Bought this bike last year from a fellow who had put it in his musty ,damp garage in 1982 and there it sat . Bought it , and put it in my garage . I tinkered with it over the summer and fall but never had a really good plan for it . The wiring harness was completely burned up , to the point that the stator leads were fried .
I pieced together a wiring harness from several old ones , replaced the stator , rebuilt the carb , welded on the tank and Caswell coated it and finally fired it up about a month ago . Starts on the 2nd kick and just purrs .
So, now what ? I had a really old scrappy set of Buco bags and looking at everything I thought what a great counterpoint to the Red bike we bought thru Spokes . So , here it is , haven't cleaned anything ,it's still as I pulled it from the garage but everything works and it's street legal .
I also attached a picture of my 1975 CB500 T . Bought it last fall and I've been cleaning ,polishing , tinkering . Just got the tank and side covers back from the pin stripers and installed them today . If you know about Cb500s they were metallic BROWN ! Not very appealing , so I painted the tank and side covers a Kawasaki dark metallic green that was on early Z900's
Now I'm getting ready to tackle a 1968 CB77 , one owner bike , actually very nice condition but the lady's nephew partially dismantled it 20 years ago
But it's all there and was in dry storage all this time .
Garage find brought back to life
Garage find brought back to life
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By THe Lake , Yes , welded on the gas tank . Not a big deal as long as the tank is dry (this tank I gave the vinagar bath inside ) ,aired it our with compressed air and it actually sat for a month or so before I got around to it .
My career before I retired was 30 years working for Exxon and then Valero in a refinery in California . I've done a lot of welding and as long as the equipment is cleared properly there's no problem . Do I reccommend everyone do it ? , probably not ! But it is safe if the proper preparations have taken place .
My career before I retired was 30 years working for Exxon and then Valero in a refinery in California . I've done a lot of welding and as long as the equipment is cleared properly there's no problem . Do I reccommend everyone do it ? , probably not ! But it is safe if the proper preparations have taken place .
Since you weren't welding in my garage, I wasn't concerned about the safety factor. I was asking more from a future maintenance perspective. If you ever need to seal or line the tank, you'll have to lift the bike over your head and shake the whole bike back and forth.kartgreen wrote:By THe Lake , Yes , welded on the gas tank . Not a big deal as long as the tank is dry (this tank I gave the vinagar bath inside ) ,aired it our with compressed air and it actually sat for a month or so before I got around to it .
My career before I retired was 30 years working for Exxon and then Valero in a refinery in California . I've done a lot of welding and as long as the equipment is cleared properly there's no problem . Do I reccommend everyone do it ? , probably not ! But it is safe if the proper preparations have taken place .
Last edited by ByTheLake on Tue Jan 24, 2012 9:19 am, edited 1 time in total.
Ah, you got me there ! Guess I'm gittin old . Yes ,I made some repairs to the bottom of the tank before I bolted it back in place on the frame . In my younger days it wouldn't have been a problem to pick the bike up and toss it a few feet . Like that Toby Keith song " I ain't as good as I once was but I'm as good once as I ever was " .
Which reminds me of a couple of Dan Hicks and The Hot Licks songs ,
" How Can I Miss You If You Don't Go Away " & " I Scare Myself Just Thinking About You " . My wife loves it when I play those on our 8 track !
Which reminds me of a couple of Dan Hicks and The Hot Licks songs ,
" How Can I Miss You If You Don't Go Away " & " I Scare Myself Just Thinking About You " . My wife loves it when I play those on our 8 track !