Topic: Wes's '75 550F - Daily Rider Build - Now with more photos

[knochgoon24]

At this point, I've started searching for a storage locker. I can then pull parts out (motor, frame, forks, etc) and work on them little by little, without having my whole apartment in shambles. There are just too many little things that I want to do right now to really put the finishing touches on it. I don't want to rush it.

[knochgoon24]

It's been a long time, but I've got it back out, and I'm making progress.


I moved in July and I now have a place with a 1 car garage. I've started fitting parts back together so that I can see what I have, and what might have gone missing.

[knochgoon24]

So if you left you bike age gently in the garage for 9 months... bam! It all ends up neatly back together.


Well... not exactly. I have hundreds of photos across multiple memory cards of the process. I'm currently gathering them together for a big update soon. Consider this a preview.

[seanbarney41]

looks like you did good!

[DH]

That's a fine lookin bike Wes, very well done. Proof positive that it pays to persevere. The blue is really sharp.
Here's your old K-model frame all dressed up.

[Stev-o]

Nice job on the F!

[knochgoon24]

That's a fine lookin bike Wes, very well done. Proof positive that it pays to persevere. The blue is really sharp.
Here's your old K-model frame all dressed up.

Wow. Crazy to see it like that. When I bought that bike, the guy had practically written it off as scrap. Glad you're getting good use from the clean frame.

looks like you did good!

Nice job on the F!

Thanks. I still have a list of small things to fix, but it's 95% complete. I plan to fix those issues in the spring while I keep adding some miles to it.

[70CB750]

Looking good!

So if you left you bike age gently in the garage for 9 months... bam! It all ends up neatly back together.


Well... not exactly. I have hundreds of photos across multiple memory cards of the process. I'm currently gathering them together for a big update soon. Consider this a preview.

[grcamna2]

You did Good work in your apt. on that bike,better than watching t.v.,right? I have the same color beige rug in my apt. and I've had to do my best to protect it while working on some of my motorcycle things up here on the 4th flr. although I live alone so I haven't been as motivated as you have 
Nice Work 

[knochgoon24]

So... I didn't forget about posting updates. I finally got photos sorted from my old PC, 3 cell phones, a point and shoot camera, and numerous USB sticks.


I have a total of 403 photos of it from the day I bought it up through last weekend when installed a modern R/R. I didn't realize that I had that many. I'm not sure what the best way to do this will be. I guess I'll start with filling in some blanks.
Here's the Photobucket album I'll be pulling photos from. This is all 403 photos, mostly unedited.


Part 1 of the build was here. I bought it June 11, 2011. That covers me getting it home, getting it running, and riding it for about 3000 miles.



Then I tore it down due to excessive bottom end noise. I should have just swapped the motor. I graduated college (barely), and couldn't get a job using my degree. The bike headed home to my parents house (with me) like this:



I ended up following my girlfriend (no wife) to Michigan and spent 2 years working as a shift at Autozone. I returned to classes that second year. That's where this part 2 started.


If you haven't read through this thread from the beginning yet, here's a link to the start. I start filling in gaps with my next posts.

[knochgoon24]

So gap #1 -- building the bike in my apartment's kitchen/living room.


It never really got put together more than it did in the photos from post 23. I spent a LOT of time polishing. I spent some time putting some spiffy fire-resistant wire loom over it all, and I replaced some of the more damaged spade terminals using a kit off eBay. The motorcycle ended up sitting in the spare bedroom or the storage locker until I moved.


Here's a few photos of the whole main wiring harness. Every since wire, even the horn, buzzer, and coil (not spark) wire got the loom and heat shrink treatment. Unfortunately, a lot of it will need to have the heat shrink replaced. I didn't use the adhesive type (to save $$$), and it just isn't holding up well. I've purchased nice 4:1 adhesive stuff to redo some of the worse parts sometime here.









Here's a photo that shows some of the separation of the heat shrink and loom from the heat shrink not being adhesive.

[knochgoon24]

So gap #2 would be all the work of putting it back together the way it is now.


Tip #1 for y'all... get a good crimper. It's worth the money. This was first crimp I did.

I eventually read up on some tips (like, you should see bare wire between the two crimps) and now my crimps are turning out really consistent.


I ended up going through the whole harness (again) to fix the connectors that I didn't trust. I debated on completely redoing the harness at that point, but I really wanted to get it running again, and I didn't have the time for that. Plus, now that I have a working harness again, I can always use it as a template. I still want to update it to add some better grounding and to take some load off the switches.

The next thing I did was to start putting parts on the frame so I could see what bolts I'd lost, which looked like crap, and what parts needed to be refinished.

First, the engine and triple tree (with new bearings).


Next was the handle bars, gauges, rear shocks, and rear splash guard. Stuff didn't always stay on through the whole assembly.



I got it up on the motorcycle jack and strapped it down. This was a bit tricky. I ended up using a couple chunks of wood to help get it leveled out.

My dog melted.


Then he was joined by my wife's childhood dog (12 years old now and still kicking) who was in town visiting

The dog days of summer...

[knochgoon24]

Next was the swing arm and rear tire.



Here, I'm trying out some paint options. I found a VHT wheel paint that matches the frame almost exactly. I also had a gold/bronze on hand. The blue is a GM color.






The blue is GM "Bahama Blue" -- Duplicolor BGM0533. I had debated on several different blues, but settled on this. I wanted something that I could get in a rattle can in case I needed to do some touch ups. I do plan on riding it, and I expect it will get some dings that will need some TLC.



I also hit the sandblasted exhaust with VHT high temp primer and high temp flat black. It seems to be holding up well so far.






I think that this is some older Mac 4-into-1. I can't find any part number stamped on it. It might not look the greatest, but it's solid and it has a pretty sweet sound.

[knochgoon24]

Time to continue...


Next, I got the front end on and sorted. I ended up tearing down the front forks, cleaning them, polishing them, and replacing the oil with some fresh new stuff.



The next task was daunting. I needed to figure out what I wanted to do about that large crease/dent. This was the view after sandblasting the tank.



The metal seemed pretty solid, so I figured I'd try to pull the dent as much as I could so that I could avoid using as much filler. So I tack welded some washers along the crease and pulled with vice grips.



I was actually surprised at how well that worked.



But the dent itself was still rather deep. So I cut coat hanger to 2" lengths and tacked those to the tank.



That go the dent most of the way out.



I didn't realize that I had pulled too hard. I ended up making a whole row of little holes at each weld spot. I had to go back and weld these up.



That didn't work out as well as I hoped, and I ended up still leaving a bunch of pin holes. And the dent was still deeper than I wanted. So out came the body solder.



Sanded the solder flat and added bondo. Sanded that to shape.



I was so concerned about that big dent, that I totally missed this smaller dent on top. I should have stopped once the wet primer made it oblivious, but I didn't. I regret that now.



I think I matched the curve quite well.



So before I did paint, I did the toilet bowl cleaner trick to get rid of the rust that had formed inside the tank from a leaky gas cap and a plugged drain hose (mud wasp).



While the Works... worked... I kept building. Here, I have the one side cover painted with the GM blue.





The tank cleaned up nicely. I swirled some Seafoam around inside to prevent flash rusting (it still flashed VERY quickly). Next was the tank basecoat. I didn't want overspray all over the garage, so I was stuck painting outside. I'm surprised how few things got in the paint.



I wet sanded the blue, added another coat, wet sanded again, and then started building up clear. I think I did 2 or 3 coats before I started wet sanding again. You can see the orange peel starting here.



The orange peel cleaned up nicely. Here's the finished tank, hanging in the sun to dry. I love the flake in it.

[knochgoon24]

The next bit of fun was the wiring. Here's the bundle for the headlight bucket.



I got that all sorted, and started on the brake system. That's when I realized that I had set aside a K pedal, and I had no clue where my F pedal was. There's a different. I had sold a bunch of my spare parts to a guy on Craigslist a few weeks prior. I figured that I had sold him the F pedal in the box of random parts.

I eventually found the correct pedal in a box of parts I had kept.


Back to the electrical.

Success!


I was pretty ticked that I didn't go back and fix that gas tank dent. But I was even more pissed when the paint peeled off and stuck to the seat, and left bare primer showing.

The paint had been on the tank for more than a week at this point. As it turns out, the paint is VERY easy to chip. I think that I wet sanded down too fine (600 grit) and the blue paint didn't adhere properly. I used Rustoleum Automotive grey primer, Duplicolor Color Match color coat, and Rustoleum Automotive clear. As it turns out, the clear isn't fuel safe. So if I drip even a tiny drop on the tank, it fogs the clear, and I have to buff it back shiny with rubbing compound. I'm so pissed.

[knochgoon24]

But after all that work, I'm still happy with the results. I got the decals on the tank and side covers.









I took it for a ride, but it handled like garbage. I felt really unstable. So out came a string for an alignment.

That fixed that problem.


It also felt like it was running a big rough. So I bought a carb sync tool off Amazon and went to work.

This was so easy. I can't believe that I hadn't done this before.


And here it is at my company summer car show. There wasn't much love for the old Honda. A modern Triumph with a cafe twist took the win in the motorcycle class.

[knochgoon24]

My next bit of fun was to fix the old charging system. I had rode it in the Woodward Cruise, and barely made it home before the battery went kaput.


So time for some modern electronics. On the left is a VR124. This is an old Jeep/AMC voltage regulator. On the right is a 100A, 1000V 3-phase rectifier. I got this off Amazon for $15.



Since I'm not going to be putting 10kW through this thing, I figured I could cut it down to fit in the same space as the old rectifier.






To attach new wires to the new rectifier, I followed the method from the OEM rectifier... I used rivets to attach wires to the rectifier with ring terminals (mmm... nice crimper.) A little heat shrink and tada!



Mounting the voltage regulator was a bit easier. I used one existing hole, and a new drilled hole to bolt the regulator in the same spot as the old one.






It all fits in nicely.






It seems to be working, but I haven't had the weather to really take it for a ride to try it out.

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

What Cal said. Nice paint color, bummer about peeling, get a modern blade fuse block -- and some better clear.

Great looking bike.

[DH]

again, very nice sir. Now you need another one to go with.

[RAFster122s]

Very nice job on the updates and wrapping it up. 
I recommend you consider the 2K Urethane clear the Repaintsupply sells, SprayMax does a great job.  If you color sanded the base paint nicely then a can of the Spray Max can do your side covers and Tank in a fuel resistant finish.  Be sure to mask around the tank opening for the cap so fuel vapors don't get beneath the paint and cause it to peel around the cap.

Nice work on your F, she's worth being proud of bringing it all together and making her look very pretty again. Get her appraised by someone who knows what they are doing and insure her for what she's worth, or go with a stated value policy.

David

[knochgoon24]

Nicely done. I never sand higher than 300 grit between coats. Leaves plenty of tooth for the next layer to adhere. Bummer about the seat peeling the paint. I'm a huge fan of BLUE too!


Might give that old glass fuse block a toss and replace it with blade styles for an upgrade.

Yeah... live and learn on the paint. It's the first time I've done any paint work that I cared about, and I got carried away with the wet sanding. The bike was originally sapphire blue, and this isn't too far from it. It's just dark enough to match the grey frame a bit better than the original color.


I'm debating on what I want to do with the fuse block. The one that's on there is in pretty good condition and serves the purpose. I've found this one that's a similar size.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B012CQEPN2/
I'm just not sure that it's worth the hassle. I think that there are bigger fish to fry.


But if money was no object, I'd love to rewire it with something like one of these.
http://motogadget.com/en/electrics/electronic-control-box-m-unit/m-unit-digit-tastersteuerung-u-sicherung.html

What Cal said. Nice paint color, bummer about peeling, get a modern blade fuse block -- and some better clear.


Great looking bike.

Do people really not like these old glass fuse blocks? I haven't had any problems finding fuses, and mine is free of corrosion.

again, very nice sir. Now you need another one to go with.

One is good for me, and my wife would rather have a small sport bike. I'll just stick with slowly updating this one. I still have the original F engine, so that might get big bore kit and a 650 cam. We'll see. My wife bought me a 96 Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder for a wedding present. So I'm swapping the engine and AWD out of my rusty 97 Eagle Talon. Then that will get a VGT turbo setup from a Cummins 6.7 (Dodge Ram 07-13). That's the next project.    Should put about 450 to the wheels before I need to build the motor. Then it should sit around 7-800 whp?    I have most of the parts around for the 450 hp setup, I just need to get to work.

Very nice job on the updates and wrapping it up. 
I recommend you consider the 2K Urethane clear the Repaintsupply sells, SprayMax does a great job.  If you color sanded the base paint nicely then a can of the Spray Max can do your side covers and Tank in a fuel resistant finish.  Be sure to mask around the tank opening for the cap so fuel vapors don't get beneath the paint and cause it to peel around the cap.


Nice work on your F, she's worth being proud of bringing it all together and making her look very pretty again. Get her appraised by someone who knows what they are doing and insure her for what she's worth, or go with a stated value policy.


David

I've got the Spraymax 2K bookmarked.  But what I'll probably do is sand it all back down and spray it with real automotive paint and clear. I need to order new side covers, since my are all cracked. They are currently held together with a mix of superglue, fiberglass and resin, and 2-part epoxy. The fix for each crack depended on what I had on hand at the time.

I recommend you consider the 2K Urethane clear the Repaintsupply sells, SprayMax does a great job.  If you color sanded the base paint nicely then a can of the Spray Max can do your side covers and Tank in a fuel resistant finish. 

Not to start an argument, but, I'm not sure this is a good idea. It may work or it may not. Not all "clears" are compatible with each other. Spraying "SprayMax" over your existing clear could easily ruin the entire job. Only ever use paints designed to work with each other, and that is not always easy to know. Obviously, a test panel first. But you do need to "re-clear" your tank with something that is fuel-resistant in the future.


Me, I'd ride it as is until Fall. Then sand the paint back, leave enough tooth for good color coats, then clear at that point with a proper fuel resistant clear and then polish her up. But for now, ride it. It's far too nice to fret about a minor paint imperfection.

I just put 25 miles on it today. And it wasn't too hard to keep from dripping gas on it at the pump when I topped it off with some fresh gas. I'll probably just ride it as-is for the summer and start all over on the paint this winter. As you said, I'd rather ride it than fuss with the paint. Plus, since my wife and I are starting to look into buying a house, I need to be more concerned with finishing projects up instead of starting new ones.

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Member FrankenFrankStuff (or something close to that) lists new repo side covers in the Parts For Sale section. His are top quality and he's in New England.

Most of the people that migrate away from glass fuses do so because they struggle to find correct size fuses and availability of them. If yours/block are in good condition, fry a larger fish.

That M-unit looks neat. Wonder how well those work?   

Here's his web-store link:
http://www.fb-stuff.com/fb-stuff-store.html

[knochgoon24]

Member FrankenFrankStuff (or something close to that) lists new repo side covers in the Parts For Sale section. His are top quality and he's in New England.

Most of the people that migrate away from glass fuses do so because they struggle to find correct size fuses and availability of them. If yours/block are in good condition, fry a larger fish.

That M-unit looks neat. Wonder how well those work?   

Here's his web-store link:
http://www.fb-stuff.com/fb-stuff-store.html

I just drool when looking at that page. Definitely on my short list for parts.

I got some replacement side cover grommets on eBay because mine were rock hard and useless. These grommets seem to be really close in size, but they grab the side covers a little too well. I've even tried a a dab of heavy grease, motor oil, and WD-40. And the covers still want to stick in the grommets. But at least I know they aren't going to fall off while riding.

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

It's good to periodically lube or grease those rubber grommets. Otherwise they shrink and dry, and then you can lose a cover.