Topic: Sandcast #97 restoration

[greenjeans]

Yet another reason Mark is my hero.   I just thought I had patience.  Perhaps one day.

[markb]

Thanks, but you guys are embarrassing me. 

I finally got my alternator cover back from my welder.




I have to admit this part is a little scary but I’m committed now.  I figure it can’t look worse than it did with all the gouges.  I’m not sure when I’ll get to it but my next step is to clean it up and then get all the covers “brushed” and coated.

[HondaMan]

Mark, you're really encouraging! I've just about gathered the last part(s) for my K2, hoping to spend much of this coming winter in resto-ing it. Your tips and tricks really help! 

[markb]

Thanks again everyone for the kind words.  Thank you too Mark.  Coming from you that is a huge compliment.  If anyone can learn something from my work, including my mistakes, then its worth the time to put it here.  I hope to spend much of the winter finishing this project too.  I'm looking forward to making some significant progress for a change.  Good luck with your project.  Are you doing a thread on it?  I'd love to follow it.

[markb]

I picked up the last of my zinc plating (the stuff that had been accidently yellow zinc.  I’m getting closer to having all the parts ready to start reassembly.

[markb]

Not much to show for progress lately but I have managed to get things organized.  That took a while.  I had parts scattered all over: basement, garage, shed, a small storage locker, my truck, and my shop at work.  And a lot of it was in boxes so when I needed something it took me forever to find it.  So I rented a larger storage locker and now everything is there (including the bikes which I had to get out of the garage for the winter anyway) except for what I’m working on at the shop.  My wife is even pretty happy about it.  Plus I have a lot of it sorted into bins and the rest is in labeled boxes so parts are easy to find.  I found parts I didn’t even know I had.


I’m a little paranoid about making sure my monthly bill gets paid.  I wouldn’t want to see my stuff end up on an episode of Storage Wars!

[Greggo]

That's a locker I'd bid on!

[UK Pete]

That looks very organised Mark, you would not believe the mess mine is, i should really takle the problem
pete

[slyguy]

Hi Mark, been reading your threads and following your work flow/process, excellent! Thanks for yours and everyone else"s sharing of knowledge, I've really become so much more astute to the early 750's now! I just recently acquired a later ko which I dismantled and cleaning up now to access where I'm at:) The pics are wonderful too! Best of luck!:)

[MCRider]

That looks very organised Mark, you would not believe the mess mine is, i should really takle the problem
pete

As an old parts department guy, I appreciate the use of uniform designed bins. Different widths as needed. That's really the key to organizing I think.

I have 3 shelves about 10 ft long, with bankers boxes on them. The end of each box is marked with what's in it. I can stand back and scan the boxes for what I want. Works about 80% of the time. All depends on how lazy i am about marking the box.

[Tews19]

Great pic of the 3 lines up. I don't recall a story behind the red on the far right. Can you elaborate?

[MoMo]

Mark,  is the storage unit insured?  Make sure, as I lost quite a bit with a poorly insured storage unit ...Larry

[markb]

Great pic of the 3 lines up. I don't recall a story behind the red on the far right. Can you elaborate?

That one is a rolling frame #1990 that I picked up a couple of months ago.  I have a "spare" sandcast motor that was looking for a home.  That will be a future thread.

Mark,  is the storage unit insured?  Make sure, as I lost quite a bit with a poorly insured storage unit ...Larry

Oh yes, it's insured.

[markb]

WARNING: Anal alert.

I forgot to post another thing I did to get organized.  I got all my zinc plating sorted out.  It took me about 8 hours to go through it all.  I found some nice compartment boxes for sorting out the smaller stuff.


I’ve got them labeled and sorted by size so hex heads are in one box, cap screws in one box and pins, nuts, washers, springs and other small bits are each in their own box.  Then there is miscellaneous stuff too like o-rings, seals, turn signal levers, gas cap latches, you name it.  Anything that will fit.


It’s amazing just how many different washers there are.  There are approximately 50 different kinds for a total of 350 (don’t ask me how I know this) on one sandcast including some that aren’t listed in the parts book like inside the handlebar controls.  Here’s just part of them.  My point is that it’s so much easier to find parts when they’re organized.


Eventually I’ll pull parts out of “inventory” and put them into groups like the parts book when I get ready to do some sub assemblies.

[Tews19]

Great pic of the 3 lines up. I don't recall a story behind the red on the far right. Can you elaborate?

That one is a rolling frame #1990 that I picked up a couple of months ago.  I have a "spare" sandcast motor that was looking for a home.  That will be a future thread.

Mark,  is the storage unit insured?  Make sure, as I lost quite a bit with a poorly insured storage unit ...Larry

Oh yes, it's insured.

1990? I have had "19" is the vin of 3 CBs I've owned in the past year. You are close by me where if you felt like you wanted to move that roller, I would be interested!

[markb]

1990? I have had "19" is the vin of 3 CBs I've owned in the past year. You are close by me where if you felt like you wanted to move that roller, I would be interested!

Not right now but if I decide to unload it I'll keep you in mind.

[Tews19]

Sweet! Looks like it has 4-4 pipes on it as well... Are they solid? Maybe 341's you may not be interested in to use if you do restore???

I could use a set!

[markb]

Sweet! Looks like it has 4-4 pipes on it as well... Are they solid? Maybe 341's you may not be interested in to use if you do restore???

I could use a set!

Actually they're 300's and pretty solid.  I plan on using them to test run the engine before I put the brand new Lotus Roots on.

[markb]

Ok now that I have things organized it’s time to get serious.  The first major thing I’d like to do is get all the aluminum polishing done.  Hard to believe I don’t have everything torn apart yet.  First I tackled the rear drive flange.  Notice the four peened areas spaced 90 degrees apart on the outside of the retainer.  It doesn’t look like it’s ever been removed.


You all probably know this but life is easier if you drill them out first.  I use the smallest drill that will remove the damaged threads and only drill as deep as I have to.  I’ve reused the retainers before but since they’re still available I think I’ll replace it.  Then when I screw in the new one I can re-peen at the same spots on the hub and it will almost look original.


I made a special tool for removing the retainer.  A little heat on the outside of the flange and the retainer came out without a fight.


After the retainer is out the bearing presses out easily from the opposite side.


I notice there are some deep gouges around the outside of the flange.  I hope I can clean that up.  I guess I’ve seen that before but I can’t quite picture what it would have been rubbing on.  I’ll have to take a look at an assembled bike.

[MCRider]

I think its the chainguard rubbing that makes that gouge. I've seen it before.

[Tews19]

Sweet! Looks like it has 4-4 pipes on it as well... Are they solid? Maybe 341's you may not be interested in to use if you do restore???

I could use a set!

Actually they're 300's and pretty solid.  I plan on using them to test run the engine before I put the brand new Lotus Roots on.

I'm interested if you decide to sell at a later date

[markb]

I checked and yes, the chain guard is what caused the wear on the drive flange.  Hard to believe that plastic could cause that much damage.

On to the wheel hubs.  The bearings in both had been replaced before and the retainers were chewed up pretty good so I just used the screwdriver and hammer method to remove the retainers and I’ll just replace them. 


It looks like the front hub had been polished at one time.


There was a pretty good burr around the spoke holes on the rear hub.


I carefully filed them with a fine file and now the hub should polish up nicely.


And the brake lining is a bit rusty.  I’ll have to clean it up as best as I can.  I don’t have any spare no-hole hubs lying around that I can use.

[markb]

In between other stuff I have spent some time on the alternator cover.  All part of trying to get all of my aluminum polished.  It’s very tedious work and not something I’m skilled at but I can’t find anyone who will do it for me.  It takes a lot of patience and I work on it until I get impatient then stop and do something else before I mess it up.  I think this is a repost but this is what it looked like after the welding.


I carefully filed it with a fine file.  Unfortunately when I got it flat there were some pinholes from the welding.


So I brought it to another welder that does micro welding to try to fill them in.  I was hoping to try to machine the recessed ring but from being dented it had too much variation in the height so I had to do it all by hand with special needle files.


Here is the before pic:


Here’s where I’m at now.  I probably have close to 10 hours into it.  I’d rub a little bit then look at it.  Then rub a little more then look at.  There are still plenty of imperfections that don’t show up well in the photo.  I’ve ordered some special die polishing sticks to finish the recessed ring and the area between the N and the J.  Besides the weld removal there are still plenty of scratches and dings all over this thing that I’m sanding out.  I’m using 400 grit now and will eventually get up to 1200.


I think it will be presentable enough to use.  At least it’s better than it was.  I guess I can always replace with a better one later if I can find a thin-lipped one.    I’m not too optimistic because I’ve sure looked.

[Retro Rocket]

That would have been tedious, well done...

[MCRider]

Educate me. What is a "thin lipped one"?