New bike project.

New project, a bike with a motor this time, I’ve been working on this for a while so done quite a bit so far. It’s been 20 years since I sat or worked on a bike, last one was a Triumph Bonny, they just cost too much these days so I settled for a 74 TX650 wreck and boy did it turn out to be a wreck. I have psoriatic arthritis so I’ve largely lost the use of my hands but I manage a few hours work on it every day. I’ll never be able to ride it thanks to the PsA so this will be a long term project: Every nut, bolt spoke, piece of steel was rusted through. Inspection also revealed the chain had come off at same stage, as well as removing the top section of the crankcase as in the picture, it also tore the top section of the gearbox drum shifter bearing housing off. After tearing the engine apart I sent off for a second hand set of crankcase.

The bike came with an extra set of carbs, mag wheels and a pair of spoked wheels and a box of assorted bits and pieces. While I was waiting for the cases, I cut the rusted spokes off the wheels, stuck the hubs on the lathe, trued up the castings and then polished them using cloth wheels and progressively finer compounds. The rims, which were badly damaged from tyre irons and badly pitted from oxidisation, were repaired, ground and polished. While on a polishing kick I also polished the top triple tree, lower fork sliders, brake backing plate, brake fluid distributor, brake master cylinr and also bead blasted the switches and polished them up. Polishing on the buffer machine really hurts my hands so I have to loop a roop around my neck, tie it to the item to be polished to support it and then polish. It took quite a while to do the polishing as I could only manage an hour or under each day, any more and I’d be laid up recouperating for a few days. A very painful job for me, polishing. Some pics of the journey:
 

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I’ve done a little frame work while waiting for parts. The bike is going to be a custom so I’ve decided to narrow the seat a couple of inches which also necessitates making new sidecovers and battery holder. The battery case has been bent up using 3mm ally, just have to weld the sides on it to finish. Also had to make up some new rubber mounted brackets to mount it.

Side covers were beat up from 1.5mm ally with a sharp bend to follow the frame tubes. Didn’t like the crease so I beat up another couple with a gradual rounded bend. The top seat frame tube follows a different shape and angle from the lower frame tube so as well as bending the cover I also had to twist it, came out pretty good though. After welding tabs on the frame, rubber grommets with positive stop nuts turned up on the lathe were installed in the sidecovers. Originally the covers were to be painted, but I polished them up to see what they’d look like. Very hard alloy so it took a bit to get all the marks out and polish them up. I’ll wait until the frame and tank are painted and wheels on before I make a D but I think the polished alloy might be a bit too much.
 

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The cases turned up so I started on the motor, tore it apart and inspected to see the damage. Surprisingly, the motor was in pretty good nick but compression was down so I put the barrel in for a rebore and sent off for a couple of pistons, rings, gudgeons and clips. I also sent off for a gasket set, seal kit and a set of stainless, allen head screws. Chrome platers got the oil tube, points/governor covers and acorn nuts for the cylinder head/rocker cover.

I bead blasted the cases, barrel, head, rocker cover and carbs. Then back to the polishing again for the rocker inspection caps, side covers, dipstick, cam chain adjuster housing, breather housing, carb top and bottoms.

Carbs were CVs so they got a new kit through them and I managed to find two diaphragms that weren’t holed and also a couple of dented but usable floats. The lip on the diaphragms were badly squashed so the slides didn’t act as they were supposed to so I cut some gaskets and installed them on top of the diaphragms, Bingo, all fixed, slides behaved themselves.

Hang the classic sign on a bike and prices go through the roof, a good example were the rocker shaft bungs, $20 each from suppliers. I got four stainless hex head bungs with the same thread for just a few bucks on eBay. Definitely pays to shop around.

After blasting the cases I painted them in engine enamel and started assembling. I made up a wheeled stand for assembling the motor and once assembled I found the points backing plate didn’t allow sufficient adjustment to time it so I had to be opened up the points gap to .25mm to time the engine, bugger, new cam chain required. Anyway I prepped the lube system by turning the motor over with the use of a cordless drill and mounted the electrical components on an ally bracket I made. Rectifier was shot, I was not surprised suppliers wanted an arm and a leg for a replacement so I bough a three phase bridge rectifier on eBay for $4. Coils were also shot, so I found a couple of Bosch units in my electrics box, mounted them and hooked everything up.

Once ready, I switched on and the motor burst into life on the first crank. Next stepwas to sync the carbs. Not a fan of vacuum gauges, or the dollars they cost so I made up a fluid manometer using two lengths of 35mm acrylic tube sandwitched between a wood base, joined them together, cut two lengths of 6mm plastic tube, inserted two delron Jets I made up, joined them to the top of the manometer and put a few ccs of water in each tube. The bike didn’t have any manifold adapters for vacuum gauges so The manifold came off, were drilled and a spigot shrunk into each. Once back together again, I hooked up the manometer, started the bike and syncronised the carbs. The video shows how a manometer works.
The cases turned up so I started on the motor, tore it apart and inspected to see the damage. Surprisingly, the motor was in pretty good nick but compression was down so I put the barrel in for a rebore and sent off for a couple of pistons, rings, gudgeons and clips. I also sent off for a gasket set, seal kit and a set of stainless, allen head screws. Chrome platers got the oil tube, points/governor covers and acorn nuts for the cylinder head/rocker cover.

I bead blasted the cases, barrel, head, rocker cover and carbs. Then back to the polishing again for the rocker inspection caps, side covers, dipstick, cam chain adjuster housing, breather housing, carb top and bottoms.

Carbs were CVs so they got a new kit through them and I managed to find two diaphragms that weren’t holed and also a couple of dented but usable floats. The lip on the diaphragms were badly squashed so the slides didn’t act as they were supposed to so I cut some gaskets and installed them on top of the diaphragms, Bingo, all fixed, slides behaved themselves.

Hang the classic sign on a bike and prices go through the roof, a good example were the rocker shaft bungs, $20 each from suppliers. I got four stainless hex head bungs with the same thread for just a few bucks on eBay. Definitely pays to shop around.

After blasting the cases I painted them in engine enamel and started assembling. I made up a wheeled stand for assembling the motor and once assembled I found the points backing plate didn’t allow sufficient adjustment to time it so I had to be opened up the points gap to .25mm to time the engine, bugger, new cam chain required. Anyway I prepped the lube system by turning the motor over with the use of a cordless drill and mounted the electrical components on an ally bracket I made. Rectifier was shot, I was not surprised suppliers wanted an arm and a leg for a replacement so I bough a three phase bridge rectifier on eBay for $4. Coils were also shot, so I found a couple of Bosch units in my electrics box, mounted them and hooked everything up.

Once ready, I switched on and the motor burst into life on the first crank. Next stepwas to sync the carbs. Not a fan of vacuum gauges, or the dollars they cost so I made up a fluid manometer using two lengths of 35mm acrylic tube sandwitched between a wood base, joined them together, cut two lengths of 6mm plastic tube, inserted two delron Jets I made up, joined them to the top of the manometer and put a few ccs of water in each tube. The bike didn’t have any manifold adapters for vacuum gauges so The manifold came off, were drilled and a spigot shrunk into each. Once back together again, I hooked up the manometer, started the bike and syncronised the carbs. The video shows how a manometer works.

I knew I had to replace the Cam chain, and since I wasn’t happy with the silver colour I painted the engine, I tore the motor down again, blasted the paint off the cases, barrel, head and rocker cover and resprayed, black this time. This second tear down necessitated new gaskets of course so I sent off for a set and laid everything out on the bench ready for reassembly. Cam chain arrived so I assembled the crank and gearbox and sealed the crankcases. Bottom end is now in the stand with clutch and alternator assembled and that’s as far as I’ve got this time, just waiting for the gaskets to arrive. Boredom overtook so I removed the stator and polished it, now the engine internals are nice and shiny.

I knew I had to replace the Cam chain, and since I wasn’t happy with the silver colour I painted the engine, I tore the motor down again, blasted the paint off the cases, barrel, head and rocker cover and resprayed, black this time. This second tear down necessitated new gaskets of course so I sent off for a set and laid everything out on the bench ready for reassembly. Cam chain arrived so I assembled the crank and gearbox and sealed the crankcases. Bottom end is now in the stand with clutch and alternator assembled and that’s as far as I’ve got this time, just waiting for the gaskets to arrive. Boredom overtook so I removed the stator and polished it, now the engine internals are nice and shiny.

The cases turned up so I started on the motor, tore it apart and inspected to see the damage. Surprisingly, the motor was in pretty good nick but compression was down so I put the barrel in for a rebore and sent off for a couple of pistons, rings, gudgeons and clips. I also sent off for a gasket set, seal kit and a set of stainless, allen head screws. Chrome platers got the oil tube, points/governor covers and acorn nuts for the cylinder head/rocker cover.

I bead blasted the cases, barrel, head, rocker cover and carbs. Then back to the polishing again for the rocker inspection caps, side covers, dipstick, cam chain adjuster housing, breather housing, carb top and bottoms.

Carbs were CVs so they got a new kit through them and I managed to find two diaphragms that weren’t holed and also a couple of dented but usable floats. The lip on the diaphragms were badly squashed so the slides didn’t act as they were supposed to so I cut some gaskets and installed them on top of the diaphragms, Bingo, all fixed, slides behaved themselves.

Hang the classic sign on a bike and prices go through the roof, a good example were the rocker shaft bungs, $20 each from suppliers. I got four stainless hex head bungs with the same thread for just a few bucks on eBay. Definitely pays to shop around.

After blasting the cases I painted them in engine enamel and started assembling. I made up a wheeled stand for assembling the motor and once assembled I found the points backing plate didn’t allow sufficient adjustment to time it so I had to be opened up the points gap to .25mm to time the engine, bugger, new cam chain required. Anyway I prepped the lube system by turning the motor over with the use of a cordless drill and mounted the electrical components on an ally bracket I made. Rectifier was shot, I was not surprised suppliers wanted an arm and a leg for a replacement so I bough a three phase bridge rectifier on eBay for $4. Coils were also shot, so I found a couple of Bosch units in my electrics box, mounted them and hooked everything up.

Once ready, I switched on and the motor burst into life on the first crank. Next stepwas to sync the carbs. Not a fan of vacuum gauges, or the dollars they cost so I made up a fluid manometer using two lengths of 35mm acrylic tube sandwitched between a wood base, joined them together, cut two lengths of 6mm plastic tube, inserted two delron Jets I made up, joined them to the top of the manometer and put a few ccs of water in each tube. The bike didn’t have any manifold adapters for vacuum gauges so The manifold came off, were drilled and a spigot shrunk into each. Once back together again, I hooked up the manometer, started the bike and syncronised the carbs. The video shows how a manometer works.

I knew I had to replace the Cam chain, and since I wasn’t happy with the silver colour I painted the engine, I tore the motor down again, blasted the paint off the cases, barrel, head and rocker cover and resprayed, black this time. This second tear down necessitated new gaskets of course so I sent off for a set and laid everything out on the bench ready for reassembly. Cam chain arrived so I assembled the crank and gearbox and sealed the crankcases. Bottom end is now in the stand with clutch and alternator assembled and that’s as far as I’ve got this time, just waiting for the gaskets to arrive. Boredom overtook so I removed the stator and polished it, now the engine internals are nice and shiny.


 

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Very nice work. I have a Yamaha TT500 I'm customizing as a tracker and also have an XS650 engine that I'd love to find an old Rickman frame for. Some day maybe, all this is 2000 miles away right now so it will have to wait.

John
 
Excellent work on the Yam. They are basically a triumph copy, Not as pretty, but more reliable. I have a 1980 low mile version in line for a rebirth as a scrambler. Polishing can get a bit addictive, but it's a messy business. Cheers, Mike
 
New seat pan I made up. This one has a rear cowl. Also some chunky engine mounts I fabricated.
 

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More work on the seat, after a lot of procrastinating, I finally decided on a front mount design. I also welded on a tank mount hump. I didn't like the original seat pan build as the rear cowl didn't match the slope of the tank, sooo, I cut the cowl off, lowered the angle of the rear section, shortened it a little and re attached the cowl. Of course the cowl didn't match, so I had to cut it in half and re bend to the new shape. The sheet wasn't quite long enough so I ended up with a 3mm gap between the halves I had to fill with weld. All worked out in the end, although the cowl skirt sits a little higher than I'd like.
 

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Here's a new manometer I made using neoprene gaskets instead of chair stoppers. Works the same, just looks neater. I also finished of the seat by making rear mounts and redoing the front. Looks quite neat and it's only a two bolt job to remove the seat. Front mount is basically the same as the first, just angled down so the seat clears the frame tubes. Rear mounts are two grommets fitted to the cowl, two positive stop, aluminium plugs inserted in them and two 6mm bolts through them to screw into the tapped tabs I welded to the rear seat loop.
 

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