Paint type etc

[mervin]

I have a guy who paints for me and does a nice job. The challenge he runs into is that the original paint on these triples was made by a company he calls nisson or nissan or something like that. The paint he gets now is from another company because the original manufacturer does not exist now, or thats what he tells me and I tend to believe him. So is that correct? The thing I am trying to find out now is this, is the green color on a 1976 KH400 the same as one of the greens on an H1E? The paint he gets only comes by the quart and I want to repaint the 400 and paint the H!E, the 400 is currently orange as original but if I could use the same green for the 400 and 500 it would save $280.00. The H1E looks to have been either purple like mine was or two tone green and the KH400 was orange or green, so if one of the greens on the H1E was the same as the green on the KH400 they would look nice together and save a few bucks. So any thoughts on these colors or are they different?

[zambia]

Mervin, I believe your friend is correct that the exact paint used by Kawasaki is not available (it was made by Lubri-Tech which is not in business anymore. The green KH400 from 1976 was almost a gold colour, not similar at all to the H1E which was a dark candy green. The H1E surely was never purple as they only came in red or green.

I'm not sure why the paint he is suggesting is so expensive? I have had 4 triples painted in the last 2 years (or so) and none of them had paint that was anywhere near the price. The tough part about doing H1E is that there is no simple wrap-around-the-tank decal...they are usually stenciled.

3cyl.com/mraxl/paint/triple_colors/ws_mod01e.html



You could use the same paint for both bikes but use a different colour of base coat...that might work.

[mervin]

Ok my H1 is red , I call it purple, thats why my ex never allowed me to paint the house, I got the colors all wrong. Anyway, the H1E is two tone green, is the lighter shade a decal or paint? I thought it was paint due to the issue of a decal and the shape of the tank? I thought the middle lighter green section was paint and the stripes were stenciled ??

[zambia]

Yes it is paint..you can buy a decal, but it doesn't go around the tank where the seat butts up.