Sprucing up the Radiator Shroud

So I was looking through all my miscellaneous parts and thought that the radiator shroud would be something good to start on. The shroud is basically a metal frame with a plastic grille that protects the radiator from getting beat up. Here is a picture of how it looked when it came with the bike. Big, ugly and … ugly. Look at the reflectors on the side. I mean nothing says tough than a set of reflectors.



So here it is up close and personal. There is some light surface rust on the outside but when you flip it over the inside was covered in rust. The shroud is made of five parts, the grille, the top, the two sides and the bottom. However, for me it was only three parts because the top and sides were rusted together, nice.





So I started sanding it down by hand. That was taking too long for me so I bought this stuff called “rust fix”. You spray it on rusted areas and it seals the area, eats the rust and turns it black. Now the shroud looks like a Dalmatian.



Next I sanded it down and sprayed on the primer. Flat black of course. Almost done.



Then I had to lightly sand it again and put the finish paint on it. Here is the shroud ready to mount (if only the bike was ready for it).