in Kansas City, Missouri USA so I probably won't be getting paint from those guys. I'm sure they are top notch. We have a very nice body shop where I work that uses mostly PPG so that's what we are going with. He can get just about any kind of paint. Our paint guy has lots of experience and they have a half million dollar paint booth (seriously) so this isn't their first paint job. They wanted to do ghost flames and all sorts of stuff and I'm like "No", just paint it. Jess was nice enough to send me paint formulas (codes) which will at least get us in the ballpark. We are going to scan it also and see what we come up with. It has to be nicer than the scratched and dented parts I'm giving him.

Does anyone know how the "Suzuki" emblem is attached to the gas tank? Is it just adhesive? I see no screws so maybe a little heat to soften it up and pry it off?

Thanks!

Tomo

[HGH 770N]

The "Suzuki" Tank emblems are attached using two Barbed type nuts inserted into the tank brackets , these allow you the push in the alloy lugs on the back of the emblems into these nuts and the barbs grip the alloy lugs.
you should be able to prise the emblems off the tank but you will need to replace and re bend the inserted barbed nuts to re fit the emblems .

Rog

[toystoretom]

Thanks Rog!

[ptowncarson]

i’m new to the group and I’ve been searching for a paint code without luck. obviously we all know that something that long ago it’s hard to find a paint formula for the original color and was production bikes so hard yes. But anyway I own my own body shop and I recently have a good customer that collects motorcycles brought me in some parts he wanted painted back to the original color flamemist blue. So does anybody have info on a paint match or a formula. I deal mostly with house of colors and PPG products. I told him I won’t be able to get an exact match but I can get it as closest possible so I wanted to see what everybody else came up with and if anyone has any formulas.

[wayne]

Welcome.

Try these threads:


re5rotary.proboards.com/thread/2264/firemist-blue-paint

re5rotary.proboards.com/thread/2768/paint-original-firemist-orange

and

re5rotary.proboards.com/thread/2906/paint

[typ110]

I have ordered the Suzuki Flake orange here: motorradlack.de/

Haven't tried it yet but they seem to know there stuff, they can even paint the parts for you if you want. They also have the Firemist blue for sale.

Cheers,

Michel