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Here's my first cafe project. I always wanted to build one. I have a friend/customer that had this bike and a gn125 that my brother is building (jakester189) and I had asked him multiple times about what he wanted for the bikes and he wouldnt ever give me a number and one day he called the shop and said come pick 'em up FOR FREE! So i loaded both of the bikes and put them down in the shop warehouse and they sat there for 6 months or so. My brother was wanting to fix up a bike so i gave him the gn125 and he started working on it very shortly thereafter. After seeing his progress and motivation, it got me pumped about fixing mine up. Around feb. I started the tear down, the motor was froze up to the point that 2 weeks of pb blaster in the cylinder didnt even budge the motor. We looked in the left cylinder and it looked like the titanic after 70+ years under the sea, more stalagtites that alabaster caverns! So after about 2 hours and some redneck ingenuity we freed the rings from x amount of years of being left to rust. I should've took more pictures of the tear down but I have a hard time stopping progress and taking a pic. This will prolly be out of order of the actual progress, but I tend to get A.D.D. when working on it. So here it is. I was going to call it Contil de Cobre (Copperhead) and i still might beings the valve cover is hi temp copper, but the original idea and where it is today is a ways apart.
Also my dang camera put a 2007 date on all the pics, they were taken last week. Originally, the frame was going to be a aztec gold, but after failing to find just the right color without breaking the bank from House of Kolor. After literally hours of searching for "the right color", i started looking at big flake paint to give it a 70'ish custom look. Around the same time, mt Bell helmets rep came by with a new Star helmet Roland Sands had designed for them. The colors and theme really got my attention and so the green search started. A trip to hobby lobby landed me a Glitter Blast paint from Krylon called Citrus Dream.
Note: When using this paint, make sure you have a broom cause there is a lot of flake that doesnt make it to the piece. So it looks like there was 40 strippers fighting in the floor.
The motor saga will be uploaded in the next few days, but a lot of calls and searching got most of the parts that need to be replaced. They came from everywhere, mostly old mom and pop shops from the midwest that have had the Honda franchise for 40+ years. NOS stuff.
A few weeks ago while waiting on rings and such for the motor, the wheels where the next item for fixing up. Being very impatient, I figured once the motor is done i'll want to ride it. So the Rolling chassis has been the main priority. Wheels were torn down, and scotch brited to knocked corrosion and the elements off of em.
The spokes were stripped and layered with an etching primer, and then a Key Lime Pie Green, the rims are a Satin Black hi temp paint. Which i have used on multiple other projects and holds up really nice.
The forks were disgusting, they had water in them for i dont know how long. So it looked like YooHoo milk being drained out. The bottom screws in the bottom were a bitch to get out. So $10 to Jakester189 hit impact drivered them out, well one of them, i messed the head of the other out cause i figured my HeMan strength could bust them loose. I was mistaken. New leak Proof seals from Parts Unlimited ($7) should get them back in shape. The lower tube will be Gloss black as well as the top of the fork between the lower and upper triple clamp. Woodcraft Racing clip-ons will be the new bars. Probably the most expensive single item for the bike, so far. Wish i had all the pics to go along with the post right now, but when i get back to the shop on Monday, more will be taken.
I start on my engine and rebuild it first and your start from the wheels up! im excited to see them both finished. it will be interesting to see which directions they take.
Here is the pics of the clip ons from woodcraft. They have sizes 29mm-55mm which should fit most bikes. I have a set of their side covers and frame sliders on my r6 that I high sided on at Hallett. They took a beating beings it was a 60 mph crash, and they did an awesome job. Too bad they dont make race suits cause i compound fractured my humorus.
I've been slacking here lately on the project. Here's the frame so far, really disappointed in how the flake looks in pictures. If you tilt your monitor down or up it actually changes to the darker color, which it really is. Need to modify a pic so the flash doesn't mute the color. Triple trees on, the swing arm is on now, rear shocks are just resting on the top shock mounts.
As mentioned earlier, the left fork bottom screw was stuck big time. Heat+left handed bits+extractor= unstuck bolt. Found some pretty sweet rust oil sludge on the valve. Once apart i used carb cleaner to get most of the oil fork oil off. The valve was heavily pitted, and i though about using the bead blaster to clean it up, but i came across a product called metal rescue. ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! It's water based, no fumes, you could prolly drink this stuff. Did a little before and after pics. I did nothing to the pieces when i took it out of my metal rescue bath.
Metal Rescue is actually clear, but as the rust dissolves it makes the solution black. Darker the color= More rust removed. it sat over night. No scrubbing or anything. Wish i would've found this before for hand sanding every spoke.
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