Topic: Black Friday - a red 1965 CB160 build.

[Alan F.]

Front and rear wheels are trued up. You can only expect so much precision from an abused set of 56 year old wheels but I think I did alright. Setting each nipple with a brass drift seemed to simplify the fine tuning. I wasn't able to do this with the rear wheel last night (neighbors) and I was amazed at the amount of correction it needed just after sitting overnight on the stand. After setting each nipple with the brass, the smaller adjustments just had more effect.

Thanks Frank, still teaching. I'll stamp 754 on my little $6 (shipped) brass rod from eBay, I didn't think he'd approve spending twice that on a cheap brass drift that I wouldn't use for anything else.

[Alan F.]

Alan,have you been applying that 'CorrosionX' product to the parts? how does it look after you use that ?

I have not applied any CorrosionX to any parts yet.
But now that I'm done with the wheels, your reminder is timed perfectly. I've even got a little daylight left!


So I took the wheels outside where overspray shouldn't matter and gave the wheels a spritz of this miracle goo (trying to keep it off the braking surfaces) a few initial lessons: a little goes a long way, the trigger bottle has settings for stream and spray, but you may not be able to tell the difference on this one right away. If you intend to move parts after spraying, wear gloves. I recommend putting down cardboard in a well ventilated place where you can leave parts after spraying, I don't have that luxury. I put down a few paper towels and stood up one rim at a time, wiped down the surfaces with a wad of folded paper towels and carried them back up through the apartment into the attic space that I'm using. I set them down on some boxes and will check on them in a few hours.

CorrosionX goes on like thin green oil, directions say to spray or wipe on a thin layer, I think the stuff will flow to cover a surface after contact.
I'm not sad to have over applied it to my wheels, they really need the protection. I'll keep my used paper towels to use again later on.

Sorry no pics, the flash on my phone is useless, I'll set up a lamp later and get some pics.

[Terry in Australia]

Good work so far Alan, I like that tyre tool, and almost bought one, but remembered that I bought this thing when I was restificating the T350 and it made mounting/ unmounting tyres a breeze, and was about the same price as that tool.

T350 tyre change 13 Aug 2021 5 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I had a look at the Cruzinimage.net site for brake shoes with no luck, but see that there are a ton of them on Ebay, here's an OEM NOS set that look pretty cheap?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/165223536495?epid=1211842871&hash=item267817176f:g:ansAAOSwBoBhsR7O

Anyway, now I'm subscribed I'll come back more often to see how the build is going, well done so far!

[Alan F.]

Thanks Terry, that machine looks very handy, glad you're enjoying it. There are a half dozen eBay listings for NOS front brake shoes, they're all around $50 with shipping. I guess I'll be choosing from among those, sticker shock or no.
I'd been hoping for a modern braking compound, but NOS is all there are. PeWe was telling me about how the old asbestos compounds were much more predictable, and had much more linear stopping power before they'd lock up. So maybe that's my hi-po go to here.

[Terry in Australia]

No worries Alan, that set is $39.95 with 3 hours to go and no bids, so you might be able to pick them up? I bought some cheapies from Cruzinimage for my T500 but didn't use them as there was plenty of meat on the ones that came with the bike when I bought it, and I'm glad I used the old asbestos ones, the T500 pulls up better than my CB750K0 with it's disc brake.

[Alan F.]

Thanks Terry, 75 minutes to go now. I didn't realize these were NOS here in the States. A lot of the others listed were in Thailand and somevof the shoes were made in Taiwan??? No thanks! These are a few dollars more but I suppose it'll be worth it to get correct braking performance instead of buying a $24 set of shoes and shipping them halfway around the globe for the same pricey price.

[Alan F.]

I was the only bidder on those front brake shoes!

I'll take a minute to post some 'after' pics of the wheels after truing and a coat of CorrosionX.
This stuff is oily, that's the first thing I learned. I sprayed them down outside then wiped them down to spread the coating evenly and catch drips before I brought them inside to sit on some boxes in the warm attic. I just went up and wiped them both down again, one half width paper towel was all it took for each wheel, I'll save those to apply the coating to other parts later on.  Pics:

[grcamna2]

Your wheel-set looks good Alan  I like a wheel I build and true myself.
I think applying the CorrosionX will save the vintage patina also.

[Alan F.]

Thanks, I'm hopeful for that. I can see it attracting a lot of road dirt too which I'm not really crazy about.

In the morning if time allows I'll be taking lots of small parts out of the Evaporust and turning a few larger parts over. I also want to soak the head pipes and flanges when there's enough room.

Once all of these parts are clean I'll have to start breaking down the rest of the bike!

I wonder what I'll do for air filters?

[Alan F.]

I shuffled the parts around in the Evaporust, some are done, some will take more flip, rotate & soak. I spent some time cleaning (most of) the old, crunchy, black grease from the speedometer drive and cleaned it up just a little on the outside. It spins freely and looks the part.

[Alan F.]

Washed the Evaporust from the tank side plates, rear sprocket, shifter, speedometer drive and grab handle then gave them a coat of CorrosionX wiped on with the same paper towels. Pics a little later when I give the tank panels a second coat.

Bead buddies arrived, I'll give mounting these tires a try. They're Mitas MC11's they're narrow and thin walled, don't weigh much but have a 364lb load rating and a soft rubber compound. Pics to come.

[Alan F.]

Some more pics I promised:

[desertrefugee]

Great work and additional kudos for documenting every step of the way. Call me a curmudgeon, but patina Schamina, get those tank side panels re-chromed! ( one man’s opinion )

[Alan F.]

I can buy NOS probably cheaper than rechroming.
Someone else can restore this bike, I just want a clean rider.

Tires are mounted!  Easily too, I can see where the Baja No-Pinch is probably a smoother tool to operate but this thing works. I did both front and rear in a leisurely 10 minutes after rubbing everything down with talc and adding a few psi to the tubes (didn't measure, but softer enough to make balloon animals...)
I even got the direction of rotation correct on both. I'll air them up tomorrow.

[Alan F.]

I just took a few things out of the Evaporust and put a few in, and a few back in too.

[Terry in Australia]

Looking good Alan, that's gonna be a great daily rider.

[Alan F.]

Thanks Terry, I'm giving it a good go and learning a few things along the way. I see you've made some strong progress too, pat yourself on the back and hand yourself a drink from me!

[grcamna2]

I like the toolbox on the CB160 which sits mounted to the frame behind the carbs Alan.

[Alan F.]

Thanks Bill, I'll have to get a better owners manual and a good tool kit to stuff in there eh?

I remembered a little while ago that the speedometer drive seal was toast, no replacement part listed in the fiches either, CA160 used one that doesn't match my measurements of the drive. So I looked at all of the drives on eBay and found a few that show seal size, and they match my measurements too 34 48 7 (mm)

https://www.ebay.com/itm/254265978444?hash=item3b336eee4c:g:u0IAAOSwvf1dBnuO

[grcamna2]

That one looks correct to pull the trigger on,if it matches your orig. seal size.

[Alan F.]

I've got one on the way, thanks for checking my logic.

What do we know about upgrading a CB160 to folding footpegs? Will the footpeg stay from a CB175 bolt up?

[grcamna2]

I've got one on the way, thanks for checking my logic.

What do we know about upgrading a CB160 to folding footpegs? Will the footpeg stay from a CB175 bolt up?

I wonder if you could find a footpeg bar from the early model CB175 'Sloper' ? They may just bolt up.
I have modified a footpeg bar that was non-folding by purchasing a complete footpeg bar from a CB350,then cutting-off the CB350 bar at both pegs with the folding parts intact.I then did the same thing to the non-folding footpeg bar and modded/welded the CB350 folding pegs to my original non-folding footpeg bar.
I would not recommend it because it's quite a bit of labor involved to get everything lined-up.

[Alan F.]

If that doesn't look like it'll fit maybe I'll pick up another peg setup to mess with if I find one cheap. I could always just cut the solid pegs back and cut some threads on them for some $15 Chinesium folding pegs from eBay. I could add a checknut and some loctite, that may work.

[PeWe]

Good looking wheels! Huge improvement.
The bike is an EVO model now

[Alan F.]

Thank you, I'm much happier to bring them back this way than to spend ~$300 on aftermarket parts.