Topic: Greetings! New member; new project!

[seaweb11]

Nice job so far. Why not paint the brake caliper while you are at it all?

[Captainkirk]

Nice job so far. Why not paint the brake caliper while you are at it all?

I fully intend to. I think I may have mentioned that....?
I have to pull it all apart again, as the steering stem bearings appear to have indents in them (common with 20K bikes) and need to be changed. (steering hangs in neutral). I just had to slap it back together to get it mobile. I may go with the All Balls bearings if the price is fairly competitive. Tapered bearings are the way to go.
Meanwhile, I got some polishing done on the handlebars and some other top end chrome I couldn't really see up on the lift. Little by little it's coming together....

[Captainkirk]

Sounds like you have some inner conflicts to solve, however that will have to wait you have a 550 to work on man!!!



.: Scott :.

Inner conflicts? Is he talking about us?
He's talking about YOU, I think, retardo...
Hey...shut your pie hole!
You talkin' to me? You talkin' to ME!!!!?
I'm not talkin' to your grandma!
SHHHHHH! Don't embarrass us!

Ahem..There are no conflicts here. Sorry!

[Zaipai]

Sounds like you have some inner conflicts to solve, however that will have to wait you have a 550 to work on man!!!



.: Scott :.

Inner conflicts? Is he talking about us?
He's talking about YOU, I think, retardo...
Hey...shut your pie hole!
You talkin' to me? You talkin' to ME!!!!?

I'm not talkin' to your grandma!
SHHHHHH! Don't embarrass us!

Ahem..There are no conflicts here. Sorry!

Lol!!!!!

 

[Captainkirk]

Lots of progress...(some unintentional!) over the weekend.
Allow me to explain.......
It starts with an idea, see. A notion. Like; I should clean off my swing arm. Easy enough task, right? So, I pop a cold beer and start wiping. Then, I realize I can't reach all of it, so off comes the chain guard and chain. Hmmm...lots of caked on dirt and chain lube....out comes the solvent and brush. Rear wheel's in the way....Off comes the wheel....
Next thing you know, the swing arm lies on the lift under the bike, rear wheel is on the floor with sprocket removed as I kneel on the floor, scrubbing the grease out of every nook and cranny of the drive hub with a toothbrush, while sipping on my third beer, waiting for the fresh paint on the swing arm to dry....*sigh* How did we get here?
I'm not sure. But, truth be known, this is the only way I'd have it. Oh, did I mention I pulled the exhaust and scrubbed the lower cases and oil sump with the aforementioned toothbrush? No? Oh. Well, I did. Somewhere between the swing arm and the beer and the wheel.
This may not be the nicest bike you'll ever see when I'm finished, but it damn well might be the cleanest.
So now that the swing arm is back on, with freshly cleaned pivot bolt and new brand-new grease on the bushings, I stand back and view my work with satisfaction oozing from every pore.....
Clean. Really clean.
Oh, and I forgot the part about the headlight bucket.....
While cleaning and polishing the chrome on the headlight bucket (Chrome, you say? Mine's not chrome!) I discover WHY yours is not chrome...mine says "Suzuki" on it. Hmmm. This may have to go. And the front turn signals....something not quite right here. Oh, I see now! Somebody has cut down the stalks to pull them in closer to the headlight ears...a rather lousy job, if I do say so myself. We may have to fix that, as well.
So why do I have the headlight bucket opened up, anyway, you ask?
Dunno. Anymore than I know why I took the swingarm off. 'Cuz I could, I guess. And so it will go, I'm sure, with the rest of the project.....not all disassembled at once, but each part individually in it's turn. This was not the plan, but it's the way it's going down; leave no stone unturned, no cave unexplored. You could call it a curse, or see it for what it really is....just the way I operate. Take it or leave it. And so, we move forward; inch by inch.

[Zaipai]

Captin,
 That is so familiar in fact I believe that is the way with most of us here. In fact my rebuild (for lack of a better word) started with the words, well I should just clean it up over the winter.. I will start with the ... next thing I know the frame is on the bench and I have all the parts all over the place.

It can get out of hand.. The beer's may have had some thing to do with it. As for the head light bucket, if it looks good keep it even if it does say Suzuki on it. I find after market turn signals much nicer then the stock ones, tho they are usually not as bright or can be seen as well..

Keep going, you will be happy after words and it will have all been worth it.

.: Scott :.

[dagersh]

Beer = Work, only in the garage, though....

[Captainkirk]

Beer = Work, only in the garage, though....

Yes, same goes for here.

[Zaipai]

Lol... I stand corrected.. 

.: Scott :.

[Captainkirk]

Just wanting to clarify;
While the occasional beer is not the cause of many of these little forays down paths unexpected, they certainly don't try to talk me out of it...and oft times serve as the catalyst between "what if?" and "look what the hell I just did....?" and the occasional "what was I thinking?!"
With that in mind, we move on.....
Since my paying customer dropped off a load of parts, I figured I'd better get the 550 back mobile again so I could roll it off the lift and get the paying job back up there again. It went back together remarkably easy and looked remarkably better. The chain is still off, soaking, but she'll roll now. I had the opportunity to touch up the rust and scratches on the swing arm, grease and inspect the swing arm bushings and pivot bolt, plus check the rear wheel bearings and brake pads. It feels good knowing the condition of all the parts, and not guessing.
So, I guess next up are some progress pix to go with the text...I'll try to do that tomorrow evening. Stay tuned, Sports Fans!

[Zaipai]

Can't wait for the pictures.. Don't forget to include the beer as it was part of the whole process.. 

.: Scott :.

[Captainkirk]

OK, so I couldn't take pix tonight....the bike's on the floor, off the lift, sorta shoved back in a corner. Not too photogenic. The good news is, I'm almost done with the customer's bike, and the CB should assume his Kingly position upon the throne shortly, just in time for the photo op.
Customers come first, but I can't wait.....

[Zaipai]

Yeah, money comes first. It has to how else can you keep the king happy? 

.: Scott :.

[traveler]

Hate to say it, but it's refreshing to hear I am not the only one finding myself in these cleaning predicaments.....getting ready to go out and do more.....I've found that you just start in one spot and work on it.....if I were to make a list of everything that needed to be done......I'd probably give up......can't be in a rush with a 33 year old Honda.....3 decades of neglect takes time to correct.  When I bought it, I paid extra because I wanted a nice bike that wouldn't require all the work......but, what looks good on eBay and what looks good in the garage are 2 different things....never underestimate what spray paint applied carefully can do to presuade someone that the bike is MINT (in pictures)....

Have I ever mentioned Fuel injection would be nice?

~Joe

[Zaipai]

I hear ya Joe, I started out just doing a frame swap, then thought well I will clean things up as I put them on, then I thought well perhaps some paint, oh yea some chrome bolts and oh yea some............ 6 months later its still not completely together.. lol Funny how that all works out...

.: Scott :.

[Captainkirk]

Joe, I have NO idea what you're talking about....

[Captainkirk]

Oh Captain, you're saying....Yoo hoo; over here. Where are those pix you promised?
Yeah, well, about those pix. OK, see, I lied. Never posted them. But that's OK see, I took some photos, just haven't got around to saving them to PhotoBucket yet. Besides, I made lots of progress. Wanna hear about it? Sure you do.
First of all, I resisted the evil murmurings in my ear to pull the motor. It's really quite clean, and all pulling it would do is temp me to paint it. I managed to get carbs three and four stripped and cleaned, to the point where I've determined I need to break down and purchase carb kits, and replace two of the main jets. (I boogered them up removing them with ummm....Mini-Me Channellocks). I hate spending money like cats hate water, but sometimes you just gotta...
I attacked both of my "shortie" shocks with Flitz and a vengeance. (I call them "shortie" shocks because they look different from standard shocks and only measure 11-1/2 from eye-to-eye; I think these were for the inseam-challenged) Anyway, they cleaned up about as clean as they'll ever get. The rust and pitting has burned through the chrome in a few small areas, but from two feet away they are stunning. (Yeah, yeah, I know. Pix)
Meanwhile, back at the ranch...The chain came out of the parts washer cleaner than it went in, which, believe me, is saying a whole lot. On the other hand, my parts washer is ever so much more darker in color. I wonder if there's a connection.....?
I'm awful glad I'm not a customer paying by the hour, because even though I've managed to keep my fiscal investment STILL under $100.00 (including purchase price!), I've got as many hours as the Pharaohs logged building the pyramids in polishing, cleaning, tweaking and fiddling.
Onward we move...

[Zaipai]

Very good Captain, however we want pictures! A picture is worth a thousand words right? So.. yeah.. I don't think there is a connection with the clean chain and the parts washer liquid being darker.. Its just a coincidence. I am sure it will clear up soon.. Its good that you gave come to ignore those voices as they tend to add greatly to the project. That is how the pyramids ended up so big. Those do in fact sound like shorty shocks, I put them on my build because I wanted a lower stance, even tho I am 5' 9" tall..

All that said, as the Captain, you should lead by example so post some pictures! 

.: Scott :.

[Captainkirk]

Well, since it bothered Seaweb so bad, I pulled the brake caliper, disassembled and cleaned all the components, and shot it with VHT Brake Caliper high temp paint and reinstalled, cleaning out all the old brake fluid and filling with new DOT-3 and bleeding in the process. (The brakes, not me!) Then, on to the battery box. I know you guys all wanna see some pix, and I promise to get some, but in the meantime it's more fun to work than shoot pix and post them. We'll get caught up soon.

[Zaipai]

You have some new rubber coming for the bike correct? That front tire looks like its seen better days..

I know how you feel about the working rather then pictures.. However!! (nudge),, 

.: Scott :.

[Captainkirk]

I haven't ordered it yet, no; but you are certainly correct. The wear on the front tire is all wobbly and would probably get me into a death- headshake over 50. I wouldn't ride around the block on that tire. 
Right now, my biggest hurdle is forking out the cash for carb kits, a couple jets, and a battery, and then I can probably hear it rip and snort....with my "aux tank" IV bag hooked up. 
On a side note, an acquaintance expressed interest in the bike. I sort of high-balled the price, based on finishing it before I would consider selling, and sent pix of the resto-in-progress. He didn't say no, but he didn't say yes either. And I haven't heard boo for a week, so I will carry on unencumbered with worrying about it.
I'm really starting to love the little thing, but I don't know how I could possibly keep four (now FIVE) bikes....the insurance and licenses would eat me alive!
But then, I haven't ridden it yet, either.....

[fastbroshi]

I hear you can fit 6 in a one car garage if arranged right 

[Zaipai]

Well 5 bikes.. nice. I have to get out and play on the bike some today, its Hog Blessing day here in Kenosha, over 300+ HD's getting blessed by a local priest and riding into our town for a meet up, any one that loves the sounds of HD's come here for an hour today, you will be sick of that sound in no time.

Well let me know if you want a rear tire, I have a new 18" rear tire, its a Bridgestone Spitfire I am not using and can send your way if it helps any. I used my stock front tire as it was new and I did not do any thing with the front rim.. yet..

Once you ride her I think it will be impossible to sell her..

.: Scott :.

[Captainkirk]

That's what I'm afraid of....
That's how I ended up with five.
(Two are umm..."projects", including the 550 and the Interceptor.)
The Nighthawk S was a "project" until I rode it!
I'll let ya know on the tire! How much?

[Zaipai]

That's what I'm afraid of....
That's how I ended up with five.
(Two are umm..."projects", including the 550 and the Interceptor.)
The Nighthawk S was a "project" until I rode it!
I'll let ya know on the tire! How much?

Oh man, no charge for the tire.. I have need of the room it and some rims are taking up so you would be doing me a favor.. No rush tho.. Just shoot me a PM if you want it (when ever no rush) and we can meet some place and I can hand it off to you..

.: Scott :.