Some thanks.

Just wanted to give a shout out to some of the products that I used along the way on the bike. POR-15 tank coating is excellent. Columbus Powder Coating does great work for a reasonable price. Bikebandit.com is a great source for vintage bike parts. Thanks to the guys at Advantage Cycle in Columbus for the work and tips.

Still have more touch up to do but have taken a break to enjoy some riding. see ya.

Been riding some.

Well I have been riding when its not raining and enjoying the bike. Had to get new front rotors and that fixed the brakes. I am going to try and get the carbs sync'd sometime soon but it is pretty close to right. see ya.

Finished for now

Got the bike all back together today and went for a ride. Put about 50 miles on it with no major problems. The front brakes are pulsating some so I may need some new front disks. I will wait for the pads to seat and see if it is still happening. Here is a picture all most done, missing the blinkers. I guess I forgot to take a pic after I got all back together.

Finally coming back together

Almost back together. Should be ready for some riding this weekend.

Finally coming back together

Started putting the bike back together this weekend. Have to fix some cracked/broken bodywork along the way so it is going kind of slow. Here are some pics.

Finished front fork seals

Finished front for seals. The manual make it seem easy to do but it was mistaken. It took all day but with some help from Carlos we were able to get it done. So I think I am done with all the stuff I am going to do, so I started putting the bike back together. I am cleaning and painting as I go. Here is a picture of the progress so far.

Front fork blown apart.

Wheel back on bike.

One more of new powder coat

Powder coated wheels (before/after)

Been Slacking on the blog

I have been slacking on keeping the blog up to date but I will try to catch up. Since last post I got the rims powder coated and new tire put one. While the wheels were off I went ahead and put in new bearing. Also went with a sliver powder coat on the wheels instead of the original black. I think it looks better. All the brakes have been redone and a new clutch slave cylinder installed. Replaced all light bulbs with new one and found out that the headlight using a car bulb (H2) so I was able to pick up a silver start bulb from autozone pretty cheap. It is a whole lot brighter than the stock one. I am waiting on the front fork seal which should be here tomorrow. After that all that will be left is to get the carbs sync'd up. I have been riding around the hood and everyone is looking like what the heck is that. I still don't have any body work on the bike so it look like something from mad max. I will try to keep the blog up from now on. later.

Took the bike for a ride.

Got the back brakes working so I figured what the heck, Let see if it still goes down the road. So I pushed it out of the garage and fired it up, put the seat on it and took off. Got to the end of the drive way and noticed it was hard to steer. Check the front tire and it only had 10 psi. Went back and aired up both tires and took it for a spin up and down the street. So it looks like I might be able to bring it back to life after all. Today I am in the process of taking the front and back tire off to get new tires and I am thinking about getting the wheel powder coated. If I do I will post so pic of the results. Stayed tuned.

I have been slacking on the blog

I have been slacking on the blog so I will try catch up with what has been done to the bike. Finished rebuilding the clutch and brake master cylinders. Do you self a favor if you ever what to do this get a set of 55mm snap ring plyers from Z1 enterprises. I tried for a hour with another pair and gave up and order them, when they got here it took longer to get them out of the box that it did to remove the snap ring. Anyway while I had the brakes apart I thought I would try a experiment. I got some spray on caliper paint and painted them and the brackets. Check out the pics, they look good now. We will see how well it holds up onces I get bike going. Got the gas gauge fixed with a little solder so I will be putting the gas back together hopefully for the last time.

see ya

Back running again

Put the tank on and turned on the gas and after a few tries it started up. Finally. Need to adjust the carbs but at least it is running again. Did some rear brake work also. Looks like I need new piston seals and brake line so I ordered them tonight. Think I will concentrate on the brakes and give the carbs and me a break. The gas gauge wasn't working and after some checking I found a broken wire connector. I think a little soder will fix it up. Maybe a can talk my friend Carlos into doing it for me sense I can't find my sodering gun.

Carb work.

Over the past few weeks I have become a Keihin CVK carb expert. I have taken them apart 5 or six times now to clean and adjust them. Hopefully today I will hook up the gas tank and it will run. I would like to move on to something else on the bike. I did work on the clutch slave cylnder and it was full of the same sludge that was in the clutch master cylnder. Had to order a new seal so it is on hold till it gets here.

The engine started yesterday

The engine started yesterday but only ran for a few seconds. I had to squirt some gas into the carbs and it fired right up. Took the top off the cards and there is a lot of varnish in the carbs. So I cleaned the top part of the carbs and put them back together and it ran till the bowl emptied I think. I think the fuel filter I put on the tank may be slowing the fuel flow down to much so I may remove that today and give it another try. I may need to remove the carbs and completely clean them, I hope not. I will post the results of today attempts in a litte while.

Finished the tank this past weekend

Final finished the gas tank last weekend. Looks pretty good but had to cure for four day. I am planning trying to start the engine tomorrow, wish me luck. Here are some before and after pics of the tank. They are not to good but you get the idea.

First step of the POR-15 process

The inside of the tank before I started.



What came out of the tank.
What came out of the tank.



After. Looks like I might need to do it a few more times.

I didn't get a chance to do much on the bike this weekend. I did work on the engine starting issue and it looks like I may need I new starter magneto switch which cost about 75 bucks. I am going to do some checking with meter before I purchase a new one. I also went and got some new vacuum and gas line. I am going to make the tank the number one thing this week and after looking at the instruction it will probably take all week. I will post some pics of the tank repair along the way.

Well I finally got the gas cap open this weekend. Had to drill a hole in the top and unscrew the screw that was under the cap. Then I removed the the allen bolts and the cap fell out. After it fell out I found out why it was locked up. I couldn't even move the lock with pliers. Anyway time to get started on the POR-15 tank coating.

The old gas cap

hole drilled to get it open

No real work on the bike tonight, just went over the wiring diagram in the manual. I think my starting problem may be related to the bypass job that was done by the guy my brother bought the motorcycle from originally. He removed the kickstand switch that kills the bike if you try to take off with the kickstand down. The plan for this weekend is get the gas cap on the tank open. I ordered a new one and should be here in a day or two. I will post some pictures of the gas cap after I shoot it with 9mm, it has really been a pain.

Finally some good luck. Hooked the battery back up today and tried to see if I could get it to start. Turned the key on hit the start button and nothing, I held the starter button down and started moving the wires around near the start solenoid and fuse box and dang if it didn't try to start. So it looks like a lose wire or bad connection some where but at least the motor is not ceased up. Think I will drink a cold one tonight.

Finished fixing the electrical wiring except for the sparkplug wires this weekend. Also changed the 10 year old oil and filter. Got a new battery and charged it up. I decided I would put the new battery in the bike and see if it would turn over. Turned the key on and all the lights came on, flipped the kill switch to run and hit the starter button and nothing happened. So I guess I have some more wiring issues that I don't know about. Maybe better luck tomorrow.

Brake Fluid after sitting 10 years

I was able to work on the electrical system yesterday. Got most of it fixed except for 3 wires. Two go to the fan on the radiator and one I am not sure of. I can go without the fan to see if it will crank but I will need to fix the other wire. I need a 2.8mm male pin connector to fix it so I am trying to find one locally, if not I will have to order some on-line. I still can not get the gas cap open so i still have that issue to fix too. I think I might go ahead and drill the thing out and be done with it. Not sure what I am going to do today, may just relax and get ready for the super bowl.

While I was waiting for the gas tank

While I was waiting for the gas tank to get back from the locksmith I figure I would remove the rest of the bodywork. While removing the bodywork I kept running across lots of acorns and walnuts. Then I removed the cover to the airbox and found that some critter has been living in it. Lucky for me it had moved out so no surprise attack. While it was living in the bike it decided to chew on some of the wiring so this rebuild may take awhile. Anyway got the bodywork off cleaned up all the nuts. I also took out the plugs and put some Marvel mystery oil in each cylinder and let it sit over night. Yesterday I was able to put the trans in 6th gear and turn the back wheel and move the pistons so it looks like the motor is not locked up. Also I checked over the brakes and clutch master cylinder. You won't believe what 10 years of sitting will do to brake fluid. Looks like I am going to need all new brake and clutch lines. I think I will concentrate on the electrical and gas and see if I can get the motor to at least turn over. Stay tuned.

My first task

I decided my first task would be the gas tank. I could hear gas or something sloshing around in it so figured I better get it out. So I take the key, put it in the gas cap and try to turn it and it will not move. So I try some oil in the lock, let it sit for a few minutes and try again. Still not moving. So I try turning the key harder and holding the cap down at the same time and nothing is working. So now I am getting a little pissed and try turning the key a little harder. Then I realize this is my only key to the bike so I stopped. I decide I will just unbolt the cap, it just has 8 allen head bolt's holding it to the tank how hard can it be to remove it. I take out the allen head bolt's and guess what, there are two more under the gas cap that I can't get open. So the tank is down at the locksmith today and while I was there I got another key made. I have now invested $2.50 in the bike. Still not to bad.

Cleaning the bike

I thought a good place to start would be to just wash the bike, nothing fancy just some soap and water. I also tried to clean all the dirt dobber nest while I was at it. You would be surprised what you will find when a bike sits in the same spot for 10 years but I will get to that later. So after a good wash the bike looked pretty good and I am thinking it might not be to hard getting it running again. So far I have $0 invested in the project and just some of my time.

The beginning.

OK, here is the story. I had been wanting something to wrench on for a while and my brother suggested his old bike. It has been sitting in a shed out in the country for 10 years. It was free so I said what the heck. So I borrowed a motorcycle trailer from my friend Jeff and off to the country I went. My friend Carlos went with me to help load it on the trailer and I am glad he did. It wasn't easy pushing a motorcycle with 2 almost flat tires up a dirt road onto a trailer but we able to do it. The bike turned out to look a lot better than I thought it was going to look. I thought I would document my endeavor in case someone else attempts to bring back to life a 23 year old motorcycle, so read along if you are interested.