Topic: Chef's 78 F'er (paint!)

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

suggestion...since your k1 has likely become a relatively long term project, why make life hard by trying to have 2 at once?  You live in Savannah Georgia.  Why not get the thing running and riding quick and enjoy your mild weather all winter, all the while, working  on your K1.  The f is already a sporty little number, so any major cosmetic mods are superfulous.  Plenty of improvements can be made during the course of a weekend.  Just an idea...that's how I would do it.

Sean had it right. Keep your runner running while you get Yolanda back in action.  Then reverse.

[Bankerdanny]

Add me to the chorus. The bike seemed very clean in the pictures. Give it a nice clean and get it on the road.

[cheftuskey121]

Alright alright. You've twisted my arm enough. I'll get her cleaned up and road ready. New sprockets and chain, carbs will come off and be cleaned. Replace carb gaskets, accelerator pump, float valves, clutch cable, speedo cables, and install my pamco ignition and coils.

[cheftuskey121]

small update. threw some clubmans on there. actually they feel really nice for me. seems like a decent fit. squeezing the controls and master cylinder on there was another story...... its pressed right up against the tach.



got the seat hinge I needed and was able to dress up the seat and cowl with the piping etc. received my 17/48 sprockets and 530 chain. sprockets went on fine....I used the chain riverter last time I put the same x-ring chain on Yolanda, but I've never used the breaker bit to shorten a chain. well in my tiredness and hurry I grabbed the RIVERTING pin, not the breaker pin.....you can guess how this ended. I was thinking man this is very difficult to drive this pin out of the chain, but I've never done one before so I had no clue. I will never make this mistake again. the riveting pin is obviously much thicker than the breaker pin. I manged to drive this thing all the way through the chain....I had to use my 15" long torque wrench to get enough leverage to turn it...and yes, the riveting pin is now stuck inside the chain. I am a dumb ass. waiting on a new riveting pin so I can put my chain on.

the GOOD news is I wanted to do a "test" run so I did all this shenanigans before the link I needed to actually cut. its a good thing or else the chain would be too short for me and I would be out money for it. take a step back and breathe. I also received my pamco, coils, cables, and ends. need to get that on.

next up is carbs. I bought OEM gasket kits, OEM float pins, and OEM accelerator pump diaphragm. I also have new carb to airbox boots AND carb to head boots

once the carbs are cleaned out and the pamco ignition is on...and the chain of course it should be ready to take my saddle-missin ass out for a proper ride.

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

small update. threw some clubmans on there. actually they feel really nice for me. seems like a decent fit. squeezing the controls and master cylinder on there was another story...... its pressed right up against the tach.



got the seat hinge I needed and was able to dress up the seat and cowl with the piping etc. received my 17/48 sprockets and 530 chain. sprockets went on fine....I used the chain riverter last time I put the same x-ring chain on Yolanda, but I've never used the breaker bit to shorten a chain. well in my tiredness and hurry I grabbed the RIVERTING pin, not the breaker pin.....you can guess how this ended. I was thinking man this is very difficult to drive this pin out of the chain, but I've never done one before so I had no clue. I will never make this mistake again. the riveting pin is obviously much thicker than the breaker pin. I manged to drive this thing all the way through the chain....I had to use my 15" long torque wrench to get enough leverage to turn it...and yes, the riveting pin is now stuck inside the chain. I am a dumb ass. waiting on a new riveting pin so I can put my chain on.

the GOOD news is I wanted to do a "test" run so I did all this shenanigans before the link I needed to actually cut. its a good thing or else the chain would be too short for me and I would be out money for it. take a step back and breathe. I also received my pamco, coils, cables, and ends. need to get that on.

next up is carbs. I bought OEM gasket kits, OEM float pins, and OEM accelerator pump diaphragm. I also have new carb to airbox boots AND carb to head boots

once the carbs are cleaned out and the pamco ignition is on...and the chain of course it should be ready to take my saddle-missin ass out for a proper ride.

Chef,

The clubmans look nice, and yes they are a tight fit with a stock MC.  You buy a little room if you ever upgrade to a radial MC.  Also, if the clubmans are too rough on your wrists, there IS a great alternative that preserves the clubman look -- adjustable clubmans.  Tomaselli Condor Clubmans allow you to adjust the rake of the bars to go as far as to invert the rake or level it.  Sometimes, depending on the fixed clubmans you buy, the angle can put the hurt on your wrists and have you numb.  I've used the adjustable clubmans with great results.

Don

[cheftuskey121]

I have to upload some more pictures. I bought a 77F tank from Bill Benton. came in "smurf sh** blue". that's now almost all stripped off. some kind of nasty liner inside. I don't know that its failing but it was poorly applied. going to strip that out and try caswells. I had great luck with my POR-15 I am just worried about pin holes after I strip that stuff out. the caswells is supposed to be great for that kind of stuff since its a 2-part epoxy.

I also ordered new side covers and seat pan mounts from franken. love that guys stuff! going to be getting a clear points cover from him as well.

paint paint paint. I spoke with my favorite lady Patty over at 66autocolor.com and they are mixing up ax5 Merlot Red for me. its like a peal wine red. this will be shot on the tank, seat cowl, and side covers. using a pale "old school BBE wheel" gold for the comstars and racing stripes. going to use madscientist and brandens stripe scheme or something very close. I love the look of it as a faux tank binding at the bottom.

about to order my airtech seat cowl and stop piece. going to take some work but I want dual round brake lights to peek through the end piece. reminds me of supercar taillights.





engine will be black, satin black I think. frame will be gloss black. I think I want to polish the edges of the head fins too for a contrasted look. I am keeping the carbs stock for now because I want to keep the engine stock. I did order the cycle x 4-2-1 though. I have been going between that and the motoGP and the 4-2-1 was available and I am trying to snap up parts before I think too long about them. its nice not having a significant other taking my time or money

all of this is fairly useless without pictures. I apologize, I took so many photos the first build, this one I hope to be quicker. I don't plan on doing any of the appearance mods until after Yolanda is up and running again. I will strip the F down and build it back up. thanks for reading

[cheftuskey121]

small update. threw some clubmans on there. actually they feel really nice for me. seems like a decent fit. squeezing the controls and master cylinder on there was another story...... its pressed right up against the tach.



got the seat hinge I needed and was able to dress up the seat and cowl with the piping etc. received my 17/48 sprockets and 530 chain. sprockets went on fine....I used the chain riverter last time I put the same x-ring chain on Yolanda, but I've never used the breaker bit to shorten a chain. well in my tiredness and hurry I grabbed the RIVERTING pin, not the breaker pin.....you can guess how this ended. I was thinking man this is very difficult to drive this pin out of the chain, but I've never done one before so I had no clue. I will never make this mistake again. the riveting pin is obviously much thicker than the breaker pin. I manged to drive this thing all the way through the chain....I had to use my 15" long torque wrench to get enough leverage to turn it...and yes, the riveting pin is now stuck inside the chain. I am a dumb ass. waiting on a new riveting pin so I can put my chain on.

the GOOD news is I wanted to do a "test" run so I did all this shenanigans before the link I needed to actually cut. its a good thing or else the chain would be too short for me and I would be out money for it. take a step back and breathe. I also received my pamco, coils, cables, and ends. need to get that on.

next up is carbs. I bought OEM gasket kits, OEM float pins, and OEM accelerator pump diaphragm. I also have new carb to airbox boots AND carb to head boots

once the carbs are cleaned out and the pamco ignition is on...and the chain of course it should be ready to take my saddle-missin ass out for a proper ride.

Chef,

The clubmans look nice, and yes they are a tight fit with a stock MC.  You buy a little room if you ever upgrade to a radial MC.  Also, if the clubmans are too rough on your wrists, there IS a great alternative that preserves the clubman look -- adjustable clubmans.  Tomaselli Condor Clubmans allow you to adjust the rake of the bars to go as far as to invert the rake or level it.  Sometimes, depending on the fixed clubmans you buy, the angle can put the hurt on your wrists and have you numb.  I've used the adjustable clubmans with great results.

Don

thanks Don, thats good to know. I have looked at those before actually. looked pretty cool. I will run with these for a little bit. I always have my superbike bars to fall back on. these clubmans don't look too good of quality considering the weld points are flat (the bars dont look like one piece like all the other clubmans I see)

[cheftuskey121]

well I got the carbs off and roughly cleaned. I went through each jet with wire and cleaner, and the passageways too. replaced the bowl gaskets and the accelerator pump diaphragm. I didnt tear the carbs completely apart, I just wanted to see if the #4 carb pilot jet was clogged causing the pipe to be cold at idle....YUP. got them back on and it fired right up and idled great! now just need to get my pamco on there and should be good to go! when I do the full tear down the carbs will be cleaned properly like Yolandas were.

[cheftuskey121]

I keep forgetting to update, although there isn't too much. got my sprockets and chain all sorted. needed new chain adjuster bolts as mine were bent. yesterday I was able to take her for a proper ride! it feels so good to be on two wheels again. so free. I also FINALLY synced my carbs last night. I still never synced the K1 carbs....will do that ASAP. its amazing how well the bike runs now. it literally purrs all the way down to 500 rpm without dying. very impressive.

side note. this bike rides rough. it needs new wheel bearings and steering bearings. when I ride with one hand the bars shake back and forth. a little too aggressive for me. lots of pep though, much more than the K1. so now the rebuild of Yolanda starts. I have a new frame and another engine, as well as all my front end parts. I will update that thread soon, and hopefully before you know it this thread will be alive again! thanks all.

[Stev-o]

Hey Chef - the shaking of the bars would concern me.  How old is the front tire?

[tweakin]

Hey Chef - the shaking of the bars would concern me.  How old is the front tire?

I agree.  I would retorque all front end bolts including calipers and rotors.  Wouldn't ride the bike until I had the front end shake sorted if it were me. 

[brandEn]

Hey chef, please take care of that head shake! I would also try to get the front end up in the air to spin the wheel and see if anything obvious can be seen.

[cheftuskey121]

Tires are fairly new bt45s. I will re torque stuff to check. Its not bucking me off but it is not smooth like the k1 is. I have not turned any bolts on the front end yet other than my handlebars.

[Stev-o]

Hey chef, please take care of that head shake! I would also try to get the front end up in the air to spin the wheel and see if anything obvious can be seen.

+1.  Did you have it balanced? If yes, weight still on rim??

[cheftuskey121]

I have not balanced them. There is a weight on it so it was balanced when the tire was put on. I'll check spinning the tire for
Anything obvious. I'll also put the front wheel on my truing stand and see what it looks like. Can the head shake be caused from anything regarding rear wheel like swing arm or sprocket/chain?

[Stev-o]

Yes, check for side to side slop on your swing arm. 

[Bankerdanny]

Have you read Mike Nixon's piece on front end shake? http://www.motorcycleproject.com/motorcycle/text/shucking.html

[cheftuskey121]

Wow that's a good read. I knew some of that but not that trick to seat the bearings. This bike will get all new bearings and swing arm bushings like Yolanda. New fork seals and fork oil. I'm sure it will ride smooth as silk then. Unfortunately for now I am trying to make it as best as possible while I rebuild Yolanda. I'm not riding every day anyway. It's too chilly for my taste. Will be checking lots of stuff out. Thanks guys.

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Wow that's a good read. I knew some of that but not that trick to seat the bearings. This bike will get all new bearings as swing arm bushings like Yolanda. New fork seals and fork oil. I'm sure it will ride snoot as silk then. Unfortunately for now I am trying to make it as best as possible while I rebuild Yolanda. I'm not riding every day anyway. It's too chilly for my taste. Will be checking lots of stuff out. Thanks guys.

Second what the guys above said.  The last thing you want is a tankslapper.

[scottly]

Wow that's a good read. I knew some of that but not that trick to seat the bearings.

Mr Nixon's method of seating the bearing races is incorrect, IMHO, as excessively tightening the bearing nut might damage the rolling elements and/or races. Standard practice is to seat the races without applying pressure to the faces of the races or rollers. Also, the rule-of-thumb is that if an issue is felt at the front end, it's caused by an problem at the rear. I had a nasty tank-slapper once, and it scared the piss out of me! After wasting time and dollars on the front end, it finally turned out to be a problem with the rear wheel bearings.

[cheftuskey121]

thanks for more food for thought scottly. the front end is all tightened down and the front wheel is running true. I raised the fork tubes up 1.5inches to match the shorter shocks I put on. took her out for a ride and am getting mild shaking 40-50mph. not happening lower or higher. had it up to 85 today with no shaking at all. maybe its the clubmans, but it also feels rougher ie. I feel every little bump. I am sure new fork seals, oil, and springs will help out as will the bearings and swingarm bushings.

remember when I rebuilt Yolanda I did not ride it before I changed EVERYTHING. I basically constructed a new bike, so its a little different for me riding this survivor bike that has not been upgraded yet. its probably not as bad as I am describing it. runs smooth, idles, shifts, and brakes great. having 3 disc brakes is a world above the K1. man is that turn beeper annoying!

my paint arrived! merlot red, black, and BBE rim gold. will be awhile before I paint but I wanted to have most of the big items in possession to keep me motivated

[Bankerdanny]

I found that with my GL1000 with its factory roller head bearings, Nixon's method worked really well. I would actually feel the race shift slightly when I tightened the bearings. In my case though I had a low speed wobble and some shake that appeared during deceleration, which according to him was indicative of headset issues rather than wheel balance or other factors.

[cheftuskey121]

update time. I've been riding the bike to work as often as my cold face will allow. its not "cold" here by most of your standards but I don't have winter riding gear, and probably wont buy any, haha. double leather jacket and full gauntlet gloves for now.

I have not done much to the bike as it sits other than ride and put 600 miles on it, but I am accumulating parts for the build as soon as my K1 is up and running. I covered the rusty underside of the new shortened fender. it is getting primed today with the tank and some other stuff (I am using 2k primer and do not want to waste it as it only has a 3 day pot life after its activated).



here is the fender mocked up. I kept the rear stay bar because I like that it keeps the brake lines in place. not sure on the paint for the fender and stay bar. part of me wants it to match the wine red of the body, part of me wants it black. I'm bout 50-50 on it

here is the tank I got from Bill Benton....it took THREE petcocks to find out it was from a 75-76F. it uses the 19mm petcock. now that I have a useless new 18mm petcock. ha.



received my cycle x 4-2-1. it sure it pretty. gonna be sitting for awhile though until its time to rebuild. I want to wait to hear it until the end. don't want to spoil the whole package

[tweakin]

Looking for some stainless oil lines?  Check the for sale section.  Shameless self promotion, lol. 

[cheftuskey121]

Looking for some stainless oil lines?  Check the for sale section.  Shameless self promotion, lol.

oh i already checked em Tige! I don't think I can swing it though. very trick looking thats for sure