$50 mod thread

mitchellsk said:
Magnetize your steel oil drain plug so tiny metal bits get attracted to the bottom of the case. When you change your oil clean the bits off the drain plug with a rag.

how do you go about doing that?!
 
quick and kinda effective: rub it against a large magnet like on a woofer for a few minutes.

not as quick but more effective: drive out the inside large enough to press fit a rare earth magnet...lots of places to order online
 
Swagger said:
quick and kinda effective: rub it against a large magnet like on a woofer for a few minutes.

not as quick but more effective: drive out the inside large enough to press fit a rare earth magnet...lots of places to order online

even easier if you buy a small rare earth magnet and slap it on the head of your drain plug bolt.

they are more than strong enough to stay on while riding
 
yeah probably but having raced in the past...I dunna want anythin that could even *possibly* come loose........
 
Or you could stick the magnet on the outside of the bolt and cover it with JBWeld or just a dab of high temp RTV silicon. I mean it's on the bottom of your engine, who's gonna see it but you when you drain the sump.

Terry
J'ville, Fl.
 
brewtown16 said:
how do you go about doing that?!

I bought some small flat round magnets today. I'm gonna drill a hole of the same size diameter into the top of my plug and epoxy two of them in while stick out about 1/16" to get a little more suface area into the oil.
 
Flugtechnik said:
there are many other sellers on ebay. They ship from HK so they take a week or two. I actually got mine surprisingly fast from HK.

My bulbs came in today, look great, and only took seven days to get to me... no longer than any other average seller on ebay. I can't wait to get them installed.

Thanks for that LED tip!
 
I think you can buy a magnetic plug pretty inexpensively, like under $20. I have not researched this but thats what what I have heard of in the past. Its a good idea either way.
 
mitchellsk said:
My bulbs came in today, look great, and only took seven days to get to me... no longer than any other average seller on ebay. I can't wait to get them installed.

Thanks for that LED tip!

Cool. I hope they work as well for you as they did for me. Just be gentle as they can break. I destroyed one trying to get it into the rubber thing for the highbeam indicator.
 
You can buy replacement plugs that are already magnetized or just get a rare earth magnet at radio shack for $2 that and some glue, you will never get it off. My ktm is already magnetized and it picks shit up all the time , cant amagine whats would be floating around in a bike with out one
 
Not sure if this was posted already, and it kinda goes over the $50 mark (if you choose to buy a new condenser as well). Here is a lil tip on how to replace those shibby old ignition coils on your bike that I found on the HondaTwins forum. I did it on the CB360 and it works pretty damn well...

Aftermarket Coils - Honda CB450

On my latest project, a CB450, it was apparent the coils I had around were less than desirable.
I had three pairs, all were well funkified. I had my doubt they had much life left in them.
New coils are a good investment on any old bike, unless you’re doing a persnickety restoration and need to be original.
Something similar could be done for 350's and other 180-degree twins as well.
For the 360-degree twins (like 175/200), aftermarket coils are available as a bolt-up, using 1/2 of a 4-cylinder coil setup.

coil1.jpg


Not wanting any trouble in the ignition, I bought a pair of Yamaha XS650 Replacement units from http://www.mikesxs.com/
$24 each, quick and cheap shipping.
They only had the yellow wires in stock.

P1010030x.jpg


I had to fabricate a couple of little plates to fasten them to, so I could use the stock coil mount, which is the best location. The plates are sort of notched to move the coils as far in towards each other as I could. Space on the sides is limited when the fuel tank is mounted.
You have to tweak the positioning with spacers. Note the use of stacks of washers as spacers - didn’t have any spacers, but I did have a big ol’ sack-o-washers (stainless yet). Someday I might cut some proper spacers.


No place for the condensor , I just drilled a hole in the frame nearby and mounted it there.

I ran a series of 10-gauge ground wires from the battery itself to all the ignition components. So there won’t be any troubles with grounding.

Had to make up a couple of bullet connector “doublers” to accommodate the coil/point/condensor wiring.

Coil wiring was simple - I ran both brown coil wires to the black/white wires from the harness, then used the “doublers” to connect each orange coil wire to either the yellow or blue ignition wires.

All in all, it wasn’t too bad. About $60 for brand new coils, replaceable wires, and plug caps. All I used was a drill, hacksaw, and grinder.
I now have spark that will knock you on your butt, and it’s one less thing I’ll have to worry about on a really old bike.

Seems to me you could do pretty much the same thing on a 350, it’s built pretty much the same.

And I already did it on a CB200 - CB200 is a 360 degree engine (like a 175), only one point, so a single coil with two plug wires. For that one I bought(on EBay) half of a Honda four replacement coil set - it bolted right up, no modifications required.

P1010006x.jpg
 
Just installed clubman bars and managed the run the wires inside. I discovered this trick which made it relatively easy:

1) Use electrical tape and tape the wires and connectors together. Make sure there are no connectors sticking out to get caught, they will get torn up when they get to the bend.

2) Tie a loop at the end of a piece of string and push it inside the bar, from the center of the bar to the bend

3) Get a coathanger, bend a hook in it, and fish out the wire by the loop, from the end of the bar.

4) Tie the string around the bundle tightly, using a square knot. Tape up the wire and knot to the bundle so it doesn't slip.

5) Put a bit of vasoline on the wire bundle to lube it up.

6) Push the wire in with one hand as you pull on the string with the other. It's still a douchebag, but it will come through eventually
 
Here's a freebee add-on to Magnang's: Profile those holes!

Once you get holes drilled into the bars, take some time with a 3/16"dia. round file and file all the sharp edges off your work.
I don't know how many bikes have showed up here with odd electrical issues that come from the internal wires getting ripped up on a sharp edge. It doesn't take long, will save you lots of headaches and shows craftsmanship.
I'm sure the vast majority of you already do this but for those who may be just now considering switching bars...keep it in mind.
 
another good trick that i use is some silicone glue in them after the wires are fed through... that will keep the wires from jiggling around
 
Painting lower legs with epoxy paint...

-First remove tires and caliper(s)...
-i then sand down with 220 grit sand paper... you need to get through the clear coat that is on most lowers (aircraft stripper will do that as well) then get a good profile on it with 400 grit....
-after you have a nice profile, use 1 light coat and give it 5 min to tack up... then hit another coat, keep this process up to give it as many light coats as you can within a 1/2 hour... AFTER A 1/2 (30 MIN) you have to stop! or else the paint will bubble, orange peel, and never give you the strength and quality you want... this is no JOKE
- wait 24 hrs to handle the item
- wait a MIN of 1 week (7 days) for any re coat or sanding and re coat

paint used: rustoleum appliance epoxy
6967079.jpg

*clear coat is NOT needed nor is a primer...

sanded down
nzhhzl.jpg


paint on
smzn83.jpg


unwrapped
2rzt6ap.jpg


close up
2cz91k5.jpg


other legs done in it
125p6di.jpg


pics of the legs 3 years later w/o re coat and 30k miles (you will notice that they are almost a SPOT ON MATCH to wet black powder coat)
bi3390.jpg
 
cheap motorcycle Lift
found this online... thanks to the guy that posted this sucker!

http://www.jumpcut.com/view/?id=6474727A63D411DD8E69000423CF385C

Original site for the how to:
http://www.nightrider.com/biketech/bikelift.htm

view.jpg


view.jpg
 
Wee Todd said:
So you lads are building 30yr+ bikes,,and some have drum brakes.Original linings,,,da will give you duh biggest pucker ever on the street :eek: off to the jobber to get replacements,,,not ;D send them outs to a brake and clutch shop and have then relined with woven fork lift lining,,riveted and glued!! those forking things(and lift too) are on the brakes steady in a wearhouse,,,and not fade!! dids the front for under $50...

OK just read this ;D just had to laugh bloody brilliant mod and one i never thought of. Forklift woven drum linings on the CB sound great and no fade, have to love that. What do they wear like? have you done this mod your self?

Rod from OZ 8)
 
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