Restarted Project

[Pork Chop]

I made a bit more progress today and I have decided to keep the tank as it is a just clean up the scratches. I originally wanted to paint the tank orange and matt black but the whole retro gold Yamaha thing has grown on me so I will leave it (for now). I need to think of what to do with the Hemi-orange paint I bought.

I am really happy with the tank, seat and rear fender combination.

 

[Greasey Fingers]

Looking very tidy Did you paint the swingarm silver, it ties in with the shocks like that looks cool. When you think shell be ready to fire up!

Oh yeah what tyres you running there?

 

[Pork Chop]

Thanks Greasey, i was inspired by your video to really get this thing running and finished. The tyres are Dunlop k81 or TT100. The swing arm is is painted VHT cast iron but I couldn't fit it in the oven to bake so it might chip easily. It is a bit darker than it looks in the pic. I hand polished the old shocks to an ok finish but i plan on replacing them later so no biggie.
Did you have any problems with foot controls or side stand hitting your stubby mufflers?

Cheers.

 

[Pork Chop]

My plan is to be on the road by second week of October.

 

[Greasey Fingers]

Sounds good cant wait to hear your bike running with the 400 top end. The stubby mufflers had to be mounted in such a way that the brake pedal didnt hit. So just put them on and hold them in the position you want ensuring they clear the path of the brake pedal, and while holding them there tighten the muffler mounting brackets right up. I did the final tighting of the muffler clamps and header nuts after they were put into position and the brackets were tightened right up. They seem all cool now and the brake clears the muffler. I found the right hand side had to be pulled out a little bit away from the frame for the brake pedal to clear.

 

[Pork Chop]

Thanks for the info. I have the stubby reverse cones by emgo to put on - they were actually the first thing I bought for my bike and will probably be the last thing I put on. Did you pass rego inspection with those mufflers on?

 

[drewpy]

looking good Pork chop

 

[AMR-XS400]

I requested a "just out of the cast" finnish from my vapour blaster guy so I think it was middle of the road grit. I was going to paint the wheels after blasting but I liked the finnish so I left them. When I picked up my side covers from the blaster I told him that I wasn't going to paint the wheels and he replied by saying he wanted to blast them again to "bling" them up but I had already mounted the tyres.

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sounds like you have a decent vapour blaster! what does he charge?

 

[dodger0129]

Hey porkchop.....
Just thought i'd post a couple of pics of an XS250 I had(have now moved on to an XS 400DOHC bobber),which I had cut the rear loop of right behind the shocks.Then I bought and fitted a cafe seat hump which I bought from www.kickstarterclassics in germany.Very friendly/helpfull fellas if you decide to go down the cafe/classic route,and reasonable prices.....It was cheaper for me to buy that seat and ship it from germany than I could get it for here in the UK!!??
Anyways...good luck with your project,looking good so far

 

[Greasey Fingers]

Hey pork sorry my bad, with the muffler I meant it needs to go IN towards the frame for the brake lever to clear it Youll see anyway when you go to mount it.

 

[lcgtr]

awesome project mate

 

[Pork Chop]

Hi AMR, my vapour guy is not cheap and not expensive - he charged $160 for my wheels (he had to use paint stripper first) and about $200 for engine covers, head and 2 sets of jugs. He gets quite a bit stuff mailed to him from people restoring British bikes. He is restoring a few classic Maico's which I would kill for. Let me know if you want his details.

 

[Pork Chop]

Hey guys thanks for the encouragement.

@ Dodger thanks for the info, your bike is looking cool - the yellow springs are a nice touch.

 

[Pork Chop]

I have made a bit more progress.

I plan on wrapping the headers but they are badly pitted and rusted so to slow corrosion, I wire-wheeled them and then sanded them with 60 grit and then painted them with VHT header paint in my high-tech spray booth (alley way) and dried on a stake in the garden.

 

[Pork Chop]

I am unsure of what colour to paint the headlight. For some reason I like cream - what do you guys think?

Or does black look better?

The headlight rim is just the factory 7" polished chrome.

 

[drewpy]

what about the same colour as the Yam logo?

 

[Pork Chop]

what about the same colour as the Yam logo?

Good idea but the logo is a kind of flat gold vinyl and i don't like my chances of matching it.

 

[Greasey Fingers]

Hey pork just wondering what tyre sizes you ended up running? Is 120 the fattest possible on the back or can a 130 squeeze in there?

 

[Pork Chop]

I wrapped the headers today. The wrap is called titanium and has a carbon fibre look but doesn't contain either material. It is made with "Lava Rock" technology which means you don't have to wet it and you don't go to bed with glass fibres everywhere. This stuff is extremely pliable and I probably could of got 2" wide tape.

To do this I clamped the header to the table and loosely wrapped it. Then zip tied the muffler end and tightened it up and used temporary cable ties to hold it in place as I went along. I tried to keep to 1/4" overlap but was 1/2" or so in some areas. I think it looks better than the dinged, scratched and rusty pipes.

Does anyone know if the head bolts are high tensile or special in anyway?

Cheers

 

[Greasey Fingers]

sweet! So whats left to do now till you fire her up? Oh yeah what were the tyre sizes you went with on the dunlops.