D.I.D it!

One time only...


The cold weather only had one positive aspect, the rims did not get hot to handle.
On the other hand this probably affected the function of the polishing compund in a negative way. I'll have to do it all ove again with a finer coumpound later.

Anyway, I made some short cuts by not grinding with fine grit paper, that shows. But on the other hand they are old rims, full of nicks and dents. You have to draw the line somewhere...

Doldrums

Due to my lack of stamina and cramps in my grindig hand I have limited the visits in the shed to one hour a day. My thumb is numb...

This is one of the resons why the rims aren't ready yet. The factor that I'll have to do the last polishing outdoors might slow things down too, it's -5 degres Celsius at the moment, it's dark and the wind is over 10m/s. Maybe tomorrow.

Cirtic acid

I think it's a very good home remedy for the average Joe's workshop. Not a very strong acid and very easy to get, just 'borrow' from the kitchen.

I have now used it for zink plating, refurbishing of Amal carbs for my Norton and lately a rusty camshaft.

I just had to try it, but because of the New Years party and other things I forgot...
Anyway after a couple of days I removed the camshaft from the acid. And this is how it looked before polishing the surfaces.



I just put one end in the acid, this is how the other end looks like.

New Rods

Because of the storm last night and the following power failure, there has not been much action in the shed today.

At least the car still had some power so I went and bought new connecting rods for one engine.

Rims

Today I started all over again, the crack in the rim was not welded through so it had to be re-done.
At the same time I had all the largest nicks filled in.


The front rim also welded but not grinded.

There where two large holes for rim locks that I did not want.
Below, welded and grinded using small file and sand paper. One small spot in the weld...


Hopefully the rims will turn out as good as the Borrani rim that I polished several years ago. Still have not had any use for the wheel.


And if I dont find anything else to do, there are more rims waiting

Chemistry 101

Sooner than later I'll buy an DIY electroplating set, Caswell for example.
But I thought I should try it myself first...

Using an old coffee brewer, Citric acid, Zinc sheet metal and a modified battery charger (made it a constant 1 amp source).

I started with a spacer to the rear wheel.


The result.

Well a rather thick coating on the outside, nothng on the inside. Don't think I could have done much better with a "semi pofessional set" - or could I?



And after some brushing

Time Capsule

Went to my local parts dealer to buy a couple of spoke sets for my CB125 project.
The guy behind the counter told me that they had opened "the door, you know" and found a camshaft for a CB450.
"The Door" is the door to a room in the cellar that supposedly was shut in the mid 70:s when the room was flooded or at least water damaged, and never opend until late 2011.

Probably why the camshaft was rusty.

The camshaft is a bit interesting since I guess it's the same model (or similar) to those which was used in the Precision Machining 450 in the early 70:s, described in an article in Cycle World on Honda (1968-1971 edition as I remember it)

Most complicated

piece I have made in my lathe, this far, is the new stopper out of aluminium, for my drill (instead of the old plastic one).

Painted, sort of...

... because when I checked the spray can, afterwards, it was engine paint.

Electrix

Searched the shed for a CB125 alternator, the first rotor I found looked like this.



What might have happended to that? It also looks like someone have been riding the bike for some time after that happened. Maybe it's the cause of this or the result?

Finally found a good one but the configuration of the stator did not match my Worshop Manual. Later found the matching wiring diagram in a CB125B6 manual. Anyway it's a 6V alternator and a flash light probably would be better.



If the magnets are good, I think I'll try to modify it and see if I could get more power.

Nothing much

Mostly grinding and some latheing. Started with the CB125 brake shield, had to add some JB weld (metal glue) in the imperfections from the welding. Hopefully I can finish that tomorrow.

Also I have had a CB500T oil filter part laying in the shop, for a wery long time. Thougt the condition was so bad that I just could not lathe it down, as I usually do...
Made a new bronze bushing. Had it been a CB450 part it most centainly had gone in the trash bin, since I have got several NOS ones ...


After that I thought I could spend some elbow grease on the modified CL77 lower legs that eventually will go on the CR450 project that has been resting for some years.
The lower fork legs has been modified with new fender mounts and new brake mount for a 4ls drum brake. This is what they looked like after welding.



I also made new bushings for the CB125 rear swing. The oringinal ones were so rusted that I had major trouble dismanling the damn thing. Had to soak it in oil for a couple of weeks.

Finally some action

Today I got, at least, something done.
At the same time I got the lower front fork legs welded I had the original clutch cover repaired. (Ok, I've done some grinding on the fork legs too, more about that later)

Why?
Because using one of the spare covers I've got, would be too easy!

The basic grinding is done, tested for leaks and now I just have to sand it some more, spray wash primer, maybe some bondo and ...

Flowchart

My projects need some WD-40, according to the flowchart...

Gone fishing

Went fishing last week, no luck with the sea trouts.
At least we had a lot of beer and some steaks to put on the grill.

Got some parts welded, finally.

Among the welded parts was the modified front fork tubes for the Fleetwood.
(one of the old bleeders was broken so I replaced both of them.



For the CB125 the brake cable grommet on the front brake shield was broken so I decided to also modify/remove the whole speedo drive. The cast aluminium in the brake shield is not easy to weld so I will most likely have to paint it.



In the rim, that will go on the front drum brake, there was a crack that had to be welded. Maybe I should have filled in all the small dents/nicks to? The reason why I had this rim repaired, in the first place, is that it's an original DID valanced aluminium rim. The rim is also stamped YDS2M, which is a Yamaha?



The 'only' thing left is a lot of grinding...

Uggly duckling

Found pictures of a 'one of a kind' Baja converted CL450 on the internet. Can not decide if it's really cool or really uggly...

Opposite sex

Taru Rinne, a Finnish former motorcycle racer who was the first woman to achieve points in Grand Prix motorcycle racing.



I can understand Ago's interest but on Eddie's bike, how come?

Fiasco - almost

Started the day with an idea for a jig, for latheing the brake drums without removing the bearings.
Spent most of the day making it and when I finally was going to late the brake drums i noticead that ther was a runout. Apparently the morse cone I made was not good. Fixed that and still it was not good. Came to the conclusion that the old bearings were crap.

Spent half an hour making the setup I should have started with. Hopefully the new brake surface is centered ...

Overcomplicated setup


Easy setup


Note (when removing bearings)
a) If the little voice in the back of your head says "don't do it this way" then don't.
b) Hitting yourself on the thumb with a hammer, that hurts.

Field trip today

Went with the kids to the local technical museum to watch the 'NASA - A Human Adveture' exhibition.

Had a closer view at the Mercury 6 - Friendship 7 space capsule that John Glenn orbited the earth in. I'm pretty sure he was not a man of great stature. It looked like there would be a problem to squeeze in a child in that one.



But obviously a man could fit in it, but if he in 'the heat of the moment' would have shit his pants - Houston we have a problem ;)

Steering stem

Since I did not have any front fork for the CB125K5 frame I decided to go 'all in' and marry that frame with a CB125TD disk brake front fork.

The obvious was that the distance between yoke and bridge was different. The legs are also longer but that does not matter, I think...


The orther thing was that I did not have any bearings or bearing cups. The solution was to buy tapered roller bearing and lathe a couple of longer bearing cups.



Eventually I will, or not, weld them to the frame for additional strenght.