Alright!
Saturday Night and SWMBO is stuck in NYC doing her Real Estate Classes. Which means I have a lot of hours in the Garage! OH YEAH!
So, I received my missing Master Link from Rusty Riders - BTW, a pleasure to do business with. I sent them a note about the missing Master Link and no questions asked, it was in the mail the next day. Thank You RR!!
However, in a typical bonehead manuever, I broke the extra links at the wrong place, and the chain was too short. I spent all Friday night trying to put the extra links back on, but my POS Motion Pro Chain breaker set (its really not a POS, I just don't know how to use it correctly...) it was a PITA getting it back together. I cannot even tell you how I accomplished it, but tonight I was able to get it back together after much foul language, beer and a really nice Romeo & Julietta....
I think it may be a bit long now, but at least it will be pretty easy to remove a link. I have the chain length sitting with the indicators at the 3 1/2 mark on the swingarm. Do you think this is too long for an initial starting point?
Anyway, here is the chain all buckled up...
One this was done, I wanted to see how the Norman Hyde bars looked. Right now. I have risers installed, but I don't like them, and I don't think I will need them. Opinions are welcome..
I think the profile will work with the bike and give a British feel as well. I will miss the "tightness" of the Superhawk bars, but with a Hydraulic M/C, they just won't work.
So, this engine sat on my stand for almost 3 years. At least a year and half ago, I polished my engine covers. At first they looked great -really, anything would have been an improvement over their initial condition... but as I was bolting on all the new shiney SS and chrome bits, they looked horrible. If you have not performed it yet, polishing aluminum is a messy, time consuming business. However, if you do it right, the results are FANTASTIC. If you scroll back, I covered how I polished the covers initially. My efforts sat around too long, and I never really performed the final, and very important, final step. So, I pulled my covers to finish them off.
I did not want to use my buffer for this, it really messes up the garage, and is better done outside. It is a mild winter, but still way too cold to polish outside - remember, heat is the key to polishing, if your part does not get hot, you are not polishing... I tried it last week with only frustrating results.
I wanted to finish the parts using a commercial metal polish. I used Blue Magic, but Mother's, Autosol, et al will work just as well.
Here was my set up:
Very simply: Vice, Dewalt Drill, clamp for keeping the trigger compressed, a Soft Sewn wheel, Blue Magic metal Polish and Meguire's Carnuba Wax.
I applied a film of the polish across the surface (This kept it from further splattering everything with polish, ask me about the first time...) and went to town, using the clamp to hold the trigger of the drill depressed. The parts were pretty cloudy from sitting so long, and collecting dust, dirt, debris, etc. For a comparison, go back on these posts a bit and you will see all the before pics. Here is what I ended up with:
After polishing I applied a generous layer of the Carnuba Wax, reinstalled the cover and then buffed off the dried Carnuba residue. I was very happy with the result.
The last pic looks much worse than the part is... the CB450 Stator Covers get the crap kicked out of them. If you look on Ebay, there is a guy who sells restored covers for $200. Even chewed up covers go for big bucks...
However, from 5 feet away, the cover looks really nice. I think if I go after it again with some wet sanding and polishing, it will look perfect. Frankenstuff!!!! get those 450 covers up and running, I want to see my magnets spin!
BTW - can anyone confirm that I have a CB450 Kickstarter???
Gersh
