B06Tang
Cafe Racer
Well the weather has turned and people are rolling out on their two wheels. My riding season is going to be somewhat limited this season due to circumstances so I decided to give Bonnie a little facelift. The next best thing to riding for me, is being around the bike with a wrench in my hand. So with that said, here is what I have either done already or will be getting done.
1. Oil & filter change
2. Spark plugs
3. Valve clearance checks
4. New clutch plates & springs
5. New front fork springs & oil flush/change
6. Replace head bearings
7. Bleed brake lines with new pads
8. Change tires
9. Strip front & rear fenders down, prep them and then paint black base paint with a 1" silver racing stripe down center and pinstripe gold where the black and silver lines meet
10. Pull off timing, sprocket & clutch cover and strip them down and then wet sand them to a natural polished aluminum look.
I have started off with doing the covers to time it with the oil change, valve clearance checks and the fact that the weather can still get shitty so I can wet sand at the kitchen sink...one day I will have a garage but just not yet
Riding the Hokkaido coastline for 5 days straight & the weather here in Japan has completely wrecked my covered and that lacquer crap finish that was on them. For example:
You can see how bad the corroding is on the clutch cover and trust me...the photo masks a lot of the ugliness:
Timing & sprocket covers:
Check out bottom of the picture/top side of the timing cover and how chewed up these covers got on me:
So now I pulled the timing and sprocket covers and have gone to work on them. I stripped them using easy off oven cleaner then sanded with 400 and then sanded with 600, 800, 1000, 1200 & 2000. After that is done, then seal them up with an aluminum polish/sealer and on my buffing wheel.
I have about 9 hours of wet sanding on the sprocket and have finished all sanding and need to go on to the buffing wheel:
I have only got up to 1000 on the wet sanding for the timing cover. Two more levels of wet sanding and then off to the buffing wheel. I have about 12 hours on this cover so far:
That is about it so far but I am going to use this to continue my work in progress. My hope is to have a finished product that is geared more to the running side of the bike but with subtle/older style cosmetic changes to her. Low cost but pretty high labor intensive which is exactly what I need to right now. Believe it or not, the hours upon hours of wet sanding has been real relaxing. Anyways....there you have it! More to come...:beer::finger2:
1. Oil & filter change
2. Spark plugs
3. Valve clearance checks
4. New clutch plates & springs
5. New front fork springs & oil flush/change
6. Replace head bearings
7. Bleed brake lines with new pads
8. Change tires
9. Strip front & rear fenders down, prep them and then paint black base paint with a 1" silver racing stripe down center and pinstripe gold where the black and silver lines meet
10. Pull off timing, sprocket & clutch cover and strip them down and then wet sand them to a natural polished aluminum look.
I have started off with doing the covers to time it with the oil change, valve clearance checks and the fact that the weather can still get shitty so I can wet sand at the kitchen sink...one day I will have a garage but just not yet
Riding the Hokkaido coastline for 5 days straight & the weather here in Japan has completely wrecked my covered and that lacquer crap finish that was on them. For example:
You can see how bad the corroding is on the clutch cover and trust me...the photo masks a lot of the ugliness:
Timing & sprocket covers:
Check out bottom of the picture/top side of the timing cover and how chewed up these covers got on me:
So now I pulled the timing and sprocket covers and have gone to work on them. I stripped them using easy off oven cleaner then sanded with 400 and then sanded with 600, 800, 1000, 1200 & 2000. After that is done, then seal them up with an aluminum polish/sealer and on my buffing wheel.
I have about 9 hours of wet sanding on the sprocket and have finished all sanding and need to go on to the buffing wheel:
I have only got up to 1000 on the wet sanding for the timing cover. Two more levels of wet sanding and then off to the buffing wheel. I have about 12 hours on this cover so far:
That is about it so far but I am going to use this to continue my work in progress. My hope is to have a finished product that is geared more to the running side of the bike but with subtle/older style cosmetic changes to her. Low cost but pretty high labor intensive which is exactly what I need to right now. Believe it or not, the hours upon hours of wet sanding has been real relaxing. Anyways....there you have it! More to come...:beer::finger2:
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