Making a little progress while I wait on the frame to come back from welding. The guy who's doing it hasn't been to church for the past two weeks...
I hope something hasn't gone wrong with either him or the frame!
One of the previous owners bobbed the intake to the air cleaner. It cleaned up pretty nicely but I still put a fresh coat of black paint inside and out.
Adding some Washing Soda to hot water for rust removal. The next couple of pics document that process. 1/2 cup Washing Soda and 2 gallons of water.
Wired up my parts for the Negative Cable
Parts go into the Bucket. Negative attached to parts, positive to my collector. The coat hanger really doesn't cut it. It's just too small. So, I'm using this nice large bar. As the bar collects the rust it really becomes crusted. The more it's crusted the less efficient the process is. If it gets gunked up simply wipe it down with some steel wool.
In a matter of minutes you'll have rust soup!
It seems the process really loosens the rust. I suppose I could just have left the parts in for a bit longer but after about 2 hours I simply pulled them out and using a soft brush scrubbed the parts and wiped the rust away. Here's the result. Never think doing this will put chrome back on your parts. It simply loosens the rust. You'll end up with exposed metal if you don't seal it with something.
Screwed this up. After tapping new holes in the base of my petcock I proceeded to twist one of the heads off. After analysis it appears I did not complete the tapping therefore the screw could not be screwed in all the way. I didn't realize that and while torquing down the screw the head came right off! I don't think I was turning very hard but obviously it was more than the little guy could have taken! Sunnbob has sent me a replacement for the price of a beer! Thanks!!!!!! This time I'm just going to drill the new holes and put a nut and bold combo! At least then I'll be able to just pull the bolt out!
Here's the Air Cut-Off. Lots of cleaning here! I might get some pretty replacement screws and the old ones look pretty bad.
Lots of rusting and pitting on the clock cases! The option then is to clean them and seal them or paint them. I'm going going with the seal method first. If things don't work out after summer they're going to get flat black paint.
Lights work!
Now, if you've made it this far here's a preview of the painted side covers! The color is more red than these photos show. I have some gold paint that I'll use to paint the pin striping back on and some blue that I'll use for accents. This is the first coating. After this cures I'll sand it a little to remove any imperfections and then add a final coat and then some clear coat. Some buffing along the way and I'm hoping for a mirror finish.
Do you know what it's like to fall in the mud and get kicked, in the head, by an iron boot? Of course you don't--no one does--that never happens. - Capt. Rex Kramer
'78 Honda GL1000 GoldWing
'86 Honda CMX450C Rebel