polecat

As you should be learning Colin I have to do it the hard way Forgot to mention earlier I started putting the electrics back on (for them that didn't notice)

Excellent day for me today although things did not go as planned... I meant to get all the Tins Primed up today but having been sanding, scrapping and grinding since 8AM it was getting a bit late and the Humidity was quiet high, also I noticed although the Acid had made the underside of the tank shiney metal again the seams still had some traces of Rust so will need re treatment over night. So I went back to the Forks and after wresling with one of the filler nuts in my newly aquired B&Q Workbench, It finally gave way after I wrapped it in a rubber mat to stop the fork tube turning (Got the idea from an aerosmith song I was listening to "I wanna Wrap you in rubber" ) So seals went in nice and easy New dust caps on and then just needed oil.....How do you measure 140cc ? well in the end I found a 10ml syringe and measured out 14 of them then marked a jar where it came to seemes about right anyhow Note the newly polished Fork stantions and the shiney chrome on the brackets from the acid treatment I sprayed a shed load of WAXOIL inside the brackets to avoid any further rusting happening in the future.

Good Question I am restoring as if I were keeping it( not just a quick tart up) but as I have only ridden it about 10 meters down my side lane I can not say yet if I would want to keep it or not really

Finished for the day Got the worst of the rust off and tins are now soaking in Phosphoric Acid for the night so by tomorrow the remaining Rust will be gone from underneath the Tank and Mudguards. I am in so much mess with bits and tools and crap everywhere it is all getting a bit much So I guess this is the worst bit of the restore project.

Me too Thanks to Colin the Bear... the old Hex bolt and lock nuts worked but the second one was too tight So I went out and bought a Work bench but still not managed to grip it tight enough to undo the thing (will try wrapping it rubber in a bit) Just a quick update on the tank .............. The guy who had it before must have been a Body filler factory owner The tank had about half of one side covered in filler about 6mm thick, Having now removed it all to reveal a small Ding about 4mm in diameter and about 2 mm deep. The bottom of the tank was well rusty so having removed the worst of it I am now giveing it the phosporic acid treatment as in many ways the Underside of a fuel tank is more important than the top (fuel leaking onto hot engines springs to mind) yet it is the most neglected place and HONDA just give it a coat of thin top coat with no primer ! I Have been working on the Mudguards (more layers of body filler removed) and they are pretty good really so I'm Busy getting all the rust off underside so the rust wont eat through into my(hopefully)spanking shiney new paintwork.

I may give that a go tomorrow ...Thanks Depends how tight the things are I suppose when I try to undo them cos I have no welder unfortunatly

Tinny day to day and very messy it was too ! DIscovered a few hidden gems as I took off the paint : filler on the front mudguard where the bracket underneath has rotted through to the outside ,lots of rust on the rear Mudguard underside which will have to be treated with acid and the Fuel tank has a fair bit of rust underneath under many coats of "underseal" ? and shock horror a wadge of filler in one side (which I am betting is overkill for a small dent which when removed could be done properly by beating out the dent Nothing too bad anyhow and I still may replace the front mudguard. ......... Spend nearly half the day going from shop to shop trying to find a 13mm Hexkey went to B&Q,Jewsons,Halfrauds and a few tool suppliers and it seems 13mm is not a size people use (although I need it to put fork oil in the forks), ( actually its not fork oil as the Haynes manual said use Automatic Transmission Fluid in the Forks ) So with much time wasted looking for tools I managed to get most of the paint off my tins and Tomorrow Hope to sand clean and at least get a coat of Primer on them

Forking day I have had today as the sun decided to come out again and the rain was minimal. Had a go at taking the Forks apart today (a job I've been putting off long enough ) Noticing the fork stantions were made of aluminium I decided to strip of the many layers of paint and will polish them up like they are on the cover of the haynes manual Fnished off the foot peg restore and ordered a shed load of hard to find bits from CMS in Holland mostly missing parts from my front calliper ect. Ordered some engine mounting bolts and washers and other bits and bobs on Ebay and bought my Paint for my tins I decided to Paint it in HONDA NightHawk Black by Holts as the bike is already black and you can't beat black and chrome although I discovered today it was originaly Blue (don't like blue) I am trying to decide wether to have a black front mudguard to tie it in with the rest of the paint or get a new chrome pattern one.....guess the condition of the original will help me decide when I take the paint off. Half the day was spent cleaning off paint from the fuel tank which like all the tins will be back to bear metal before repaint cos you Just don't know if rust is lurking under the surface more of the same tomorrow I reckon

Thanks its amazing what you can do with cardboard boxes Spent a good few hours derusting small parts and assembly of the front end of the bike. Lots of parts came in the post today fork seals,dust seals,air filter and bits & bobs so I thought I would make a start on the front end and electrics but unfortunatly Every part and clip and nut & bolt had to be cleaned up and sprayed as now things look kind of wrong if they are not clean and shiney.

Just did mine today if you want to do it properly take it apart, as what ever you can see it is most likely worse than it looks

Day off work today So got back to the bike Got the steering head de rusted and sprayed up today then the headlight bowl sprayed all in Satin black. placed the chrome headlight brackets in a bath of phosphoric acid for the night as they were quiet rusty. Rear wheel axle and bearings greased up and back wheel put on which really helped with the balance of the bike on the main stand So many little parts to derust and paint ect that I am just doing them as I require putting them back on the bike. note I had to make a new "spray bay" today as the dog sat on my old one and squashed it !

Thanks The funny part is the hardest thing I did on a bike prior ro this was change a spark plug ! so am learning as I go along with the help of haynes,google and TMBF, so Although I was in a previous life a Spray painter I am a complete Novice mechanic !

I would say change the flasher relay but........recently I fitted a new indicator and because I did not crimp the wire well enough the lamp I changed flashes faster than the other side so you either need to change the relay or check your indicator connections .

Worked really Hard on the bike today and made a fair bit of progress. Got the swing arm back together first new greased bearings everthing working as it should Put the stands back on which was a real Burger (bolt that goes through the main stand took nearly an hour to get back in ) Reconditioned Air box,Battery box and finally shocks (also reconditioned today) the pile of bits is starting to look like a Bike again

Thanks DUDE and DuDess I am excited for tomorrow as I start to refit my recon parts and try make it a bike again Ill photo as I go ! This is going lots better and faster than I expected !

1st choise YAMAHA then HONDA then Suzuki last Kawazaki would be my view Yamaha for the build quality, reliability and style ....Honda for the style and reliability Suzuki for style and Kawazaki I would not touch for any reason (not sure why)

Frame is now finished ......YAY I am really pleased with the results,it almost looks like a brand new frame Trouble is Everything I bolt back on to it will have to be shiney and clean or it just wont look right at all !

might be for wimps but all done and back in 48 hours with no mess in the workshop :D I was being Ironic But seriously I am doing it the hard way for economic reasons but sure if money was no object then I would send it off next time Today the Main frame gets painted so hope to upload some pickys later ...Just off to get some Zinc Primer for the Underside.

This is the main frame assembly and swing arm getting the phosporic acid treatment.... As you can see nearly all the rust has now desolved and after second application frame will be degreased and given its first coat of red oxide. Sand blasting and powder coating are for whimps

A while since my last update but I have reached the "Hard Graft" stage which involves sanding, scraping, sanding, grinding..... A few more parts left the "Paint Shop" today and I am pleased with the results and it gives me an indication how the rest of the frame will look when it is complete The process I am using is remove old paint and then rotary drill attachment to remove rust. Then I apply a liberal coat of phosporic acid to eat any remaining rust (£9 a litre) which is much cheaper than rust remedies and a lot more effective ! when cleaned and degreased I apply two coats of Red Oxide primer, 3 coats High build primer, three coats of high impact gloss black acrylic.

Yeah Dealers never forget to do up the wheel nuts properly

The Inner forks? the bit that goes inside the forks if it is pitted has to be re chromed even if it is just slightly pitted ? How much would that cost roughtly ?

Or ...........Rub the lemon on the rust (as it is acid ) and same result but less painful ?

I am doing mine at home and striping the frame with a combination of rotary sanding drum (on the drill) and rotary Wire brush brass type. this gets the metal to a polished shiney stage and gets into the welds then mix a paste of Oxalic acid or rust convertion onto the frame where there was rust previously and wash it all off after 18 hours (if you have a heat gun or blow torch use this to remove any moisture inside the metal before painting. Then 2 heavy coats of Red oxide followed by 3 coats of high build primer and 2 coats of anti chip gloss black Acrylic. or you can send it for sandblasting and powder coating if you prefer

Are you talking about the chrome parts ? If so then you can use (once rust and pits removed a clear coat spray (as used on metalic paints) I have pitting on my forks and will polish it out then use a clear coat. cheaper than new chrome. I have seen where people have stripped all the chrome and polished the steel then coated in clear acrylic spray. you will need new seals and dust covers though as the pits kill the seals.