Four Wheel Forum

Tank, frame, shock tops and various small parts have their 2nd coat of paint. This week the frame will be wet sanded and should be painted the next warm weekend. The build will actually begin with the assembly of the shocks and tail light. A nasty bout of Siatica sidelined me pretty well so the project time frame will be extended.

One wiring mod I intend to make is to the tail light & turn signal wire route. These wires normally exit through the frame at the base of the battery side of the bike, then up to the access hole into the "belly" of the frame where the battery cable comes through, resulting in a wire bundle. I fight this "bundle" every time I need to remove the battery or have starter switch issues on previous builds. I intend to drill a hole into the fender well to pass the wires through. I will grommet the hole and seal the wires in, making it water proof and neating up the wiring inside the belly. Pics will come once I do this.

Sorry to hear about the pains, Chip. Hope you get a break from that.

Looking forward to more pics, especially with the revised wire routing.

Thanks BTL.

While trying to deal with this siatica and epidural shots in the spine while working full time I have limited myself to small tasks. below is an early shot of the bike when tearing it down....notice the shocks.


Below is the first build of this project.


The tops were sandblasted and painted in the final color, the bottoms were from donor shocks (thanks kartgreen). The best hydraulic's were chosen from 4 units.

They sport the original chrome and polished aluminum mounts.

My new chrome rims have arrived (an experiment yet to be reveiled) and the cylinders are sent out to be bored .50 over.

Next, when things get better the engine cases will be sent out for bead blasting along with hubs and handlebar mounts.

The engine cases will be painted silver with 2-part paint to withstand gas and heat.

The handlebars will be sent out for chrome in late March.

Target May for completion

Glad to hear you are making some progress both with the bike and your back. Don't push too hard, as we need you as a valuable resource for our little group. Hang in there buddy!

Shocks look great. It's exciting to hear of your May target date. That means we'll likely see lots of updates over the next few months.

This is the first year since 2009 that I've not had a full restoration project in progress, so I'll be fulfilling the urge to restore through your pictures, Chip!

Seems like BTL is looking for something to do... what can we find for him, That 305 perhaps?

Larzfromarz wrote:Seems like BTL is looking for something to do... what can we find for him, That 305 perhaps?

Ideally, I'd love to do a CA77 in white, with white Buco-style bags. My neighbor has that CL77 Scrambler that has sat for several years, but I don't think he's ready to sell.

Regardless, my youngest is still in med school, so it would be hard to convince my wife that it makes sense to spend cash on yet another old Honda. I'm certain, though, that a CA77 will follow me home in the next couple of years.

Since when is 'this' supposed to make sense?
It is always nice to have a Doctor in the family, I have two, so you should have one as well.
In some ways I think you could make the case that these 'old hondas' are appreciating faster than our dollar

Chip, sorry to hear about your back problems, sounds like you are in the same boat as me.
I've given in my notice to retire from work and have had to suspend all my racing activities.
I do hope you get better as there is still some work left in you, unlike me, I'm well past my sell by date.

Sam.

Thank you Sam for your kind words. I have another 5 years before retirement. I am working hard on getting myself lighter (18lbs loss in 5 weeks and another 22lbs to go) to get the weight off of my frame.

I hope you do well in retirement. I plan to do some kind of small projects as years go by. I hope you will too. Pass your sell date? Maybe not. If English youth is anything like American youth, then you will always be needed.

I am retiring in June and my big plan is to ride my CA95 to work on my last day. I have a goal to lose 15 pounds by then, don't know if I am going to be successful on that tho.

I envy you guys. I would love to give it up, but life had too many curves for me.
Not to get too much off the Honda Benly Track....

This book is key to weight loss.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Eat-to-Live-by- ... 43b8dabeaf

Just knowing what foods to throttle down and others to increase does the trick. The CA95 will go faster with less weight.

Rember that sad rusty rear fender?

What it looks like now


How about that nasty rust on the right side above the engine


What it looks like now


There are a couple of flaws that need to be polished out.

The engine case was reassembled empty and will be bead blasted along with the wheel hubs. The engine and several parts will be painted with 2-part engine paint. The paint arrived today, it is Eastwood High Temp Universal Ceramic Aluminum Engine paint with an activator. It is the first time I will use a 2 part engine paint. Pics to come.

Very nice - none of the rusty pits seem to exist anymore, so I assume those were filled. Looks like a new frame. Did you have to replace any metal on that frame?

I'm interested in learning how the 2-part engine paint works out for you.

The only metal that was replaced was the strap that secures the battery side cover base. I harvested the strap from my donor frame. The frame was sandblasted then brass wire brushed using a brass wire wheel mounted on a die grinder.

The massive pitted area above the engine was sealed in fiberglass resin and sanded smooth. There were 2 small holes near the bottom of the frame on the battery side. While the frame was bare steel, I used fiberglass as a backing, and filler.

The rest of the frame was primed in high fill 2 part primer. Any imperfections were filled with spot putty. The bike was painted 4 times with Super Black 2 part Acrylic
Enamel.

There was one final hole in the back fender that was used to mount the rear rack for the bags. I tapped the hole, screwed in a bolt coated with JB Weld. Once the JB Weld was set, I ground the bolt flush, dimpled the area, sealed both sides with fiberglass and filled in with filler and spot primer.

I will post new pics of the engine after bead blasting & painting.