February 28, 201313 yr Coop, That does look good indeed. You either need to ride it, and put some scratches in the new plastic, or polish the Dog Poop outta the tank..... Is the tank plastic? There's a good vid on polishing vintage bike plastic on youtube. I don't have the time to find it right this moment; if I can find it; I'll try to give a link later. The guy uses a razor to get the scratches out, and to "scuff" off old oxidized-looking plastic down to "newer" looking stuff. He then took a heat gun to it, and it actually came out looking really good after that. It could be further polished with 400 grit wet or dry sandpaper, going to 600 grit after that, using LOTS of water. I've actually had this work out pretty well, but it is a lot of work. Easier to just buy spare fenders/plasric (if you can get 'em), put the stuff away until you wanna sell the bike, and then ride with an ugly stuff on the bike...... It's a dirt bike, not a shrine, hee hee...... I will confess to spraying my bike with that Maxima's SC-1 "Keep it Shiny" stuff-in-a-rattle-can, however.... J13me, I hope you're making progress on your bike w/o pegging the frustration meter, or spending a lot of $$$. I've been following your build/repair progress, and am impressed with your tenacity...... Jimmie Edited March 3, 201313 yr by mr neutron
February 28, 201313 yr looks good without graphics ;-] Yeah it was $135 with decals or $85 without decals. I opted for the cheaper one since I am sure when the weather breaks it is going to be hitting the ground a lot and scratched to match the rest of the plastic. No sense in ruining an expensive fender AND nice stickers. Might as well just mess up a fender haha. mr neutron the tank is plastic, I might have to look that video up. We still have at least another month of all this snow, that would give me something to do to the bike while I wait out the thaw. The fender will get scratched up quick enough but I didn't like how the Yamaha stuff didn't really fit (you can see how poorly the front one fits), plus the seat pad area was cut off the original fender and was cracked and repaired several times. It really looked like junk. I don't need a beauty queen but I do try to keep my bikes presentable.
March 1, 201313 yr Well, here goes an attempt to "embed" a video about vintage dirt bike plastic refinishing...... BTW, it looked like there were other vids on the same subject as well, & maybe they can be of help? Hope this helps some, but after I think about it a little, not sure how the heat gun will work with the fuel tank, Coop. That may be a "no-no"........ Unless you really dry the tank out, and get out every last speck of fumes....... Jimmie Edited March 1, 201313 yr by mr neutron
March 1, 201313 yr Coop Its the kind of slaping big end, rumbling gear box and clattering idler gear that probably should have been adressed 2 owners ago, maintenance.
March 1, 201313 yr Thanks for that video! Upon further inspection the tank was painted once so that's kind of a bummer. I'll have to strip the paint off first before I could even try that. I have to decide if it bothers me enough to give it a go or not haha. carl bummer. But at least you went in before any major damage was caused (cracked case, gouged cylinder wall, etc)..
March 1, 201313 yr Today was a busy day in the quest for a running bike.. Had the kickstart part welded (it was an actual bike garage so they knew about the seals etc) have the engine back in after a nice freshen up and sorting few issues. Just have to tighten the bolts, tension the wheel/chain (any tips on the best way to do this?) Been called offshore again so may not get back onto it for a while.. Roll on bad weather!
March 2, 201313 yr j13me, Now that is what we like to see. Progress "Had the kickstart part welded (it was an actual bike garage so they knew about the seals etc)" which part was welded? and have the seals you mention melted now? For tension on the chain what I normally do is put the bike on a stand so that both wheels are off the ground and adjust the snail cams until I can fit 1 or 1.5 fingers between the top of the rub block tensioner and the swing arm. It seems to work good for me. There are probably other methods with more technical reasons behind them. oh and usually people wish for good weather so they can ride. Sounds like with your job you will get good riding wet rainy, muddy events.
March 3, 201313 yr Author After riding some 'home-made' sections at my mates place yesterday, the Gas Gas has been treated to new gearbox oil and brake fluid front and rear (not sure that this has been ever changed judging by the condition of it ['marmalade']). I am using putoline light gear oil again and am pleased with how it makes the bike feel. On the fettling front, I have cut out the reinforcing sections on the underside of a repaired rear fender; this makes it super flexible to the extent that it does this without cracking.............. this was tried and tested yesterday on at least a couple of occasions
March 3, 201313 yr Seals should be ok, he welded it quickly and cooled it quickly. Will find out when it runs. Have a day off tomorrow so will have it back together and hopefully here some "put put puts" hope everyone's enjoying there bikes
March 4, 201313 yr I had a productive day today with my Old B.A.G.G. Had some welding to do: Mid muffler top mounting bracket was cracked (older Steel one, made welding easier!) Cracked footpeg bracket dog bone mount had been worn, build it up with weld and ground smooth. Knocked out old dog bone bearings and bearings at swing arm where shock mounts. Installed new bearings and seals in dog bones. Almost done with getting her ready.
March 4, 201313 yr Today.. I GOT THE BIKE RUNNING few problems still, will update my project thread with a few questions I'm hoping you can answer (should be simple I think?)
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