Hi Ben, You seem to be pretty enthusiastic about the project and that is great. Here are some tips. As always take with a grain of salt as is your prerogative. Chroming engine covers is not a good idea. They will not just chrome the exterior. Any bushes, seal or bearing surfaces, threads, gasket mating areas etc will also be chromed. Inside the covers, odd shaped areas can lead to poor adhesion of the plating and flaking which will result in chrome particles floating about inside your engine. Also it is not a Harley chopper so using chrome on a cafe racer is just, how can I put this delicately, wrong. I think you should do a lot of searching of cafe racer images and try to come up with the look that you like first. You can get matte black powder coat, I believe. This is the sort of thing I like. http://www.pipeburn.com/home/2011/5/28/1975-suzuki-t500.html cheers Blair
Thanks Blair, yeah loving this stuff its a real challenge for me! I understand where you are coming from, for the cost of it, and to match the exhaust you're probably right about chroming the engine covers. I called up to get a quote on a n exhaust today and in stainless/chromed it cost more than the bike. Not going to happen now. Thanks for your input though. Cleanliness isn't so much the issue I want it to blend with the matte black engine, and the wrapping on the exhaust. Speaking of exhaust wrap, the exhaust guy told me the heat will make it peel and flake and that its crap! I'm not so sure that I care to be honest seeing it costs $35 every time you wrap it compared to $700 for header pipes and a new reverse cone muffler
Nah, custom headers from stainless and a reverse cone style muffler. Not going to get it from Japan, it still costs more than the bike did. I'm just going to put this exhaust back on and wrap it.
In case you change your mind about the wrapping or for future reference. I've made a lot of exhaust pipes and plenty from stainless. You can get a good muffler shop to make you some bends on a mandrel bender. If you can't TIG weld then just a use a stick welder to tack them together as you cut and fit. When you have it finished you find someone with a TIG to finish the job and get a muffler. I think $700 is a ridiculous price, hence my tongue in cheek comment about Titanium. cheers Blair
Took my forks to a specialist, turns out they are pitted the moisture probabyl got under the chrome and the cost of redoing the solid chrome is higher than a new set of forks. :-( Now, there is a slight crack in visible part of the seal but neither fork leaks. I might just wet/dry the rust off them and use them for now as they came off pretty much no trouble. PS: Frame, tank and arm are in for a blast still, only cost $75. Pick them up Mon/Tues CAN"T WAIT!!!
Looking forward to seeing how your blasted bits turned out Something I havnt tried myself but see it mentioned alot is using aluminium foil to smooth out the pitting. http://www.robertscycle.com/chrome-clean.html
A word of caution painting the engine, the fins are raw because it aids in cooling, if you seal them with paint the engine will run hotter & less efficiently. In the Blairs pic you'll see they have left the head raw no doubt to keep it cool.
What do you think? Worth a try right? Also my calliper piston looks pretty rusted, and the calliper body is a little worn, I think I might get new ones instead of rescuing, painting and then rejuicing these ones. That way I can get a new calliper, pads, mamster cylinder, brake line all in one.
Thanks Will, I've seen a ton of them painted, and mine aren't in great condition so getting in there to polish them is going to be impossible. What are the stats though? I would've thought engine paint would still conduct a fair bit of heat!
Pull the calipers apart, your looking at the back of them, thats normal, it's whats inside that counts, theyre probably in pretty good condition. Ususlly just need a fine wet & dry cleanup in the calipers & the pistons & just replace the cups that you'll find inside beneath the pistons.
No, you'll trap the heat. Weve been racing 2 strokes for 8 yrs & believe me it makes a difference. If you know someone with a small sandblast cabinet thats the best, leave them raw, the coarser the better, makes for a larger surface area for cooling & quick & easy job. Your exhaust can be ceramic coated, makes for an efficient exhaust & it can be done in a few colours.
I reassembled the calliper mounting unit, pads and calliper for you to see what I mean. Checked the service manual I have and it just mentions to check the piston for damage, because its rusted on the inside i'm changing it.
I think I found a match gents!!! http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...akeTrack=true&ssPageName=VIP:watchlink:top:en
Ok, not sure I'm with you. They look good & dry, do you mean that you've pulled them apart & cleaned them up & put them back & now that's what they look like because if that s how they were they look ok, not wet from any leaking seals / cups. You can clean them up with wet & dry inside the cylinder & the piston also, its the rubbers that do the sealing. Those calipers would come up like new with a fine sand blast & repaint them with a rattle can, make sure to etch prime first, lightly. I got a cabinet big enough to fit a wheel in for about $300 & it doesn't stop, everything goes in & comes out like new.
I think you might be misunderstanding Ben. When we talk of rust IN the caliper, we mean in where the brake fluid is. What you've shown in the pictures is on the inside of the outside of the piston. (Confused yet?) The rust in there is no problem. If the brake was working effectively before just give it a good clean and repaint.
OH! No, the brake fluid was clean and inside would be fine i'm pretty sure. Okay then if that piston doesnt matter too much then thats okay. Thanks guys
So I degreased a lot of the exterior of the engine today. I want to remove surface rust from the fins and sand back the rough areas on the engine casings so that I can start polishing (yes Maelstrom I've decided not to chrome haha) I want to get the engine fins up to a similar polish, from what I understand this is the process: Degrease and wash exterior Solvent to remove surface corrosion (watch electrical parts) Spray with water (covering all openings first) Sandpaper from 400 - 600 - 1000 using screwdriver to get between fins Polish paste and polish wheel or drill w/ attachment for engine covers Prime with an engine paint primer Paint matte black coat (leave top fins for better cooling debatable) How does that sound?
Bits came back from being blasted. When they got back figured out how to get the bearings out for the steering, will need new ones now. Also took the passenger pegs off and cut off the lugs, ground them back with Zirconia flap discs, this isnt the final result going to go over them thoroughly soon. Anyone recommend a good primer for the frame? Its bare metal want to spray it tomorrow if I can avoid any rust appearing. Also engine is going in for a sandblast because using sandpaper on those fins is too time consuming, I want all the rust gone before I enamel the engine. ~B