Bridgestone M2/SS 200cc Motorcycle Restoration! She Is Still Winning Awards!

[casi85]

Re: Bridgestone M2/SS 200cc Motorcycle Restoration

I had some butterflies in my stomach about the front fender as it was nearly impossible to find a good quality one but Joe you have turned a usable fender into a piece of art! It trully bringsthe front end together. As for the steering damper, who knows if it will function like the new technology but it at least looks real perrrrrty!

 

[RotaryDanglish]

Re: Bridgestone M2/SS 200cc Motorcycle Restoration

...As for the steering damper, who knows if it will function like the new technology but it at least looks real perrrrrty!

That it does, deffinetly more subtle than modern tech
Have played a bit with an old Suzuki T250 which has the same type of damper. It is more or less just a long screw threaded into friction plates below the triple tree which effectively "brakes" like your basic caliper/rotor making the front end harder to turn, simple to tune but not as effective at dampening hard jerks as the more modern rod damper, still very cool though.

 

[shamus]

Re: Bridgestone M2/SS 200cc Motorcycle Restoration

Yeah that damper looks great.

 

[peteGSX]

Re: Bridgestone M2/SS 200cc Motorcycle Restoration

Joe this just keeps getting better and better! That front end is looking awesome

 

[muskywhisperr]

Re: Bridgestone M2/SS 200cc Motorcycle Restoration

This is truly a great thread. I hope to make my project this nice.

 

[joeyputt]

Re: Bridgestone M2/SS 200cc Motorcycle Restoration

Thank you Brothers! I am very happy that you are all still enjoying this build!

Here is a photo of the new gaskets that I just finished cutting out for the engines clutch cover and the carburetor covers.

 

[joeyputt]

Re: Bridgestone M2/SS 200cc Motorcycle Restoration

We have been working on restoring several different pieces for the Bridgestone this week, the carburetor covers had a lot of corrosion so we sanded them down to remove the fine pitting and started to give them a light hand polish. I am going to polish the carburetor covers some more however here are the before and after photos that show how they look after their first hand polishing

We also installed the front brake cable and adjusted the front brakes. There was one small place in the cables casing that we were not happy with so we sealed it with black heat shrink, after we sealed that area of the cable we liked the way it looked so much that we added two pieces of heat shrink to the front brake and speedometer cable where they run through the front fenders bracket as accent pieces which will also add protection for the cables.

I would also like to send out a very special thank you to my Brother Jason who does absolutely beautiful paint work for taking the time to give these parts the quality restoration and paint work that they deserve and only you can do, I love you man! Jason just sent me these photos of the tank in basecoat as well as the side cover and oil tank in basecoat with their new checkered decals! He also took more photos of the restoration work he has been doing on these parts and we will post them all togethor once we has clearcoated and completed all of the parts.

 

[Habanero52]

Re: Bridgestone M2/SS 200cc Motorcycle Restoration

AWESOME!!!!! 8)

 

[JustinLonghorn]

Re: Bridgestone M2/SS 200cc Motorcycle Restoration

More top notch work, sir.

 

[peteGSX]

Re: Bridgestone M2/SS 200cc Motorcycle Restoration

Great stuff Joe! Man you must have some patience doing that polishing by hand... love it

 

[Kanticoy]

Re: Bridgestone M2/SS 200cc Motorcycle Restoration

Beautiful job brother.

 

[joeyputt]

Re: Bridgestone M2/SS 200cc Motorcycle Restoration

Thank you Brothers! I will never be able to thank you all enough for your kind words and support, they truly mean more to me than you know!

Brother casi approved the color for the tins so my Brother Jason is working on clearcoating them and he sent me this photo of the side cover today!

We have been working on the wiring and I was able to get most of it installed, I have just a few small things left to wire however I have most of it completed. We have had the headlight bucket mounted on the bike and now that I have most of the wiring completed I installed the new old stock headlight that Brother casi sent so that I could test it, according to the tag that was on the bike when we received it this is the first time that she has powered a light in 38 years so it was really awesome to see the first signs of new life from her this evening!

I still have to complete the final wiring for the tail light however I temporarily connected the wiring so that I could test it and the running light as well as the brake light are working good so I should have all of the wiring completed very soon!

 

[casi85]

Re: Bridgestone M2/SS 200cc Motorcycle Restoration

And on that day the 9th of August in 2012 Joe said, "Let there be light!"

Looks like her first heartbeat and she is getting so close!

 

[JustinLonghorn]

Re: Bridgestone M2/SS 200cc Motorcycle Restoration

Indeed. I think we will need a video of her first breath, sir.

 

[Dale]

Re: Bridgestone M2/SS 200cc Motorcycle Restoration

Always a pleasure watching your builds. Perfect.

 

[joeyputt]

Re: Bridgestone M2/SS 200cc Motorcycle Restoration

And on that day the 9th of August in 2012 Joe said, "Let there be light!"

Looks like her first heartbeat and she is getting so close!

As much as I love to return bikes to their former glory it truly was a special moment, I had to leave the light on for a minute so that I could stand there and look at how pretty she is!

Indeed. I think we will need a video of her first breath, sir.

I will definately take a couple videos of her running to share!

Always a pleasure watching your builds. Perfect.

The pleasure is ours Brother as it is always good to have you here with us!

 

[joeyputt]

Re: Bridgestone M2/SS 200cc Motorcycle Restoration

My Brother Jason added a couple more coats of clear to the tins and he sent me this photo of the gas tank!

 

[joeyputt]

Re: Bridgestone M2/SS 200cc Motorcycle Restoration

Today Dad was here and we had a really enjoyable time working on the Bridgestone togethor, we installed the new points and condensors that Brother casi sent, adjusted the gap on both sets of points, and set the ignition timing. After we installed and set everything we ran a test and we have really nice fire on both spark plugs!

Here is a photo of the new points and condensors mounted in the end of the generator.

 

[casi85]

Re: Bridgestone M2/SS 200cc Motorcycle Restoration

Spark is good but the paint is amazing! I can not wait to see it all together!!!!!!!!!!

 

[joeyputt]

Re: Bridgestone M2/SS 200cc Motorcycle Restoration

My Brother Jason really did beautiful work on the tins and I can not wait to see them on the bike, he put the final coat of clear on the tank today and has it so smooth there is no edge around the decals! I have been working on restoring the last few pieces that we are painting black, today I painted the speedometer, tool box, tool box door, kickstand, and the skid plate. I am still working on the skid plate and I have more detail work to do on these parts however here are a few photos of how they look this evening!