first attempt at 2 pack (2k) clearing

just had my first go at clearing with 2 pack clear, and I can safely say its easier than you think....really pleased with the final finish, a bit of orange peel., that will be removed when it gets buffed and polished.

Auto air color pearlised red.

3-4 coats of clear (lechler macrofan)

rear frame painted

Got round to painting the rear frame with Auto air colors dealer dark and high light intereference red.

some more spraying

Here are the next set of photos from the build. Just more spraying, this time the rear frame was stripped with nitromors paint stripper & wire brush, Kurust on the little traces of rust that I couldn't get to (mainly in the corners). Then good coat of U-pol Etch primer followed by 1 coat of Halfords rattle can primer. Needs rubbing down with 1200 grit paper before it gets sprayed with the Auto-air colours. It come up really nice, shame no one will see it.....
Also sprayed the exhaust and the engine barrel (photo to come). I sprayed it BBQ paint as rcommended by a friend (cheers Sean). It come really well. thinking of putting the barrel in the oven just to ensure that the paint hardens and doesn't flake...before i put the barrell engine back together.FYI The HT lead on the BSA Ariel 3 is also exactly the same as the Puch maxi, 5mm. The condenser/stator plate looks incedibly similar aswell, so could be really useful for spares.....

first attempt at spraying

Hello, long time not write... well the bikes coming on slowy, i 've built the blast cabinet and have been blsting till my hands hurt from the constant barrage of grit.
I'll upload the pic of the before and after blasting pics when i find my spare (kept safely, but forgotten where it is , memory card.

Have been trying my hand at spraying the createx auto-air colors on the rear wheel, with some success.






For the those who are interested, the wheels and hub where sandblasted with aluminium oxide, 2 coats of UPOL etch primer, 2 coats of auto air base sealer white. The wheel has 2 coats of fine aluminium case, one coat of high lite interference red, finished by 2 coats of Halfords rattle can clear. The hub has 2 coats of pearlised red, one coat of highlite red (as above) and 2 coats of the rattle can again.


Not to happy with the highlight interference red however, its either to subtle to see or it goes on too milky...check out the chain case below to see what I mean.


Also, there are a few rust spots (at the moment minute, but not for long) on the inner rim of the wheel. I blasted back to clean metal and primed with the etch primer, but obliviously this wasn't enough.

If anyone can suggest a decent etch prime / rust spray (not 2 pack please) I would be greatly appreciate it.

Not enough time in the day...

Just an update to say things are going slowly with the ariel. I've started work on the blast cabinet, which is being made out of scrap wood, however I've ran out, so its time for skip watch to kick in.

Works really busy as the teaching term has just begun...and to pile the pressure on I've got my ( and three collegues) first Art exhibtion opening on the 20th October at the Museum of Science and Industry. Half excittement half fear... just like what I expect riding the Ariel will be like.

Just to tide you over here is a moped Safety film off youtube...

Sandblasting starts

The Sandblaster bought from eBay has just arrived and I've had a quick go on the cylinder head. I'm using a Clarke Sb3 blast gun and 120 aluminium oxide grit as its supposedly not as harsh as the cast iron grit. My compressor is a Clarke 8cfm 50 litre unit and although the gun does work fairly well you do have to shake the gun regularly to ensure even grit (although reading the manual , I now find i should be blipping the gun as opposed to continual trigger usage....RTFM !!!). It's a a shame I didn't take a pictures of the head before the blasting, but was to eager to start. The Head has come up a treat..

The Shed now has a nice 1mm covering everywhere of aluminium oxide grit ....so the next job is to fabricate a small blast cabinet to save on oxide grit and cleaning.

The first post

I'm writing this blog, for several reasons, some egotistical, some not.  I really want to document for the future the progress of pimping my Ariel 3 moped which was so kindly donated free by Paul fro Earl Shilton (near Leicester, thanks paul).

I also want this log to be a source of information for fellow Ariel 3 riders/restorers, and a place to share tips, problems etc.

The photos  are when I first got it home, prior to any stripping down. As you can see its in really good nic given its a 1969/70 model.

Some of the ideas I have are as follows....

before the purest out start crying foul of classic motors, lets put the  BSA Ariel 3 in some context...

Hated by BSA owners cause its a  naff 3 wheeler moped.

Hated by Ariel owners beacuse  it was a bastard son of BSA born illigitalty under the Ariel name.

When reviewed by the press when it was release (late 1960's) they all hated it and dubbed it the "Granny killer."

In concourse condition you'll be lucky to get £300. So spending £700 it bring it upto concourse is not really an option.

So nobody liked it then , we few  people like it now.

So I think it needs a bit of a face lift....so here's what I'm thinking:

1. I've had a compressor with spray guns and airbrushes for around 2 years now and this is the perfect time to test my spraying skills. I'm going to go with the autoair colours and try my hand at some hotrod sparkle, candies or something like that . I'm still going to keep the green and white but use trick paint.

2. Nitrous bottle fitted to rear carrier (used as a covert petrol tank).
3. Fit new handlebars - probabley with some form of swept back Harley style.
4. Stainless bolts throughout.
5. Already been given some trick BMX pedals in alloy (will spray with candy flip).
6. Custom bike chrome bullet head lamp or led front light built into the front fairing.
7. spray matching open face helmet.
8. Maybe fit wheelie bars off the back.

Who knows....any suggestions greatly ignored....