Finished Sprocket cover

The finished sprocket cover ready to go back on . Before that though, I've got to clean up the frame in that area as well as the sprocket and surrounding area itself.

Sprocket/Clutch Actuator Cover

I started tonight off by finishing up a small portable bench with a drawer. It will be easy to roll around a store stuff on while I'm working.








I pulled the sprocket cover to start the process of cleaning buffing it and this is what I found. Actually, based on some pretty grungy stuff I've seen before this one wasn't too bad. Maybe about right for a 4400 mile motorcycle with a worn out chain. They probably didn't lube it much.




After about 10 minutes in the solvent tank it cleaned up pretty well. I all I had was a solvent brush and a green Scotchbrite pad. I'm going to let the cover soak in the solvent overnight and maybe it'll loosen up some of the remaining crud.



This is the outside of the cover after cleaning in the solvent. I forgot to take a 'before' picture but it ws pretty yellow grundgy. With the scotchbrite pad and solvent I was able to get most of the yellow out and it cleaned pretty well. I ran out of stripper today but tomorrow I'll strip the clear coat off the outside and start the wet sanding a polishing phase.



While I was at it I pulled off a couple more pieces that need to get powdercoated. The foot peg bracket in this picture was stripped, primered and painted a while back but it's already chipping just from installing the bolts so. I had the other side powdercoated and it looks great. The tail light bracket is a spare that I had so that will be a straight swap out. The bar that holds the foot peg hangs down below everything and is probably the dirtiest part on the bike. I still have to remove the center stand and that will be it for a while. The only think left to powdercoat will be the wheel hubs but that's still a while off.




Here are the powder coated parts all ready for installation.

Making a oil filter cover gasket

I decided to clean the oil filter which is an interesting piece. There is no "oil filter" in the contempory sense. Instead, it's just an aluminum wheel that spins the oil as the oil passes through. The centrifugal force throws the heavier contaminants out from the oil and they collect in the chamber. Interesting, but not as efficient as a paper filter.

In the process of removing the cover that probably hadn't been taken off since 1982 I tore the gasket. This item is not manufactured by Honda anymore so I had to make my own. I found some gasket material at the local auto parts store for a few dollars.








First I had cut a piece the approximate size.






Next I cut little pie shapes so I could easily cut the inner circle.






I then mounted the gasket on the cover and drilled the mounting holes.




I then cute the outside diameter and mounted the cover.

Hopefully, I won't have to make this again.

More stuff to be powder coated

This is the 'before picture of the foot rest bracket and the tail light bracket. The chrome clean up very nicely on the tail light mounting bracket. I needed to be particularly careful cleaning around the wires since the ground wire looks to be fragile and it's riveted to the bracket.

I will be taking the foot rest bracket and the tail light bracket in for powder coating. Before that though, I need to figure out how to remove the rubber grommets in the tail light bracket. The years have hardened the rubber to the point where I can not squeeze it together without cracking and ruining the rubber grommet. These are no longer available so I need to figure out a way to save them.

Starting the engine detailing

Here are some before and after shots of the alternator cover. My sequence for cleaning this part (and parts to come) is to;

1. Use a spray on aircraft paint stripper and rinse
2. Use 220 grit wet/dry sand paper to clean off the corrosion
3. use 600 grit wet/dry paper to smooth it out
4. Take it to the buffing wheel
5. Clean it up with polishing compound and a cloth

After polishing, I used a high temperature spray paint to fill in the lettering then used paint thinner to clean up the edges of the letters.

It turned out pretty nice. It is not so polished that it looks like chrome but just enough to make it shine nicely.

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.