Sunday, August 30, 2009

Right Side cyclinder head

DONE :)

Finally got around to doing this, didn't take too long. Most of the afternoon so not too bad.
Still gotta get things put back on like the radiator and carbs ect.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Pictures of the goldwing in the almost finished state



Here's some pictures of the goldwing...almost finished except now it needs a new right cylinder housing since the old one has decided to keep cracking at the bolt hole.

Monday, August 10, 2009

Another Project


Well it seems I've acquired another project...not sure what keeps getting into me :)

Anyway, it's a '76 Honda CB750 SS.
It's pretty much ugly as can be, the yellow really doesn't do it any justice.

The good news is it's coming apart easily, managed to pull the rotting rear tire off, brakes since those had locked up and the seat, and tank.

Makes it look much better without the really cruddy parts so far.
To test out if the wiring harness might be able to be saved my buddy swung by with a fresh battery and we hooked it up and 'WOW' no fire nothing blew up, the lights actually worked.
That was amazing.

Now it's time to plan the rebuild, and start getting parts in and things ready for powder coating.










Friday, August 7, 2009

Well that didn't work

Yeah the fix on the engine block didn't hold worth a lick.
Just kept cracking and breaking as I tried to fix it a few times.
Solution: EBAY picked up the right side cylinder head block for 20 bucks. Cheap...just gotta pull the old one off.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

So more work on the bike

Well I managed to break a bolt hole on the right side engine block valve cover.
So I had to come up with a way to fix it without welding.
JB weld, a stainless steel collar from lowes, helicoil fix-a-thread.

tap the steel collar, got a 1/4" x3/4" x 3/8" I think, the 1/4" hole was a good match to the helicoil M6 thread saver, no drilling just tap the collar.
Then put 2 of those fix-a-threads in the collar make sure to use lock-tight, and then jb weld the whole thing into place.

Most likely you'll need to touch up the area with a drill bit to make it fit nicely.

Monday, May 25, 2009

AWESOME !!!!!

Ok, so I'm able to ride around town now.
Bled the brakes, and got the license plate on and brake light all ready to go.
I'm not a big fan of the mirrors on the bike, and I still have to figure out how to put the side covers on the rear back on, that'll be done once I pick up/find some cotter pins for the mounting pins.

Anyway, here are some pics.
Oh and it sounds SICK AWESOME.




Saturday, May 9, 2009

Current setup


Got the tail and blinkers in, and almost finished up the rear fender.
Put some paint on it to see what it'll kinda look like.

I'm going to paint the chrome piece on the tail light since it stands out wayyyyy too much.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Seat


Yay I finally mounted the seat completely. Three anchor points should be plenty.
Two mount points at the old bracket and then the other is at the back of the seat into the fender.

It seems sturdy enough and comfortable enough for me. I'm not sure about having another person on the rear seat ...the bolt that anchors the seat into the fender will probably dig into their ass.
That's ok, because I'm not going to let anyone ride with me :)
Not that I don't like having people to ride with, I just don't like having the added weight, or responsibility.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

More Rear Fender fun


Well I managed to shape the fender a bit more with some creative use of the rubber mallet, some cardboard and the picnic table...really high tech.

I also remembered to get some pictures of the bike in the sunlight so it actually looks nice.

So now I need to cut the fender down to size in the back so that it rounds out and mates to the frame nicely, then it'll be onto the seat.

Once that's done, brake and turn signals will get mounted and then it'll be off to the exhaust shop for some straight short pipes. :)

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Quick Rear Fender

Well I've decided that the old chromed out rear fender that weighs a ton is gone.
Therefore, I needed to make up a new fender or at least buy something and then make it fit.

I had an idea for a short fender that just came to the end of the frame and filled in the gap left by the seat..which I have yet to mount.
So a quick trip to lowes for a small piece of 22 guage steel plate 12"x24", a rubber mallet, and a vice to see what I could make.

Ta-Da



Yeah it kinda looks like I took a pizza box and just stuck it in there but I did in fact shape it a little.



Anyway it's just the beginning since I'm going to round/cut the end a bit and then use the bolts to help hold it in place while I shape it a bit more. It is only 22 gauge, and not too hard to bend with my hands or shape with some wood and the mallet.

And here's a pic of the bike with the gauges, headlight, and most of everything put back on.




Sunday, March 29, 2009

Timing Belts

Wow...timing belts are hard to get right. 10th time's the charm.
Without the help of my better half, and some coffee to calm my nerves it wouldn't have happened today.

So I get to ride 60K miles before those need to get changed again...I hope.

On top of the timing belts, I finished up the carburetors and got them back on.
Note to self, always check what you ordered to make sure you're actually using those parts and not the old ones.
Needless to say, I managed to get the carbs altogether, with the airbox assembled when I realized that I had ordered re-build kits for the carbs already.
So with that realization, I had to pull them back apart, and put the new gaskets, floats, and o-rings in.

So with the carbs together, they went back on the bike :)
Also, the shiny black intake manifolds on the engine I think look sweet.

Now here's the catch, I'm currently torn between keeping the rear fender or ditching it. I like the look without the rear fender, it makes the bike look shorter and more aggressive, IMO.
Although, without the fender it also means some more work before I get to ride. With the fender it doesn't look too bad either...

Well besides mounting the seat, and getting the exhaust made up there's not too much more.
There are a few things that I'll need to clean up, brake lines mainly because they are old, and the new handle bars made the first run down to the splitter have too much bend for my liking.

Sunday, March 15, 2009


Sweet I got the new seat in and managed to have enough sun shine and non crappy weather to work on the bike.

I like the way the seat flows with the bike lines...although I'll probably get the seat recovered to make it more retro I think it's good for now.

I'm now in the process of finding or building a rear taillight/blinker and license plate holder. I want to do something like a 6" x 2" led brake light along with blinkers coming out of the old seat bolt mount points.

The rear fender will be just big enough to clear the seat in the back and flow with the frame line...how I'm going to do that I have yet to figure out.

Anyway, once it gets a little nicer I'll be putting the carbs and radiator system back on and then taking if for a spin around the block to make sure everything is working at least enough to get it to a shop for some custom exhaust pipes :)

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Getting closer


Handle bars are on now with the grips and control levers and such. Still need to get some new brake lines front/rear since the older ones are showing some age.
Finished the paint up, although this picture isn't showing it.

Also, got all the engine covers all shiny which makes it look at lot better.
I should be getting the seat in soon, and once I have something that I can sit on it'll be off to united muffler for some exhaust work...which I still have to figure out how I want to set it up.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Getting there...


Well the paint is getting there, I've removed the front fender, and I finished the striping on the tank cover and side covers.
Gotta touch up a few places and then wet sand with a super fine grit and put some clear coat on everything.

I put the handle bars on and I've run the controls, and lines with the new handlebars realizing I need shorter brake lines.

I've started ebaying some of the items I'm pulling off so I can raise some money for these alterations...mainly the new exhaust.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Dang....

Well I did the wet sanding on the painted plastics. It turned out great, removed the raised edge on the strips, and after I touched up the strip edges with a little paint I was ready to put some clear coat on.

Stupid clear coat...I applied it a little too close and got too much propellant on the paint which caused it to crack :(. I guess this is what I get for using spray paint.

Anyways, managed to fix it by sanding it back down to the bare plastic and started to repaint. So far so good. I have to do some sanding to fix and smooth out some parts but I'm pretty sure it'll be good in the end.

Moral to this: "Don't paint when it's windy out"

Monday, February 9, 2009

Now to see how it looks


After getting the paint done on the false tank plastics I decided to see how things would look...and to line up the other pieces of plastic.
Looks pretty nice...although where that glare is on the tank is actually some reflection of the adhesive of the tape that was used for masking purposes.

I'm thinking 800 or so grit wet sand should do the trick...I hope.
Any suggestions :)

Once a very light sanding which should remove the ridges on the strips and any adhesive from the tape, I'll clear coat the plastics to make sure it stays intact.

From this angle though the clubman bars actually look good...I'll need to lower the light and instrument cluster though to make it look aggressive.

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Getting there, at least it has some paint


Well I managed to get the painting on the plastics started. I think it looks pretty good.
One thing to keep in mind next time I paint.
Double layer at least on the blue painters tape at least on heavy overspray areas. The tape in these areas tended to leave some of the adhesive on the base coat of black paint...which stinks.




I need to touch up some of the striping in two places and it should be good, so while I'm doing that I'll get the black paint touched up as well.

Not too bad for a first time.

Here's the picture before the paint, with the new clubman handlebars on...not sure I'm liking the way they sit though...

Friday, February 6, 2009

Awesome, I got some parts in.
Clubman bars, some headlight brackets, tac cable, and grips.

Best thing about this is the fact that it's going to be warm and nice outside...which is where I have to work on my bike.

So tomorrow will be prepping and painting the plastics, and putting the handlebars on and seeing how it looks. Then pictures.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Paint and shiny


Yay I've started the process of prepping parts for paint...man old aluminum is hard to get shiny.
Road gunk is annoying.

After quite a bit of steel wool and metal sanding to remove the gunk, crustyness i've gotten to the shinyness underneath.

The other pieces were painted about two weeks ago.
I'm looking forward to getting the rest primed and painted shortly.

I'm going to paint the coolent system red/black to make it stand out from the rest of the engine. It should be more of a highlight then an eyesore...at least I think so. It'll be buried under the carbs, and behind a radiator for the most part...

The false tank and the lower plastics on the goldwing will be black, but it'll have a red racing strip of a sort going down it. I'll have to mess with some photoshop to see how I wanna do it.


I'm excided about getting some parts in as well, got some clubman bars and some headlight brackets which should be in by the end of the week. :)
Pictures will be up later once some photoshop experiments happen.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Starting the conversion


So here's the general idea for the bike, after some photoshopping.
This is looking pretty good in my opinion. I'm wanting to try for the pinstripe look in the wheels and the tank and gauges.

The straight pipe will hopefully only be that long I hope.

Next thing will be to figure out the handle bars, rocker cover, and the headlight.

The rocker cover/right side cover I'm think to tie the bike together to black mat that and pin stripe the ridges in it...might be too much pin stripe.

Gotta think up some design for the tank...I wanna keep it simple.

Sunday, January 25, 2009


So I've had inspiration for the 1978 Goldwing GL1000.
Here is the current state...minus the exhaust system and the carb block. Had to fix a leaky coolant return system and some oil leaks.

Now I'm not a old guy who wants to lounge down the highway and therefore I require something a little more sportier and well hell, lighter.

To the lighter end I've decided to search for some straight pipes. This should save me I'm hoping 20 lbs total. I haven't decided if I'll go with Jardine straight slash down style. Or fab up some straight pipes and go with a non-chrome, flat black paint.

The next thing is that damn seat. It seriously weighs 30 lbs or so.
I guess that's what I get for having a two person seat with the comfort of a lazy boy. Well needless to say that's gone.


The end goal is a hopefully 100 lbs lighter goldwing...with that kinda power behind it, the stock shocks and forks should be able to provide a little sportier feel.

Oh and that huge chrome rear fender is probably going to go.
I'm thinking cafe racer with an emphasis on light + power.

Paint will happen eventually, but that'll be once I have a clearer picture of how everything is going to come together.

Monday, January 19, 2009

Generic rebuild blog for various old bikes or anything I find interesting.
Could be MAV's, embedded electronics, GPS, paint issues, welding, metal fab.

A gear head who happens to be a computer engineer/research scientist...
don't expect too many pictures of the current bikes, it's way cold and uncovering the 78 goldwing, or the 83 cb650 just for pics isn't happening.

Hopefully this weekend will warm up and then some pictures will be up.
Some details on the goldwing mods/cleanups I'll be doing as well later.