Topic: 1975 cb550 Project SENCHA - bike has found new home

[goldarrow]

No brake pressure is probably ok due to too much crap inside. This would actually make your life much easier to get the circlip ring off. I was having fun with it and pumped the cylinder in soapy water until the crap broke loose and free the cylinder. You could skip the whole pumping process and keep the cylinder pressed in, this will give you room to fight with the circlip.  Enjoy.

[goldarrow]

FRAME!  i'm debating on if i wanted to do powerder coating, or rattle can painting, duplicolor or other brands.  stripping the old paint is NOT fun.  i could probably spend all the time in the world that i have to clean up and paint as i'm a very patience guy, but i don't think i will ever get the new primer and paint back on as NICE as i would like it to be.   

first round of stripping the old paint.  using the Aircraft Remover from autozone.  first i used the spray can type, but didn't work out as i thought most of the stuff i spray just went into the air and it was a windy day.  so i went back to the store and return and got the liquid kind.  much better this time as i see the result right away after applying.   recommendation, using long rubber gloves that your wife (if you're married) use to clean house.  this stuff really have burning sensation to your skin.  not everything comes off as more i brushed it, more paint and gooey stuffs come off the frame and i felt like i was only wasting the liquid remover.  so, rinse off with water and chase down with wd40 to prevent flash rust. 

by the way, i saw these metal adjustable sawhorse at a yardsale $20 for the pair, and i thought i had to get them as they might come in handy.  and yes they do.  i also don't have a work bench, so will throw a door panel on it (will look for one at yardsale) and mount on top.

trying to wire wheel off some rust spots before stripping the paint.  only did couple of spots and decided to strip the paint first.



stripping the paint process




any thoughts?  should i stop here and save money for powder coating?  or just keep going?  will powder coating place do the clean up the frame before powder coating?  or will they only take frame that has already been cleaned?

[Messenger750]

Doing great, stay on track!

I'd call and ask the powder coater, they might do it themselves but they'd most likely charge you for it(labor costs). I'd keep going and you'll save money.

[goldarrow]

will definitely stay on track.  did more reading about the powder coating, many people seems to have problems with it getting chipped off, coater did not prep the metal as they said they would, lots of scams and horror stories.  besides if i remembered reading correctly, powder coating was not invented yet back in the 70's.  will try my best not to mess it up with half @$$ed rattle can spray paint job. 

so, this afternoon i only have a few minutes to play with the bike.  wanted to apply more paint stripper on the frame, but that would take too long, so i decided to use wirewheel on a drill, and wd40 on my side. 

[L3niin]

nice job man loving it

[WhyNot2]

kewl................................

[goldarrow]

just a small updates as  my thread is falling off page 2     well, not much time to put on the bike.  left side of the frame is looking pretty.  i like the bare metal look now.  i've seen bunch of bare metal look of tank on black frame.  i wonder how bare metal frame will look on complete bike. 


also picked up 2 free futon frames off the street while driving around at garage sales.  helping the city workers cleaning junk off street also.  keep the earth green! 


and here's the right side of the bike frame that i still need to do

[Mcwilliams570]

Looking good so far. When I did my frame I just hit the bad rust spots like you did then I just lightly sanded the frame not even down to bare metal just to scuff it up. Shot some primer and painted it.

Matt

[goldarrow]

Matt, I started off with that also. I have quite a few pitted rust spots mainly around the engine mounts, kick stand, seat hinges and few other places. There are lesser pitted area pretty much all over the frame. After wire wheeling it for a while I realizes that the frame will end up looking like a Dalmatian, so I decided to strip off the whole frame. That way I know that the frame is prepped up ready just in case I go with powder coating as my buddy tried to convince me to do.

[goldarrow]

the frame is finally stripped of old paint and rust, as much as i could do with my cordless drill and angle grinder




i really need to thank my KAWASAKI cordless drill for most of the job done on the frame after soooo many charges and recharges.   


finished the rest of the frame with this from HF, yes pretty crappy tool but it clean off the frame just fine.   got the wire wheel on, the lock/release button broke on me even before i use start using it.  so i return the whole thing back to HF.


there are still quite few small places of old paint where the wire wheel can't get to.  should i worry about these?  so, over the weekend, i borrowed sand blaster container from a friend, went off to Lowe's to get some sand.  the sand was too wet out of the bag, so i couldn't enjoy it.  tested it out though with my compressor setting the pressure at 120 psi and it seems to be just fine.


also over the weekend, i bought this old school, weathered up sand blasting cab for $7 from local garage sale.  looked like someone actually spent time building it.  the blasting gun is all i needed really. 


sunday i picked up MY FIRST OFFICIAL TOOL CART! from swap meet.  i'd say i'm very proud of myself to pick this up for $10! as i have been using small buckets and canvas bag  as my tool box.

[thekidd76]

Those are some nice finds there goldarrow..congrats!

[CafeDawg]

Nice finds, $7 for a blast cabinet, I obviously need to start hitting more yard sales.
The frame looks great as well, all that hard work has really netted results.  And now you've got a a place to put all those new tools. 
Keep at it.       

Respect
CD                                                                                         

[ffemt2466]

Subscribed! Also I tried to use play sand at first but no success at all. I went to a local NuWay and got a 80 lb bag of sand blast sand for like $8. Mine worked well with just a siphon feed and a tarped off section of the shop. Takes awhile and I would recommend a hood for sure! Good luck and keep it up!

[Sschultz242]

Coming along great man!  Wish I had the patience to strip my frame down like that. Cant wait to see the finished product!

[Messenger750]

Great tool box! Love vintage Snap-On. Love the quality of their products, you can put them through hell and back and if they break, LIFETIME WARRANTY!

[goldarrow]

testing out my new toys.  problems in between the process as expected. afterall i'm a first timer and not an old timer.  small pebbles from sand would get stuck in the gun, so have to sieve them out.  then tried using soda, much better result but the soda powder gets all over the place as the box is not tight and no vacuum.

so, testing out with top triple tree. 


didn't get all the old paint off but hope it's ok.




then washed with water, air compressor blow dry.  sprayed some rattle can etched primer and here's how it looks now


and the close up


do i need to sand this down before top coat and clear coat?

[rb550four]

Usually, Some 12 or 1500 wet ,roll it over a sponge, so no hard edges .Or  a 3m green or red scratchy pad like the one on the back of the sponge in the kitchen sink. Either way, you want to smooth and provide 'tooth", when it is uniformly dull and smooth ( sm. squeegee test larger projects like tanks and stuff) then you are done. Shoot color coat, don't sand, it'll be dull and you'll say WTF but it's okay,let it dry ,then hit it with 2 not runny coats of poly. If it gets runny  give it 2 coats anyways so when you wet sand it  you don't damage the color coat.,then shoot it again,buff if necessary in a few days ,wax in a month.
 This is all great fun, don't have the boys around while your doing this. Were a painters mask not a dust mask,the fumes collect in them and your getting poisoned. The clear coat hardner is even worse for you, decent mask at NAPA... under $40....ability to live a little longer, priceless. Have fun.

[lucky]

Hello goldarrow! I like the name of your project, very cool. Well, since you've got a nice looking scar in the cylinder you may need to bore over. You can try to hone it first but depending on the depth of the gouge it may not smooth out. Since you're wanting a little performace boost as well, you should look into an 836cc kit as an over bore is likely your next step if the hone doesn't work.    Good luck!! Rick.

The first step is not to bore OR hone. The first step is to get the cylinders measured.
THEN select the pistons based on availability and price. THEN you get it bored and honed for the pistons you bought.

[goldarrow]

after a month long of procastinating over priming and painting, i finally got over it.

cleaned up dust and grease with soap water and green scuffing pad, the blow dry with compressor












then, self etching primer on bare metal


came back to it again the next day to cover the parts that i missed


then, over the weekend, that's when it all happened.....during the painting with gloss black enamel. 


planning on using 3 cans, and 1 can covers about 1 coat, in hope that it will be some what durable when gas and grease get on it. 





and of course plenty of uneven spots of paint....




also, side covers that i sourced....these things are so pricey, but hey they will complete her some ways or another
only half stripped of old paint, so the surface is uneven because of the old paint.


covers are primed, not sure if you could see the uneven spots of from the old paint

the under side

then i was recued with this.  got this textured metallic paint for plastic at the swapmeet.  didn't think of it much as i just wanted to try it out and see how color looks.  $2/can and i just have to try it.  turned out that the textured hide my imperfections from the old paint.  sweet i say, and i also like the color.  the black spots you see are the shadows from leaves over my head. 

BUT NO IDEA if this color will go with the rest of the bike.....guess we shall have to wait and see.


now i can concentrate on the ENGINE.

thanks lucky for the advise.  new piston and bore is my last resort as this will eat up most of money that i don't already have.  so, what i would like to do is
- 1st option-  hone the cylinders until the gouge on hole #3 is gone, measure up the bore and see if it's still within specs.  if this don't work out, then
- 2nd - may be another cylinder off feebay, if still not work out, then
- 3rd - bigbore kit
do these options/alternatives sound like a plan?   

on to the next journey......

[Mcwilliams570]

Looking good so far. Try your first option if I remember right that looked like a deep scratch but see what happens. If its not goign to work out go for the next size up on the bore new pistons rings etc.

That silver color looks pretty cool.

Matt

[rb550four]

I like that silver metalflake, do you have enough left for the tank?
   The frame. I think that if you believe that you'll need more gloss black paint, that you should do it ,you won't get another chance you know.
    I have a similar problem with a couple sets of jugs as you do. I was thinking of ebaying another set or two,set them all in the oven ,drop the cylinders out , switch out the bad ones,  press in the good ones ,then replace everything with stock parts. That's my plan anyways.
   It's good to see that you are back to working on it.
   

[goldarrow]

Thanks Matt and RB.  i like how that color comes out, too.  but don't know if that will match up with the tank with original green.  i wanted to stay original green color, and at the same time also in the back of my head to source another tank so i can do some painting on it.   though the original tank has some rust on the bottom edges, so....not sure yet at this point what i'm gonna do with it.

anyways, this afternoon i was able to experiment honing thanks to McWilliams570 for letting me borrow the honing tool...but just a quick recap, this is how the hole #3 looks when disembling


my kawasaki cordless drill ran out of charge, and i ran out of time as i have to go to work. and this is how it looks now.


another picture without the sun/shadow

[Mcwilliams570]

That honing worked better than I thought it would on that scratch can you feel it with your finger nail when you go across it. Still looks kind of bad to me maybe someone with more experience will say if that will work or not.

Matt

[rb550four]

     That cylinder,   not just a scratch, looks serious to me ,seems like they'll be some blow by ,poor compression and problems down the road. I'm not the last word on any subject but , if it were mine,
it wouldn't be going back together until one of your other options has happened first. And I'm happy to see that you are ready to tackle this.

[Rich361]

Subscribed....  Watching with interest!