Modern Buddy

I knew when I bought it the orange plastics weren't going to last long. I actually don't mind the orange wheels.

Anyway....

That's exactly what I was going to do! Looks great!
Glad you did it first so's I can see what it'd look like before commiting to the spray can. What paint did you use and was it difficult to remove the side panels? Have to tell you thought, it'd look even better with black wheels...

I just used plain ol Rustoleum "Painters Touch", the color was "Aluminum"

The side pieces were like a puzzle.

Take the seat and storage box out - careful there it s wire for the light you have to unplug.

Then push down on the plastic panel over the gas tank while twisting the outer ring around the gas cap counter-clockwise. Then lift it off.

When you pull the seat compartment out, it will expose 4 screws under it. 2 for the gas tank panel and 2 for the side pods under the seat to the rear. Take them all out.

Take the back grab bar off, you're gonna paint it too anyway. But it has to come off to get the side pods off. Two screws in the back under the pods too. Note, the left and right side pods have a screw at the very back inside holding them together, they both come off as ONE PIECE.

Once you get that all off the orange side panels come off pretty easy.

Thanks for the info. Looks like you decided to just buy a black 07 upper handlebar cover rather than paint your original piece. Oh, and you removed the rear fender, looks good too. Geez, have you been inside my head, because you're doing everything I'm planning on doing! Also, I was thinking aluminum for the wheels would also look good. Now you got me thinking again...keep outta my head!

I'm not sure what I'll do with the wheels yet. Anything from leave them alone to bead blasting and polish to having them plated. I'll look at it like this for a while and see what I decide.

And the "dashboard" piece is painted as well, even though it's black like the 07. That was the first part I painted.

I dunno man, looks like it NEEDS MORE COWBELL!!!

J/K, looks great. Aluminum wheels would definitely set it off.

What doesn't need more cowbell

Whatsacowbell?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvqB0uwLj0k

I'll hang a cowbell where the back fender used to be


But I think the wheels depend on what else I decide to do. I maybe have the whole body painted in a Blue/Silver scheme, in which case the wheels will get painted silver too. If I go with something else, then who knows, maybe black with a red lip.

Racenut wrote:I'll hang a cowbell where the back fender used to be

That would make my day! Seriously, if you aren't gonna do it, I totally will. They sell cow bells of various sizes at the local hardware store up the street. When I saw them, I was testing 'em out to see what the tonal ranges were and I was trying really hard to think of some rational reason to buy one... nothing came to mind.

Somehow I think a cowbell would just be cooler on a Buddy than a Blur. I got a Blur because I liked the way it rides. But I'd love to get my wife a Buddy just so we could make it funky cool. And she pulls off funky cool way better than I do.

Racenut wrote:I knew when I bought it the orange plastics weren't going to last long. I actually don't mind the orange wheels.

Anyway....

Sick WRX in the back ground is that yours?

Yeah, that's my beater

Nice job, Racenut.. looks good.

Racenut wrote:Yeah, that's my beater

Nice i Drive an 07 WRX Wagon are you a member of NASIOC?

Parkerl wrote:Nice i Drive an 07 WRX Wagon are you a member of NASIOC?

Yeah, but I rarely go there other than research. I'm on i-club and ClubWRX more often. I'm Racenut on all of them too.

I'm thinking World Rally Blue and Silver on the Blur would look cool

Racenut wrote:

Parkerl wrote:Nice i Drive an 07 WRX Wagon are you a member of NASIOC?

Yeah, but I rarely go there other than research. I'm on i-club and ClubWRX more often. I'm Racenut on all of them too.

I'm thinking World Rally Blue and Silver on the Blur would look cool

Ya that would be way sick! What mods have you done to your car?

Parkerl wrote:Ya that would be way sick! What mods have you done to your car?

My Car Page

Nothing too wild, it's still a great daily driver and I auto-x once a month.

Racenut wrote:

Parkerl wrote:Ya that would be way sick! What mods have you done to your car?

My Car Page

Nothing too wild, it's still a great daily driver and I auto-x once a month.

Man thats sick you've done quite a bit of work on your car. I just got mine a couple weeks ago. Just put the Cobb Cat back exhaust on and the Cobb air intake hoping to get the access port and down pipe in the next couple of weeks!

If you get silly with the engine mods don't forget to upgrade your fuel system. You need to run two lines to get enough fuel to all the cylinders, if you stick with the one that's there now the #4 cylinder gets a little bit starved for fuel... that's not good. I only know that tidbit cause a friend of mine is a Subaru tech that rebuilds WRX motors after people blow them up. Then he sells the modified motors when he's done. I've seen his old 2.5 Wagon and it's a pretty sick sleeper. Until you look in the window you don't realize the rollcage and only two seats.

Racenut wrote:I knew when I bought it the orange plastics weren't going to last long. I actually don't mind the orange wheels.

Anyway....

Wow...that looks awesome. I'm not good at painting vehicles or plastic at that matter, but I can paint homes

In using the Rusteloum paint, did you have to sand down the plastic before painting and if so, what grit sandpaper? How did you get the paint to look so smooth? I have a Black Cat that I may want to the paint the yellow and red panels.

Use some 400 grit or higher to dull the plastic pieces since it's a high gloss finish. I just painted the metal tail piece after washing it good.

Hardest part of painting is patience. Too much too fast and you end up with drips and bumps. However, the Aluminum color definitely liked a final thicker coat to sorta settle out and get a nice smooth finish.

The best result was from the rear metal piece. It really turned out nice and smooth, didn't look rattle canned at all. The plastic pieces look OK, but on close inspection you'd probably know it was a DIY job.

Racenut wrote:Somehow I think a cowbell would just be cooler on a Buddy than a Blur. I got a Blur because I liked the way it rides. But I'd love to get my wife a Buddy just so we could make it funky cool. And she pulls off funky cool way better than I do.

Took two whole months after this post to do that, but we did. But funny that we got her an ORANGE Buddy.