CB175 rebuild project - Cheaper than Ducati maintenance?

[willdance]

Spent a bit more time taking a bit more of the old paint and muck off the frame... probably not the most thorough job, but I decided to get some rust converting primer on the frame (So I dont have to hit the frame with a wire brush every couple of days to take the tiny patina of rust that develops off again...)

The high tech paint set up...

After the first coat of primer...

I'll let that sit, and then hit it with some wet and dry, then give it another primer coat... (then some sanding... then some paint... then some sanding... some paint... sanding... paint... ehh, then cut a corner somewhere).

I will be cutting the mudguard off too (and replacing it with something else) so I wasn't too concerned with getting it perfect. Plus I still have to cut the tabs for the rearsets too, and weld in the battery tray...

 

[willdance]

It's been too long.

Been tinkering away a bit on the bike, but work and training has been getting in the way....

Decided to only cut away a part of the mudguard on the bike... I started to cut away the bottom half of it (the ugly half) and then my old man decided to race out and take the angle grinder off me to avoid having to do dishes upstairs with my mum. Hillarious.

As I said, bottom half came off, top half stayed on (should help with frame strength too).

After that, took the frame back to my place, and started having a shot at spraying with a rattle can. Thankfully it's black, so it hides a lot of imperfections... so far 2 coats, going to sand it smooth and go for a third. Might heat the can a little for the final coat.

Also got bored, and sprayed the control housing down, rather than bother polishing them.

And yeah, should probably have removed the wires, I just taped them off, and sprayed away!

(Makes some note about cutting corners to himself)

Sorry for the crap pics - only had my blackberry on me at the time!

 

[diesel450]

I was wondering where you'd got off to. Glad to see you back at it!!

 

[willdance]

I've been around, summer is just our busy time of year at work, and soccer preseason started early, so free time was at a minimum!

 

[willdance]

Well,

I finally had a bit of time over the past week... got the top end back together - cleaned the pistons, put in new rings and bolted it all back together. Compression seems to be pretty good now. When I started (from memory) the compression was down to 60psi on 1 cylinder, and 110 on the other. After rebuild - both cylinders looking good in the high 140's.

Spent the past few days chasing down some new rear shocks to replace the old rusted ones, as well as doing a little bit of polishing on the rims and tracking down some new tyres. Dropped off the rims at the local workshop and getting a set of Metzlers (2.75x18 front & 3.00x18 rear) put on.

Hopefully by the end of the week I can have it back to a rolling frame. And remember to take more pics!

I think I have finally settled with a look like this...

 

[diesel450]

Hey, looking good. I like the look you're after. no shame in taping off those wires. PIA to pull em out and replace them especially with all the little bits that come tumbling out.

 

[willdance]

Started on a little bit of polishing on the forks... getting ready to put the frame back together.

Before pic, and a progress pic (the fork on the left in the second pic has been hit with some 400 Wet and Dry, then finished with some 1200 - it looks much better in person!)

 

[willdance]

Re: CB175 rebuild project - little engine that could...

Scares me to think about how long it has been between posts on this (and longer between working on the little cb...)

So off to the garage, time to get rolling again.

 

[teazer]

I see you have the same model spray booth that we use.

Pity about that fender because you need them at both ends. the rear one keeps rain off your back and stones out of the engine and the front one ties the fork legs together and keeps rain and stones off your face

Glass from The Past does a nice little rear fender that slips between the down tubes unobtrusively. That totally naked, no fender look isn't very practical and none of us racers would consider riding without at least a rear fender and fork brace.

 

[willdance]

I was thinking of getting a new headlight bucket, as the one I had was missing a piece where it had snapped off under pressure... Rather than get on eBay and fork out $50 for another old second hand one, I decided to take a leaf from my grandfathers book and simply get some araldite onto it...

I used an old paddle pop stick, which failed miserably, glued itself to the edge (I should have known better) but by the time I'd torn it loose, it was starting to take shape.

Topped it up with more araldite... Once it hardened, decided to attack it with a razor to get it down to size.

Took a while... 3 scotches worth of scraping it back... About 2 hours worth, ehh. But got there in the end. No reason to rush this after all...

I'll give it a light sand tomorrow, and prime it, to start prepping for painting.

 

[willdance]

Yeah Teazer - if I did it over I'd leave it on, but I do have a big rear fender from a Suzuki 450 (I think) that I'm going to attach to protect the bike. I was going to strip the bike right back, but decided I kind of liked the interesting little bulges and shapes of the bike (including the big battery covers).

 

[willdance]

I spent the evening sanding back and respraying the headlight bucket - still a little uneven where I'd used araldite to recreate the edge...

Took some time with the p400, but should come up nice methinks.

Also, the Red seat covering arrived... Should look nice with a cream colored tank & red seat.

 

[diesel450]

Glad to see this thread moving again! I'm about to start on another CB200!

 

[Foxriderar77]

looks great, I'm currently redoing my 175, hopefully stripping + panting the frame today

 

[willdance]

Yeah Diesel, it has been far too long! Crazy job = life being sucked away

I'm taking the engine off to get bi-carb sprayed (with the tank) this weekend... Then I will reseal and prime the tank, and reassemble the frame.

At this stage, I'm not trying to make it look pristine, I just want to ride it!

And good luck Fox! I'll keep an eye out for your build!

 

[Foxriderar77]

Looks like I'll have to paint my controls too. have you checked the timing yet?

 

[willdance]

I checked the timing when I first pulled it down, but I'll need to check it again after getting the block blasted.

 

[willdance]

So, I finally got around to getting the engine and tank soda blasted. Turns out the guy that does the soda blasting used to own a BSA gold star & a Norton Manx (my dream bike) when he was back in the UK. Needles to say, chatted a while.

Before:

After:

I still need to wash the block down, then I'm torn between painting it, or leaving the aged patina.

And the tank:

Seems like I might need to get the hammer out... Or just some filler. To be honest, filler is more where my head (and time constraints) are at right now. I've got some new rear shocks on order from Dime City - nothing is better than coming home to new presents in the mail.

 

[Foxriderar77]

We used a paintless dent repair kit on my friends bike to fix a big dent in his tank, maybe give that a shot before you start filling in those dents. Any plans on paint for the engine?