I picked this up about a year ago, a little work has turned into a "restoration" that is still in progress. Not a OEM restoration but it will look stock with reliability upgrades. I took pics for my own reference but I can post them here if anyone is interested. The story was that it sat for 20-30 years in the basement of a NAPA store before it was bought from the guy who sold it to me. He left it as it was, and I'm glad he did as I would find out later. This is the condition as I found it:
(https://i.imgur.com/P1FJcUcm.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/3cHG57um.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/Hb74Cumm.jpg)
Were those handlebars on it when you got it? Those are huge!
Nice score. Looking forward to seeing the progress on this one.
Yes, that's exactly the way it came! I still have the bars lying around. The cables were longer than stock but they had stretched the switch harnesses out of the headlight bucket.
(https://i.imgur.com/vlke4Zrm.jpg)
Leave the apes and sissy bar then hard tail it. :haw:
Quote from: Organicjedi on February 13, 2019, 04:13:30 PM
Leave the apes and sissy bar then hard tail it. :haw:
Thank you for the legitimate belly laugh.
Please share pictures of the work carried out.
Those handle bars are boon in hot weather for underarms. :haw:
Quote from: Organicjedi on February 13, 2019, 04:13:30 PM
Leave the apes and sissy bar then hard tail it. :haw:
That's always an option! :haw: :haw:
More pics as I got it, not bad overall:
(https://i.imgur.com/nsujhDbl.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/bACjvskl.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/iSc4oySl.jpg?1) (https://i.imgur.com/wtGGOO3l.jpg)
Fuel tank would be a challenge:
(https://i.imgur.com/DRMcwNJl.jpg)
Sorry if these pics aren't the greatest, they were just for my reference. Grass in the slide was one reason I'm glad the PO didn't run it! Parts of the harness and frame were spray-bombed black decades ago.
(https://i.imgur.com/yF8QT67l.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/dwAPvc3l.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/3DUEFANl.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/KNNw2V2l.jpg)
Hears an excellent trick for the rusty inside of the tank. Go to home depot and look in the paint/cleaner section. Look for a product called prep n etch. It's for concrete prepping. Its basically a phosphoric acid solution and it will eat the rust out in no time. It will actually eat the whole tank! It's easy to use though, just plug your tank holes, put about half the jug in and shake it! I left my tank sit on one side for 10 mins, then the other, and so on. Vigorous shaking helps, you will see the bare metal come through. Make sure you neutralize the acid with a baking soda/warm water mix afterwards. I had excellent results! Good luck
Brandy Red. Great color but the clear coating flakes off. I have one in the shop right now for engine rebuild.
Quote from: 2 Stroke Jamoke on February 14, 2019, 05:56:07 PM
Hears an excellent trick for the rusty inside of the tank. Go to home depot and look in the paint/cleaner section. Look for a product called prep n etch. It's for concrete prepping. Its basically a phosphoric acid solution and it will eat the rust out in no time. It will actually eat the whole tank! It's easy to use though, just plug your tank holes, put about half the jug in and shake it! I left my tank sit on one side for 10 mins, then the other, and so on. Vigorous shaking helps, you will see the bare metal come through. Make sure you neutralize the acid with a baking soda/warm water mix afterwards. I had excellent results! Good luck
I've already got the tank done, but that's a great idea. I have a few other tanks I'll try this method out on. The bike is about 90% done, I thought i'd post my progress from the beginning up to now. Worked on bikes for years but this is my first full blown "restore", and it's been a great learning process. If anything it's tested my patience!
Another tank cleaning method is electrolysis.
Here's an example: https://yamaha-rd125.blogspot.com/search/label/rust%20removal%20inside%20fuel%20tank (https://yamaha-rd125.blogspot.com/search/label/rust%20removal%20inside%20fuel%20tank)
Plus one on electrolysis. I used it on my 75 RD tank several years ago with great success.
Teardown and starting to re-hab parts.
(https://i.imgur.com/aBDtN8gl.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/pnTDW0ql.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/Ngvx53bl.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/z8Bpd0El.jpg)
You certainly have a lot of elbow room in your shop! That place is huge
Used Quick-Glo to polish the chrome, the stuff doesn't smell and gives great results. I get the "fine" grit that can also be used to polish glass. Works good on the tach/speedo glass.
(https://i.imgur.com/zK35vQPl.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/wYTnv0Zl.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/Mqt8Qbml.jpg)
Quote from: SoCal250 on February 15, 2019, 12:28:39 PM
You certainly have a lot of elbow room in your shop! That place is huge
Unfortunately its not my shop, but I'm very fortunate to be able to use it for my projects. The overhead crane is handy!
Frame was blasted, sprayed with PJ1 gloss. Used brass swingarm bushings, tried to use factory fasteners wherever possible. Economy and Yambits helped with the rest.
(https://i.imgur.com/tnnXQnql.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/JA12YcHl.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/iZXY1fyl.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/SRrcb9Jl.jpg)
Front brakes were a mess. I was able to rebuild the caliper but the bore on the master was too pitted to be usable. Bike starting to go together. Forks were rebuilt, and the lowers were wet sanded using about 4 different grits. Came out close to stock, decided not to clear them for now. No pics, but the steering lock was busted in two pieces, so I used a spare lock and swapped out the wafers.
(https://i.imgur.com/ZXqyETql.jpg)(https://i.imgur.com/dHX4gLNl.jpg?1) (https://i.imgur.com/rTVY7vbl.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/DEEjQBEl.jpg)
A before and after of the rear wheel. Soda blasted the hubs and did stages of wet sand and a light polish to get a somewhat stock look. The spokes are functional but corroded and will be replaced later. Finally back on two wheels!
(https://i.imgur.com/phAsNoLl.png) (https://i.imgur.com/i0rIt9yl.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/LoK1OGtl.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/MxKS5hsl.jpg)
Fuel tank was in good shape on the outside, no dents and the paint was rider quality. The inside however was a different story, in there was 30 years of varnish and rust. The first step was getting the big chunks out, and the best thing I've found to mechanically remove debris in tanks has been 1" drywall screws. I've used bolts, ball bearings, and even rocks before, but drywall screws work really well. After that, I filled the tank with E85, I wanted to see if that would dissolve any remaining varnish deposits. After a week of soaking I think it did an ok job, good enough to work on the rust. Already had a 5 gallon pail of Evaporust from another project, so that went in for about a week. The results were great, I will definitely use it again if I have it around. Not as cheap as phosphoric acid or electrolysis, I would probably try these out if I didn't have the Evaporust already. Immediately after draining the tank, it was flushed with premix. After about 4 months it still looks like new, the premix stopped any flash rusting. When the tank is repainted I will probably use a sealer.
(https://i.imgur.com/1yaLoVll.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/8daVNU7l.jpg?1) (https://i.imgur.com/RjDKYMyl.jpg)
Before and after of the toolbox.
(https://i.imgur.com/c3mP1gvl.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/XhQjSVul.jpg)
Coming along nicely. Drywall screws? Who knew?!
Drywall screws? I should of known, been working on bikes for 45 years and doing drywall for 40 (ouch)...................................D
Quote from: Seizer on February 26, 2019, 12:26:49 PM
Coming along nicely. Drywall screws? Who knew?!
Thanks!
Two boxes of screws were just about right, you need some mass in there. Used a little water and some elbow grease. So far it has worked great.
I used a bag of pennies once and that was a mistake. The water in there made the pennies stick to the inside and they were a bastard to get out.
looks great so far. :clap:
those bars :nana: :swoon:
Quote from: Cam on February 15, 2019, 12:31:25 PM
Quote from: SoCal250 on February 15, 2019, 12:28:39 PM
You certainly have a lot of elbow room in your shop! That place is huge
Unfortunately its not my shop, but I'm very fortunate to be able to use it for my projects. The overhead crane is handy!
Regardless, I'm still envious. A borrowed shop can be better than your own in some ways -- no overhead to pay. :thumbs:
Quote from: Cam on February 15, 2019, 12:29:22 PM
Used Quick-Glo to polish the chrome, the stuff doesn't smell and gives great results. I get the "fine" grit that can also be used to polish glass. Works good on the tach/speedo glass.
That Quick-Glo looks like it works great on chrome. :clap: I may have to pick up some
Plus one on the Quick-Glo. It works great on chrome and aluminium.
Interesting thing on the speedo and tach glass where I used the Quick-Glo, I had polished the outside glass but I was still seeing fingerprints. They really stood out and were annoying, come to find out they were on the inside of the glass! They were both still factory sealed, you could tell they had not been apart. So apparently someone in Japan was making RD gauges 40 years ago with no gloves!
So I took them apart and gave them a clean, the fingerprints were so stuck on I had to polish them off with the Quick-Glo. Glass cleaner wouldn't budge them.
The bike is looking clean. Nice job!
Quote from: Organicjedi on February 28, 2019, 03:34:29 PM
The bike is looking clean. Nice job!
Thanks Jedi.
Turn switch wires were all broken off and needed re-soldering. Everything was cleaned and critters evicted. More detail work to do, but pretty much done with these.
(https://i.imgur.com/zlFnGHQl.jpg?2) (https://i.imgur.com/ZbhxgM2l.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/AQUp0wgl.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/NEO06tZl.jpg)
Wire harness was completely cleaned of dirt and spray paint. One terminal was replaced and ohm checks were good. Gauges were taken apart and cleaned. Fortunately the faces were good condition, I wanted to keep the '73 only with the individual tick marks. The repro faces are the later type that don't have this. Engine is next.
(https://i.imgur.com/kuaoOSol.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/jwl9odil.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/SFtUnFKl.jpg) (https://i.imgur.com/fXjgkP3l.jpg)