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Garage find brought back to life

Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2012 1:36 pm
by kartgreen
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 .

Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2012 1:45 pm
by ByTheLake
Original tank badges on the CA95, too. Funny how those old Hondas are able to run.

You welded on the tank?

Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 8:18 am
by kartgreen
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 .

Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 9:16 am
by ByTheLake
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 .
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. :D

Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 12:28 pm
by kartgreen
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 ! :rolleyes: