D-Mac's rat bike to......cafe bike? Here we go again.

[Max Wedge]

That doesn't sound good.

[D-Mac]

Time for a little update:

I spent a little time this week soda blasting the outside of the cylinders. These will eventually be painted black.

Prepped for blasting


After blasting them, I realized I needed to remove the base gasket. I should have done this first because it was ridiculous and it took something like a dozen applications of gasket remover to get it off. I still have a little left to remove, but the end is in sight (at least for this piece – I also have gaskets to remove from the cylinder head, valve cover, and breather cover too!)

Gasket remover soaking.


I decided to tackle the carbs this weekend. I pulled the diaphragms and jets a while back, so I started by separating the bodies from the bank. The rails will be sanded and painted silver. The carbs will be left natural (bowls and tops shined up).



After removing the various fuel/vent tubes and enrichener devices, I soaked each of them in Berryman’s cleaner for 25 minutes.

After cleaning. Yes….there are 5 carbs in this photo. The one on top in the bag is my original #3, which has broken float posts and other damage that I decided was just too bad to use. It was replaced with a carb one off e-Bay.


While the carbs were soaking, I dug out my new supplies. (forgive the excessive detail, this is for my own records as much as anything else:


Used (so far) from the rebuild kit:

#40 pilot jet – same as stock

Fuel mix screw/spring/washer/o-ring – same as stock (turned 2.5 turns out)

#150 air jet (goes in the intake end of the carb) – same as stock

Float seat/o-ring and needle (I took the little screen off the original seat, which was otherwise destroyed when I had to violently pull on it to remove it from the carb).

I also used the large snap-ring and spring from the rebuild kit when replacing the jet needle (below)


Parts used from my Dynojet kit (Stage 3)

#155 main jet (richer of the two they give you, but recommended since I’ll be running aftermarket exhaust and K&N pod filters)

Jet needle/washer/e-clip (with stock spacer)– e-clip set to position #4 from the top (again, recommended by other GS owners)

I also drilled out the slide hole on each slide a 7/64 drill bit. In a moment of stupidity, I broke the bit that came with the jet kit because I didn’t realize at first that the slide holes are on an angle. Oops. A new bit later (and an excuse to buy a better drill), and it was done.

The hole that I had to drill-out (make larger) is the smaller one shown. The needle projects out of the larger hole.


There is a snap ring (not shown) that fits all the way down inside the slide to hold in the needle in place. Getting it out was rough, until I hit Sears and found a set of snap ring pliers that was able to reach inside.

[D-Mac]

Carb rebuild/mod continued…..

Original jet needle

New needle


I also bought an o-ring kit from cyclerings. This includes all of the hard-to-find o-rings for these bikes. It’s very well organized. Check out the old/new rings for the choke. About time these were replaced!


It wasn’t all good though. At one point I somehow managed to spray carb cleaner directly into my EYE while spraying the tiny passages to make sure they were clear.
OUCH OUCH OUCH.


Here’s the offending cleaner. NOTE: I was wearing safety glasses (foreground) at the time of the “incident.” They slipped a little off my nose and the cleaner bounced around inside the carb and came in from the side – directly by the glasses and onto my eye with a lot of pressure. 15 minutes of rinsing by staring at the shower head and everything was OK.


Done for now. I still have to polish the float bowls. The rubber plug covering the pilot jet came from yet another supplier.


NEXT UP: This week I plan to finish the carbs, rebuild the master cylinders, and hopefully (finally) paint part of the engine. I’m now thinking to paint the lower engine black (except for the polished case covers) but do the head and valve cover in silver.

I picked up a tube for the seat hoop. I have to bend it and weld it on. Once that’s done I can begin to build the new battery box and places to hide the other electrical components.

[D-Mac]

Weekly update time! I was a little all over the place with my plan this week.

My first attempt was to rebuild the master cylinders.

The rear didn’t happen because I discovered that I was missing some key parts. I ordered the missing stuff, but it hasn’t come in yet. You might recall how bad it looked from a few posts back.

Although the front one didn’t look as bad, one quick look at the master cylinder and I knew I’d be rebuilding it. Check it out.


Here is a pic from the end of the rebuild. I replaced everything – piston cup/spring/plunger/boot, cleaned the cylinder, and lubed it with fresh brake fluid.


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Then it was back to finish up the carbs – starting with polishing the float bowls. I did the usual sanding, but put a little more effort into it since the bowls are small and easy to work with. I went with 220/320/400/500/1000/1200 wet paper and then over to the buffer. I’m pretty happy with how they came out. Not perfect, but shiny.

This is before final polishing too.



After cleaning the bowls, I checked the float measurements (only 1 was off), replaced the gaskets, and reassembled them with the new allen-head fasteners that arrived last week (plus a little anti-sieze of course).


I decided to clean and paint the steel brackets that hold the carbs together. As others have experienced, the clear coat turned yellowish when curing it in the oven. Good thing they’re small parts.


All of the o-rings for the fuel/vent tubes between the carbs were replaced.

It was a little tricky getting everything lined up properly for reassembly. I didn’t have as many pics as usual because my phone died when I took them apart. Anyway, here are a few pics of the finished carbs. I still need to do a quick “bench sync” but everything seems to function correctly. I also need to check over and clean up the rubber intake boots. Although I have a lot to pick from (2 sets) most of them are pretty beat up and clogged with all sorts of sealants (in place of the correct o-rings, which I have), so I might end up replacing one or two ($$$). We’ll see.

Carb bank!










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On Wednesday I took my tubing to a local fabricator to have it bent for the rear seat hoop. I should have it back this week. I’m looking forward to fabricating the new battery/electrical holders. I’m definitely in over my head with this stuff, but I’m sure I’ll learn a lot.

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I spent some time scraping off more engine gaskets off this week. I’m still working on the old valve cover gasket, which is glued to the head and needs a few more hours of gentle scraping.

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The cylinders are almost ready for paint. I just need to give them a final cleaning (after removing the base gasket they got all dirty again). Then I’ll wipe them down with acetone and then shoot them with engine primer and black. Can’t wait!

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I dug out my spare cam chain tensioner and pile of tensioner replacement parts. I might tackle that this week too.

[Max Wedge]

I can't wait to see this thing finished. Nice work.   I would love to try something like this, but I don't think I have the patience anymore.

[veefer800canuck]

Very nice work. Love the SS hardware, and the attention to cleaning/polishing. A clean bike is a happy bike!

And it makes it so much easier to spot/repair any problems later on.

You gonna be keeping ths bike for a long time I suppose, because it'll be worth more to you than anyone else.

Can't put a price on personal satisfaction though.  

[wibornz]

Does your wife know your using the dining room table?  If so,   she's a good woman.  Keeper around.

[D-Mac]

Does your wife know your using the dining room table?  If so,   she's a good woman.  Keeper around.

As long as I can keep the use of carb cleaner/brake cleaner/gas to a minimum, she's usually ok with it. I do try and stink up the house from time-to-time to reinforce my hints about needing a bigger garage.  

[D-Mac]

3/25/2012

It’s been a couple of weeks since my last update, but progress is still creeping along.

I finally got around to getting the rear tube bent for the seat. By buying 2’ of tube myself (matching the dimensions of the stock frame) and having a fabrication company bend it for me, I spent less than $20. Perfect fit too. Since I have an “extra” frame that came with the spare engine, I decided to test fit it to that one first before chopping the “good” one. A couple of pics….

Before….


After cutting….



My seat is a very tight fit over the frame and I want part of the frame to be visible, so I cut some wood and figured out that it looks/fits good if I lift the base on the seat about ¾”. I’ll be welding some tubing so that it fits properly and is supported. Then I can just fasten the seat base to the frame. I’ve also cut some sheet metal to enclose the battery under the hump. Here is the actual cut and mocked-up.

More pics. I will be raising the back of the tank up a little so that it lines up better with the seat.





Ugh. Tank must have been leaking. Still gotta tackle that.


I also managed to drive out the top steering head bearing race, but as some of you know the bottom one is tough to reach. After struggling with a piece of bent threaded rod, I’ve decided to weld a bead around the lower race. If it doesn’t fall out, I’ll at least have something sticking out enough to reach with a drift.

Top race.


I’m planning to TIG weld everything for the frame where I’m taking a welding course. It’ll take a few trips back and forth before it’s done.

I still haven’t painted the top end of the engine yet, but final prep is basically done (one final acetone wipe and I’m ready to shoot). Hopefully this week.

[veefer800canuck]

If you haven't already, make an insert to go inside the frame tubes where your custom rear frame loop joins the main frame.

If you make it just the right size, so you have to hammer it home just a bit, it'll be nice and tight, then you can weld the ends together.

Mo' stronger!  

[Tyrroneous]

This is going to be fantastic when it's complete.  Keep the updates coming!  

[CLAY]

If you haven't already, make an insert to go inside the frame tubes where your custom rear frame loop joins the main frame.

If you make it just the right size, so you have to hammer it home just a bit, it'll be nice and tight, then you can weld the ends together.

Mo' stronger!  

^ Do this.  MUCH stronger when done- it's the way I joined the hardtail when I made an XS650 chopper years ago.

[D-Mac]

If you haven't already, make an insert to go inside the frame tubes where your custom rear frame loop joins the main frame.

If you make it just the right size, so you have to hammer it home just a bit, it'll be nice and tight, then you can weld the ends together.

Mo' stronger!  

Yup. This is exactly what I've done. I will drill out the tube/frame about an inch from the seam and plug weld them both to the inner tube. Then I'll weld the outer tubes together at the seem (and to the inner tube below it).

[veefer800canuck]

Yup. This is exactly what I've done. I will drill out the tube/frame about an inch from the seam and plug weld them both to the inner tube. Then I'll weld the outer tubes together at the seem (and to the inner tube below it).

If you leave about 1/8" gap between the ends of the outer tubes, then fill that area with weld, you're golden!  

[CLAY]

If you leave about 1/8" gap between the ends of the outer tubes, then fill that area with weld, you're golden!  

Yes, plus you have been developing the fancy tig skills to do it!  

[Meemuh]

Ugh. Tank must have been leaking. Still gotta tackle that.

What a shame to wreck a paint job like that.

[OU812]

You really are getting it done right!
Get some safety glasses.
I have sprayed myself too many times.

[D-Mac]

FINALLY, I have a little engine paint to show you.

Just the cylinders though. Work has been nuts lately.

The prep was as follows (in some cases there were repeated cycles of these steps):

Washed part in soap/water
Masked off and soda blasted
Neutralized part in weak vinegar/water solution (twice)
Dried with compressor between cleanings
Scrubed and dunked with HOT, de-ionized water (multiple times) and re-dried
Scrubbed with bottle brush and parts cleaner to get everything clean in the fins
Cleaned EVERYTHING carefully with acetone and cotton swabs of various sizes until the swabs came out white-as-snow.
Masked off delicate parts
Sprayed with VHT engine primer (2 light coats)
Sprayed with VHT black engine oxide paint (2 light coats and 1 medium coat + touch-up)






Whew! I accidentally masked off too much on the bottom, so some of the bare aluminum sticks out. I’ll wait a full week for the paint to dry and then re-mask, prime+paint the missing spots. I didn’t sand much, so there are a few nicks and bumps here and there from the years of use (and abuse).

I’m VERY happy with how it came out. The paint is a duller, sort of cast-iron black. It looks retro and fits the bike well. It also hides the flaws nicely and goes on easily. In a few tests, it seemed to “stick” well. With curing it’s supposed to be very gas-resistant too.
Polished the breather cover too.

Before……yuck!


After!




I’ve gotten a LOT better at this since I did the side covers. I’ll have to re-do those someday since they look dull in comparison to the carbs/breather. Oh well, I guess I’m climbing the learning curve.

**Now for my dilemma*** I am certain that I am painting the bottom-end black and keeping the side covers polished. Cylinders are black.

I recently decided to shy away from blacking out the top of the engine and was leaning toward painting the head and valve cover “universal aluminum silver” instead (I have the paint). I think it looks a little “top heavy” this way, but others I’ve shown mock-ups to thought it was great. Silver-color would also be more forgiving against chips and scrapes (since the layers and aluminum underneath are pretty much the same color). That said, I started thinking today about going back to my earlier plan and going all black on top too, except for the breather cover (polished), various fasteners, side covers, and the chrome cam covers parts on the ends. The chrome bits would really “pop” that way I think.

Decisions…..decisions… Thoughts?

[D-Mac]

OK. So I found pics of the exact two engine paint/polish schemes I'm considering.

Option 1: Silver/black/polish (my black paint is not this shiny, but otherwise it would be identical)


Option 2: Black/polish (this engine is basically identical to mine even though the bike frame/tank/seat are different).


I'm going to post these up in a POLL. Please go there and vote on your preference! Comments appreciated here or there.

[DeansZG]

  How 'bout just highlighting the sides of the main cylinder fins w/ silver, kinda like the polished fin edges on the old RD400 Yamahas?  Might be enough to break-up all that black color....