Topic: Project K1 Hack

[Venturous]

This past summer, we picked up a K1 (titled as a '72) with an American
Spirit Eagle sidecar. We bought it with the intention of tearing down and rebuilding,
but did actually use it a fair amount the past few months. Lots of fun! This is a
project that myself and my 10 and 12 year old sons will do together, hopefully
building some good memories along the way.

So, this is my thread to post updates to our progress.

We started with this..

The paint is much rougher than this picture
would indicate. The funky handlebars and seat were the first to go..


Over that past week, we carefully started tearing it down.
My ten year old helping out.


As of today, this is what we have. A frame and engine and a shelf
full of carefully labeled parts.


Now we begin the slow process of cleaning, painting and
reassembling. The plan is to get the bike as close to stock as
possible in Candy Gold with the sidecar bottom in black and the top
in Candy Gold with a black stripe down middle.

I'll post some more pics as we go.

Wish us luck!!

[hoodellyhoo]

Cool project! Can't wait to see a whole sidecar painted Candy Gold. Glad to see you got the boys involved.

[KB02]

I agree, that's going to be a great project (especially with the boys). I'll be keeping an eye on this one.

I know what you mean about the shelves of labeled boxes. I'm in the process of figuring out what is in the boxes that I didn't label right now.   

[Venturous]

Well, I thought I was done with the tear down. I orginally figured I could redo the engine
and frame while they were together. But after some reading on this great website, I
decided it would be retarded to get this far and not do it right.

So, using the remove frame from engine trick I've learned here, I now have the frame and
engine separate to do it right..

[mrbreeze]

Glad you chose to remove engine.I don't know how deep you will go into it but I think it will be easier to work on out of the frame. If you do a search....you will find some members have come up with some handy engine stand designs.
Good luck to you and your crew on this project.......oh and glad you ditched those handlebars(they may be the strangest lookin bars I have ever seen!!!!).

[Venturous]

Well, I gave my 12 year old a crash course on using the drill and dremel and
cut him loose. He is having a blast and I'll tell ya what... those side
covers are looking like chrome almost!!

[dagersh]

Awesome project!  Keep those kids working.  I wish I could have gained this experiance at their age!

Gersh

[Terry in Australia]

Damn! Now you've gone and made me want an "American Spirit Eagle sidecar"! That is a nice looking "chair" for sure, good luck with your project!

[XN]

Awesome thread!

I'm going to hack my 78 this winter after a tear down and some freshing up.

Here's my boy trying it on for size

[Venturous]

XN, He will love it! He doesn't look he weights much, so unless you are
an old hand at driving a hack, I would add plenty of extra ballast. Flying
the chair is fun if you are trying, but can be terrifying if it catches you
off guard.

Please post some progress pix as you go.

[XN]

Ha ha he's grown since then  that was this past spring. The whole plan was to hook it to the wife's V-star, but she wasn't too keen on that idea + the struts bars didn't work well with forward controls  so later this summer I picked up the CB to pull it around. My first time dealing with a hack so it should be interesting... I plan on setting it up with at least a 100 pounds of ballast and my boy is around 50 or so pounds. How did your bike do with the side car? I plan on doing a dual front disc conversion on mine. 

[kghost]

Very cool...now I want a sidecar too....

[KB02]

Wow. Nice work. Does your son hire out? 

[andy750]

Very cool...now I want a sidecar too....

+1 

[Really?]

So watcha think, this bike easier to work on than yer old 1st gen? lol   I would let my kids help me on the K5 but they stay clear of the 1st gen.  Brittle darn plastic.

[Venturous]

XN, the bike and sidecar were mated together when I bought it. It was very poorly
set-up and a bear to steer. PO had the trail WAY too forward. Also the head bearings were
shot. The mounting clamps on the bike frame were very cheesy and scared me.

I installed new tapered head bearings, properly adjusted the sidecar trail and it handled great before the tear down. Probably a good call upgrading to dual front disks.

I have ordered a sub frame type mounting kit from Duantless Motors to replace the cheap strap clamp mounting system.

If you haven't already found it... the forums at www.sidecar.com are very useful

[Venturous]

So watcha think, this bike easier to work on than yer old 1st gen? lol   I would let my kids help me on the K5 but they stay clear of the 1st gen.  Brittle darn plastic.

The 1st gen I had was in pretty good shape and I didn't work with it much, but no doubt, the CB750 is a much more basic machine. The wiring harness difference alone is amazing.

[XN]

XN, the bike and sidecar were mated together when I bought it. It was very poorly
set-up and a bear to steer. PO had the trail WAY too forward. Also the head bearings were
shot. The mounting clamps on the bike frame were very cheesy and scared me.

I installed new tapered head bearings, properly adjusted the sidecar trail and it handled great before the tear down. Probably a good call upgrading to dual front disks.

I have ordered a sub frame type mounting kit from Duantless Motors to replace the cheap strap clamp mounting system.

If you haven't already found it... the forums at www.sidecar.com are very useful

Yea I'm a member at sidecar.com too. Here's another Hack forum http://www.advrider.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=56

If you don't mind me asking how much did the sub frame cost?

[Venturous]

If you don't mind me asking how much did the sub frame cost?

This is where I ordered my subframe:

http://www.dauntlessmotors.com/Mountinghardware/honda_mounts.htm

The full kit sells for $400 and contains the 4 mounting points. Two upper are eye style strap clamps and the two lower are sub frame using the center stand and motor mounts locations. My existing set-up used 4 strap clamps and I did not like the way it looked. So I contacted them and told them I already had the upper strap clamps and only need the two lower sub frame mounts. They sold me that for $250 and tell me it will be ready in about 3 weeks. They make to order apparently.

[Venturous]

Well, today we rebuilt the carbs. Before the tear down, the bike ran
fairly will but seemed to flood real easy if riding at slow speeds very long and
had some top end issues.

All in all, the carbs were fairly clean. The float height levels were WAY off
from factory specs and none were the same as the others. Also, two of
the float needles were very worn out and had no spring left.

Of course I had my 10 year old help so if it doesn't work I can blame him... 

[Venturous]

Well, since my last update, I ordered and installed one of the frame rail kits being
sold by our own Gordon. First let me say this is a great product and Gordon is very
helpful. Thanks guy!

Here my 10 year old attacks the frame with the hack saw.



Here is the frame kit installed and ready for welding..



Last weekend I took the frame to my friends place and he welded everything in. Today, I
grinded and sanded the frame prep'ing for paint. I ground down the lip on the right side mount to
allow easier engine install as I read about here. I first shot it with a coat of rattlecan self etching
primer..



Then, using a foam brush, I applied the top coat. For this I used paint that another friend swears
by for bike frames. It is called Chassis Saver by Magnet Paints and claims to be resistant to all
fuels and other corrosives and is as tough as nails. Can't comment yet on how it holds up, but I can
say it goes on nicely and self levels to look almost as good as powder coating. I have a few
touch ups to do and then the frame is finished.

Here is the paint I used:
http://www.savesautobodysupply.com/chasissaver.html

[Really?]

Nice work that you and your son have done!  One day I will trust my boy with objects, lol.

[andy750]

Very nice job and great write up.

looking good!

cheers
Andy

[XN]

I ground down the lip on the right side mount to
allow easier engine install as I read about here.

You got a link? I should do that to mine before it gets coated! Nice work by the way. 

[Venturous]

You got a link? I should do that to mine before it gets coated! Nice work by the way. 

Sure. Here ya go..

http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=43927.0

Attached is a picture showing exactly where I ground down the lip or washer.