12-01-2010

Alright, time to tear down this front end. Those last two bits of orange have got to go, and that nasty front wheel needs a good cleaning. I started by removing the wheel. Followed by the handle bars and hand control wiring. Gauges came off next followed by the headlight assembly. Sadly the headlight bucket is plastic and pretty rotten. It's beyond repair and I will need to get a new one. It should be fun to try to get this rats nest of wires shoved into a new bucket. Finally I got the forks to slide right on out leaving the orange headlight ears to be removed. Easy as that! I see sanding and polishing in my future as I plan to make these headlight ears match the tank and other bare metal parts. I will also refinish the handle bar mounts to bare metal and will get that nice chrome shorty front fender sparkling.

-Bocaj

10-25-2010

I've got the exhaust pipes all shined up, looking good and back on the bike. They turned out nice and there are very few spots that didn't come out. There was some plastic melted to the right side pipe where it comes out of the engine block. Some steel wool on a mouse-sander took care of that. Finished it off with some chrome polish.

-Bocaj

08/19/10

I painted subtle stripes on either side of the tank where the Honda emblems are. They turned out nice and with the tank back on the frame you can get a feel for what the finished bike will look like.

-Bocaj

08/11/2010

Time to get this tank looking like the cherry on top that it is. I used some paint stripper on this deal which was super messy and smelled horrible. I got the rest off with good old fashioned sand paper I still have half of it to go and then I can add some clear coat and a graphic. I painted the underside with some flat black to protect from rust. Looking good so far...

-Bocaj

08/04/2010

I've got a few more parts finished including the rear foot peg brackets and the chain guard. So I slapped the swing arm back on to see how it is shaping up so far. I have decided to get some new shocks for the rear as the chrome on the springs is pretty well effed. Surprisingly, new rear shocks are pretty reasonable. So, rather than spending the time and effort to rebuild these old ones, I'll just get some new ones when the time is right...my butt will thank me later.

-Bocaj

07/25/10

Time to add some elbow grease to this equation. After some serious sanding and shining, my swing arm and stabilizer bar are looking pretty mean down to bare metal. I decided to leave some of the paint around the welds to give it a nice patina look. Since I took them down to bare metal they had to be spray coated with a gloss clear enamel to protect from rust and to keep them looking nice and shiny. I steel wool'd the snot out of them to ensure maximum shine before I sprayed. I plan to duplicate this finish on the foot peg brackets, chain guard, headlight ears and the tank.

-Bocaj

07/14/10

I finally caved and moved the bike into the garage. The truck takes a back seat for a while and has to spend it's nights outside. I've decided that the engine and electrical systems will stay in the frame as they seem to be in great shape and I don't want to futz with them too much.
I did remove the carbs to take a peak inside. They seem to be fairly clean for what I found in the gas tank, but I will probably rebuild them too as I will most likely need to re-jet them as I plan to run K&N style air filters as opposed to the stock clunkers.
So, the next step is to tear down the rear and get that wheel off. I removed the front and rear foot pegs, rear brake system, chain guard, chain, wheel, swing arm, and the rusty shocks. Hopefully I can breath life back into all of these parts...nothing a little elbow grease can't fix. And how can I fail with my trusty Otis overseeing the process.

ps. If you are wondering, that is a 1963 Bridgestone DT175 in the background...it will be a cafe too some day.

-Bocaj

07/14/10

The gas tank had some issues. There was a nice sized dent in the top of it and the inside was quite rusty. There was still about a cup worth of ancient gas in it as well. The petcock also had its straws completely eaten away by that cup worth of gas which means I will be buying a whole new petcock.
So, to fix the rust problem I bought a few gallons of distilled white vinegar and filled the tank to capacity. I first had to plug all holes in the tank ( petcock back in and the tube that connects the two sides of the tank back on). I let that soak in for about a day while giving it a shake every once and a while. I then dumped it out, rinsed it out with a garden hose and repeated this process. I'm on the third round of it right now and the tank is pretty much down to clean bare metal. Using vinegar is a nice cheap and safe alternative to expensive toxic metal strippers.
To remedy the dent issue I found a fitting that screwed right on to the petcock hole in the bottom of the tank and connected that directly to the garden hose. I then closed up all holes and the cap and turned it on. The pressure built up enough to pop the dent right out. There is now no evidence that it was ever dented. Yippee!

-Bocaj

7/14/10

I then pulled the gas tank and the rear fender. To my surprise there was another mud wasp nest under the tank. Yummy! The rear fender is a bit bent at the end, but that's no problem as I had planned to chop the rear of it off anyway. A quick rub down of the bike and a spray with the air hose and it's looking better already.

-Bocaj

07/14/10

The next step was to try to clean this bad boy up a bit and that means dis-assembly. So, out come the tools and off come the exhaust and air intake systems as well as the battery. The air intake on the right side had a little surprise in it for me in the cover. It appears to be an old mud wasp nest. Gota love these diamonds in the rough.

-Bocaj

7/14/10

With a little help (Paul and James) we successfully got the bike home without dumping it out of the back of my dad's pick-up truck. The 45 min drive didn't do as good of a job blowing all of the gunk out of the nooks and crannys as I'd hoped. This is what it looked like when it finally hit my driveway sans seat.

-Bocaj

7/13/10

Artist+Motorcycle=Cafe Racer

I've recently picked up a 1971 Honda CL350. It has been sitting in a shed for about 15 years and was pretty snotty when I picked it up. The idea is to tear it down, clean it up, and flip it into a tasty cafe racer. So, here we go!

-Bocaj