So the story with my bike started as when me and my dad wanted to start a project that wasn't too expensive and I could enjoy spending time constructing something I could later ride with my dad (he rides a vtx 1300). I did some searching on craigslist and saw some bikes that I like but nothing I wanted. Then I came across a man that had this bike that was a little dirty because it had been in a barn for many years, but I saw a great future for it. I quickly sent him an email and herd no response, so I was persistent and kept trying to contact him (even if he had sold it, I wanted to know haha). The persistence paid off and he finally called me back and we made the deal. His grandfather had given it to him before he passed and he did not do much with it as he was not much of a motorcycle fan. I purchased the bike for $200 and could not remove the smile from my face because I could finally start my project. Whooooo!
As soon as we got to my house we started tearing it down and cleaning her up. The engine had good compression, but the electrical was toast. No energy would run thru the bike even with a new battery I purchased, no energy. We had to tear it down and it turned out many of the cables were chewed up and would cause the electricity to arc out and not complete the circuit. We finally started gaining some momentum as we fixed the cables and got energy to the front of the bike.
We took apart the starter as it was gunked up and cleaned many of the parts from the grease mess that had accumulated during the decades of rest. The inside of the gas tank was SUPER rusty. I had to power wash everything out and clean it with solutions to make sure there was no rust in it. We then took apart the carburetor and cleaned that out, and checked if we had sparks from the plugs (which they did!). We then put gas in the tank and tried to see if we could get any response from the engine, but as soon as gas entered the tank it also leaked everywhere because the petcock's o'rings where disintegrated. Dammm. Well we did some tinkering with it until we managed to stop the leak.
It took about 45 minutes of trying and trying until braaaaa! the engine fired up!. Man! that was a great feeling knowing that the bike had not been started in decades was now awake. That only gave me more drive to get everything ready so I could ride it. We still had allot to do tho, as I had completely tore it down and only had the engine on the frame no wheels. we quickly built it back up tho.
I then started to put my own touch to it. I bought many parts on ebay and also went to my local motorcycle shop to pick up some handle bars and other stuff. Took allot of time for the parts to come in because they were from thailand but I waited and waited until finally I saw the lady bringing a huge box to my door. I opened it before she could ring as I knew those where my parts. I had to get all new cables the seat, the handlebar mount, foot rests. Oh and tank badges.
I do not plan to paint it yet as well for one I dont have the $ now and I like how the bike has soul (and it shows). The paint still looks good with some wax I could make it shine like the sun. It is still a working progress and I continue to work on it every chance I get. I just recently painted the engine, but I didn't take it off the frame so I painted the covers only (exhausts too).
It has been a great project that has taught me much about a motorcycle. I now have to get it registered and I also want to put some blinkers on it. But cannot find any 6V blinkers or the control that goes on the handlebars. So if anyone out there knows what I can do LET ME KNOW. Thanks and hope you enjoy my thread. Keep it up guys this site helped me a bunch.
