hjennings
XS400 Addict
I attended Lincoln Land Community College for Auto Body training and I'm currently there finishing up my degree in Auto Tech (mechanical repairs). I do custom work here in central Illinois. I don't normally do customer work. I mostly purchase, fix, and flip. When it comes to something as big as a car, customers can just be a pain, so I avoid it if I can. Biggest issue around here is rust, and people all too often expect it to be a cheap easy repair. That or they want a complete color change (which to do right you have to dismantle the complete vehicle) and don't understand why it'd cost thousands.
That said, I have been doing more and more customer work on motorcycles and I'm really enjoying it. I take delivery of the tins, do the work, and return them to a happy customer. Unless you are local, you'd have to ship me your tins. But really, we are not talking about a huge sum here.
I currently do mostly paint work. In the coming month or so I should be set up to do powder coating, too. And the big one I'm looking forward to starting soon is performance coatings (internal engine thermal barriers, anti-friction coatings, etc).
I have attached some pictures. Here you see a Harley Softail that I did some work on. It was originally red and had a small ding in the left side of the tank from being knocked over. The customer wanted to run the tank without the plastic center cover. Harley tanks have a factory weld/seam going down the middle of the tank. I smoothed out the weld, fixed the ding, primered, sealed, and painted the tins, then we hydro dipped them in camo.
I've also attached some pictures from a Grand Prix I worked on for a friend. It was her son's first car, so I cut them a huge break on the rust repair. As you can see, I fully replaced both rocker panels, as well as touched up some peeling paint.
The other Harley is my personal bike. I've done some powder coating (front wheel and front lower fork tubes). Doing more soon (rear wheel and parts of the engine and trans). I also got rid of the factory red and went with black covered with HOK candy red. It looks dead black, but in the sun you see a red glow. I also added a raked triple tree and longer tubes to push the front end out a little.
Harry Jennings
Evil Monkey Kustoms
That said, I have been doing more and more customer work on motorcycles and I'm really enjoying it. I take delivery of the tins, do the work, and return them to a happy customer. Unless you are local, you'd have to ship me your tins. But really, we are not talking about a huge sum here.
I currently do mostly paint work. In the coming month or so I should be set up to do powder coating, too. And the big one I'm looking forward to starting soon is performance coatings (internal engine thermal barriers, anti-friction coatings, etc).
I have attached some pictures. Here you see a Harley Softail that I did some work on. It was originally red and had a small ding in the left side of the tank from being knocked over. The customer wanted to run the tank without the plastic center cover. Harley tanks have a factory weld/seam going down the middle of the tank. I smoothed out the weld, fixed the ding, primered, sealed, and painted the tins, then we hydro dipped them in camo.
I've also attached some pictures from a Grand Prix I worked on for a friend. It was her son's first car, so I cut them a huge break on the rust repair. As you can see, I fully replaced both rocker panels, as well as touched up some peeling paint.
The other Harley is my personal bike. I've done some powder coating (front wheel and front lower fork tubes). Doing more soon (rear wheel and parts of the engine and trans). I also got rid of the factory red and went with black covered with HOK candy red. It looks dead black, but in the sun you see a red glow. I also added a raked triple tree and longer tubes to push the front end out a little.
Harry Jennings
Evil Monkey Kustoms
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