Restoration Yamaha RD125 A: April 2016

As with most Japanese bikes of the seventies the paint of the Yamaha RD125 A was blistering and there was a lot of surface rust underneath it. So I decided tot take everything back to bare metal.

I started with the frame. Using paint stripper and a high pressure cleaner to get rid of most of the paint and grease.

Frame Yamaha RD125A after paint stripper, wow.. lots of surface rust underneath the old paint

Frame RD125A after paint stripper, wow.. lots of surface rust underneath the old paint

Lots of surface rust underneath the old paint

Next step was the wire wheel to get rid of all the surface rust.

Back to bare metal , using a wire wheel brush

Back to bare metal , frame number exposed

Frame Yamaha RD125 A - Back to bare metal

After every part was back to bare metal I painted the frame with POR15. It's very tough paint and you can get a spray like finish with a brush, especially when you thin the last coat with the special POR15 thinner.

Frame painted with POR15

Close up POR15 paint

The next paint job was everything that used to be blue, High Sparkle Blue.
Before I took all the old paint off I measured the exact location of the striping and decals and also made a paper template so I knew where to put the new striping later on.

Measuring cover stickers Yamaha RD125 A 1974

Measuring side covers

Measuring tank pin striping Yamaha RD125 A 1974

Before I apply the paint stripper I clean all the parts with wax and grease remover. The paint stripper will work a lot better and faster on a clean surface.

Paint stripper doing its work

.After 3 rounds of paint stripper it was time for the dirty, boring and dangerous grinder with the wire wheel brush. Watch out with this thing, especially with smaller parts, the wire wheel can bite!
For the hard to reach corners I used a simple sandblast gun, It works pretty well for smaller spots but isn't suitable to blast big parts (way to slow..)

Fuel tank Yamaha RD125 A 1974 - back to bare metal

Fuel tank Yamaha RD125 A - back to bare metal

In order to paint the rear shockers I had to take 'm apart.... I couldn't find anything on the net, hmm.. I knew a lot of older honda shockers have a "hidden nut" between the upper mounting eye / bracket and the painted cover, you "simply" push the cover down so you can reach the nut. So I build a device to push and keep the cover down, but whaterever I tried, the cover an top mounting eye wouldn't split.

Device to take rear shocks apart

Later on I got a tip from a aircooledrd forum member; there's a little pin in the top bracket you have to push out so you can unscrew the mount bracket. Next problem was it wouldn't move at all... A couple of nights in a WD40 bath and a couple of razor blades did the trick :)

Pin inside top of rear shock - Yamaha RD125 A

Removing the top bracket

Rust acted as glue - Yamaha RD125 rear shock absorber

Finally got the rear shock apart

Sandy checking the progress - all good mate :)

Grinding, grinding, grinding.....

All parts back to bare metal

Now all the parts were bare metal I took 'm to Craig's spray booth. Two coats of primer, two coats of the High sparkle blue and one clear coat.

Primer

First coat - High sparkle blue

First coat - High sparkle blue - Yamaha RD125 A

Second coat - High sparkle blue - Yamaha RD125 A

Clear coat - High sparkle blue - Yamaha RD125 A

Clear coat cover - High sparkle blue - Yamaha RD125 A

We rubbed back the clear coat on the fuel tank and side cover with grit 1500. You have to do this before you put on the pin-striping /stickers/ decals. This way you can put on the striping without the risk of damaging the paint underneath.

Ok, pin striping.. I always get a bit nervous, it's such a fiddly job and I'm happy when it's done.
I bought the pin striping in France from Joel, who also has a RD125A (they call it a AS3 in Europe). First I had to put on the white striping and on top of it the black striping exactly in the middle, brrrrrrr...fiddly fiddly,
Before you start, wet the whole area with a soapy water (a couple of soap drops in 500 cc water will do). Also spray a bit on the pin stripe vinyl stickers, this way you can move it around until you found the right spot for the striping / stickers.

Spraying soapy water before pin striping

Fitting the top white pin striping

Top white pin striping

As you can see the pin striping came in 6 parts (3 x white and 3 x black). The cut off is in exactly the same place as with the original.

Fitting the top black pin striping

Pin striping fuel tank Yamaha RD125 A

As soon as the striping is in the right place press it firmly onto the tank (the soapy water underneath will come out) and rub out all the remaining bubbles. Now grap your girlfriends hairdryer and heat the stripping while rubbing it with your thump (do make it too hot..).