Starting to clean up the Rear Wheel

Here is a shot of the studs that hold the rear sprocket in place. I keep forgetting how old this bike is and how much things have changed. The studs are inserted into rubber inserts that are pressed into the wheel. The nuts hold the studs to the rear sprocket and the rear sprocket is held in place with a very large washer and very large snap ring. (I'll post a picture of these later since I forgot to take one). Naturally I've got just about every tool one could need to work on something modern but my wimpy little snap ring pliers are not match for this large one so I had to remove it (for cleaning) the old fashion way.....two flat screwdrivers and lots of muscle.










My plans for the rear wheel include:

• Sending rear wheel out for re-chrome
• Polishing rear hub
• Removing spokes and either cleaning them up or replacing them with Stainless Steel
• New tire

The brake shoes are in good condition and the bikes stops well with the rear brake. The front brake is another story.

Initial Powder Coating

I decided to take some parts off and have them powder coated. I'm always concerned when I take things, like the swing arm, off for the first time..you never know what you'll find or what parts will be bad that are not available any longer. In this case, the only parts that I was concerned about was the rubber seals on the swing arm. I think they're designed to keep the swing arm grease from getting all over everything especially when it's warm. These were in pretty good shape and had not hardened up or cracked so they were good for re-use.

The swing arm and rear foot peg bracket turned out nice. It sure is a lot less work to just take the dirty old corroded piece down to the powder coater and let him blast and coat it than it is to mess around with stripping the paint, sanding the part, primering it and painting it. Lots more money too. In this case the swing arm and bracket was $85 but they turned out very nice.


Additionally, another part arrived in the mail. I won a brand new NOS tank on eBay. I calculated that repairing the old tank that was damaged in transport (previous pictures) would probably cost me a couple of hundred dollars. That's too bad because the old tank is basically rust free and the paint on it is outstanding. I bought the new tank for $100 so I figured I would end up ahead in the end. My goal will be to replicate, as accurately as possible, the original paint job. That should not be too tough since it's pretty basic.

Believe it or not, I was actually able to order the tiny little plastic inserts that go into the holes on the tank and hold the badge emblems. When I pulled the badges off the left side of the tank they were damaged so this was a big deal, for me anyway.