Topic: Project K1 Hack

[KB02]

That's the way! Start 'em early!!    I love seeing kids get into stuff like this. It's awesome that you're doing this together.

Are those magnets under the frame (the puck looking thing)? I take it they are secured to planking. That's a really ingenious idea.

[Venturous]

Are those magnets under the frame (the puck looking thing)? I take it they are secured to planking. That's a really ingenious idea.

Well. I wish I were that smart, but those puck looking things are... uh well, pucks.. 

I have those laying around to use as an frame adapter for my touring bike so I can lift it with a Sears
motorcycle lift. I just put them under the frame to allow it to sit level.

[Venturous]

Haven't been too busy on the project this week. Got a few things going though.

First, the gauges were in pretty bad shape.



I bought some appliques to use to restore the gauge faces. They are not
100% perfect copies, but are pretty darn close.



First I had to strip the old crack paint off the gauge faces. What that leaves
is a translucent green disk.



Since there is light behind these, simply
adding the applique over this would cause it to be too washed out at night.
So they recommend coverng one side with aluminum foil and painting the
front flat white to allow the numbers to be correct color showing through
the applique.



I have the gauges outer shell painted black and drying now so I
might have these back together tomorrow.

Also, I finished cleaning the engine case and shot it with 500 degree
engine enamel. Came out pretty good. Hardest part was that it calls
for the engine to be run in order to cure it. Well duh... since most
engine rebuilds are done OUT of the vehicle... thats kinda dumb. So I am
improvising and using my garage heater to cook it. It is not getting to
operating temps, but that case is very hot to tough, so hopefully
this will cure it well enough to get into the bike without chipping too bad.
Once I can get her running, it should finish curing.

[Really?]

Nice stuff Venturous!  Liked the gauge info as well.  I am at odds with the washed out light thing but oh well.

Oh, my girl (just turned 6) was deglazing the disc.  Well, she was going through the motions.  She begged me to let her.

Hope you do not mind me adding the pics.   

[Venturous]

I was at odds with the light issues also. So I shined a flashlight through the appliques and they
look like pure crap lit up. I can see why they instruct to do it like this. Ideally I would buy repro
gauge faces, but too much $$$ for just a hobby restore IMHO.

[Venturous]

Well, got the tach back together.

After:


Before:


And got the engine back in frame...



This is fun!!

[Really?]

Kewl, looking good Venturous!

I know what you mean about fun! 

Let me know how it lights up when you get to that point.

[Heironymous Josh]

This is looking great!  I was planning to have my frame powder-coated but given the economy, I'm kinda cutting back expenses on an already expensive build.  I'll probably end up using the chassis saver as well.  I've heard nothing but good things about it.  Well, it's a polyiso, so it smells like doodoo.  I'm curious how well the stuff holds up to UV as it's designed for chassis'.  I read the spec sheet and they made no mention of it.

[Venturous]

Actually, Magnet Paints tells you it is not UV resistant and can fade after prolonged exposure. I found
this out AFTER I bought the stuff, so decided to try it anyway. So far, I am impressed. I hit a test
piece with a screw driver tip fairly hard and didn't chip it. The test piece didn't fair well against a
hammer blow, but I didn't honestly expect it would. As I was maneuvering the frame over engine
this morning, I bumped it several times and it didn't chip anywhere. The paint seems very tough indeed,
but I am concerned how bad the UV fade will be. Time will tell I guess. I think I might give it an
occasional wipe down with Protect-All. It has UV protectant built in and an occasional wipe with that
stuff may help some. Dunno... but I will surely report back how it does in the long run.

[Terry in Australia]

Excellent work mate, well done! Unless you're gonna park it out in the open 24/7 I wouldn't worry too much about the fade factor, it should be fine. Cheers, Terry.

[XN]

Looking great! Where did you get the gauge faces?

I wish my project was that far along... Frame, wheels, and a few other parts get powdercoated next week!

[Venturous]

The gauge face appliques I got off eBay from this seller:


Gauge Faces Link

[Venturous]

Since the last update we installed two new sub frames for the sidecar
mounting. These will be a lot more structurally sound than the clamp to frame set-up.

Rear Subframe. Replaces center stand


Front Subframe:


Then today we cleaned and polished the front forks. Here one is finished.

[XN]

I like them side car mounts. You using the U strap style for the uppers?

[Venturous]

Yes, for the uppers, I am using strap clamps with eye bolts, but not the ones it had originally.
The originals were a pinch type clamp and really marred the frame. Worse, I feared they could
eventually cause frame failure. A friend of mine does a lot of machine work and made me some
newer clamps that should really work well. I will be using those for the two upper mounts.

The lower subframes (pictured above) I got from Duantless Motors are heavy duty well made pieces.
At first the price seemed high, but after seeing them, the piece of mind they will give me is worth it.

Since I needed to get this project off the bike lift so I could put new tires on my touring bike,
we worked yesterday to get this up on two feet... er I mean tires. It is almost starting to look like
a bike again..

[Really?]

Wow, that is looking nice!

I see you enlisted an additional set of hands too. 

[Terry in Australia]

Beautiful! Although I was surprised you went with standard forks, I would have thought that a leading link front end would be more appropriate? Cheers, Terry.

[Venturous]

Well, I thought about the leading link forks, but wanted to keep the bike looking mostly
stock. To be honest, not sure how much better the leading links forks would make it handle.
After I properly adjusted the chair lead, it handles fairly easily with the stock forks.

[Venturous]

Well, this weekend we installed the Dyna S electronic ignition to replace
the old points/condenser and also new Dyna 5 ohm coils and plug wires.

Then we tackled reinstalling the main wiring harness. We inspected it very
close and cleaned it up. No real issues. Redid some brittle electrical tape.
The sub harness that goes to the rear lights is a mess. Melted wires, bare
wires etc. How I wasn't blowing fuses every 2 miles amazes me. We need
to total remake that harness.

We also got the oil tank and rear brake linkage installed. Coming along!!

When we did the wiring, I dug up the pictures I took during tear down.
They gave me a good reference as to how far we have come. Often I get
disappointed that this or that didn't come out as well as hoped, but when I
see these pictures together... it make me feel better..

[Otto]

Venturous,

Nice project! Nice job!

I am in the process of re-facing my guages with the same appliques. I have a couple of questions.

1. When you re-assembled, did you use the gasket between the blue inner case and the aluminum chassis? If I do, the chrome ring doesn't want to fit over the rims and seal, without the gasket it seems ok. I am wondering if the 3M epoxy will be enough, without the gasket to seal the faces>?

2. When you re-installed the outer chrome ring, was the gap that was left by the cut larger than the cut? In other words even when I compress the chrome ring with a 4.5" hose lcamp, the gap is 1/4" or more, even though the cut to remove the ring was ~1/16".


3. How did you leave the gap in the chrome ring? Did you somehow connect it?

4. I have re-read my instructions, and I see nothing about adding the aluminum foil to the rear of the faces. It only says, repaint them in white before applying the applique. Mine were not checked and didn't need to be stripped.

Thanks in advance for your help?

Bob

[Venturous]

Hi Bob,

Wish I could find all the links I had, but lost my old computer last week and have been
getting the new one loaded. But I will answer from memory.

1. I removed the gasket as instructed on my sheet. On one I tried leaving the gasket just
to see how it might work, but I couldn't compress things enough to get ring back on.
As for the 3M expoxy, the stuff my sheet recommended was WAY expensive. I got some
two part epoxy from Home Depot at a fraction the cost. Don't recall which I got, but it had
similar specs as that 3M stuff. I recall reading some simply used JB Weld with success.

2. I did not cut my ring. Sounds like too late for you, but I read somewhere here about
carefully prying the ring open without cutting. I also watch a how-to video someone posted.
Wish I could find that link... but can't. Anyway, the ring can be pried off without cutting, then
carefully put back on and re bended around the lip. That is what I did. Only mistake I made
was using a set of pliers with teeth that left some marks. Didn't noticed until too late. For
anyone else reading this... find a set of toothless pliers!!

3. See above..

4. My instructions definitely said that if the old paint was stripped, it recommended a layer of
aluminum foil on back. Maybe since you skipped the paint strip, you skipped over
that part of the instructions?? Or maybe we aren't using the exact same appliques

Anyway, good luck. I am happy how mine came out. If I ever do it again they will come
out better, but that is why they call things learning.. 

Also, I would not be using these appliques on anything that one wants to make
'show quality'. They are a nice replacement for worn gauges on daily riders, but
for show quality I would be buying better repro's.

[Really?]

Often I get disappointed that this or that didn't come out as well as hoped, but when I
see these pictures together... it make me feel better..

Do I ever know where you are coming from.  It took the before and after pics for me to realize that I had made difference.  Although, not as tight as yours but you have put in far more labor than I.

Really nice work you and the boys have done!


Hope you don't mind the pics.

[Otto]

Thanks .

I knew it wouldn't work with the gasket. Yeah, that 3M stuff is pricey!!! Did end up getting it though.

I actually have an original NOS Speedo for this bike, too, 0 miles on the clock, along with the orig speedothat is now refaced.... May use it on the bike if I can locate a nice or NOS tach.. Have 2 tachs for this bike, one orig than needs to be re-faced and one that I just refaced with the applique. ( Why doesn't he just call em stickerz). 

The colors aren't close enough to use the NOS Speedo with a refaced tach..

I'll be watching this thread.... nice project.

bc

[Venturous]

The past month has mainly been just putting things back together a little
at a time. We have the engine about totally together with carbs, airbox
and pipes. We know we must be getting close to done as the work shelves we
stored all the parts on is starting to look empty. Soon we will begin the
body work to prep the tank, side panels, headlight bucket and sidecar tub
to get ready for painting. We really want to take our time on this as everyone
tells me a good paint job is all in the prep.

Anyway... here is a few update pics of what we have












Sidecar frame we painted today:

[Hinz]

hahahah.  If you fast forward thru this thread and only look at the pics, it appears that a couple of kids are restoring this bike and doing a damn good job at it!  Come to think of it, they ARE doing a damn good job of it!
Good work!