'76 Yellow Wing - Winter '24/5 Project is On

[NotSoLilCrippseys]

Moving along.

We had a freakishly warm 78-degree Saturday. I took the opportunity to paint the replacement fuel tank, which had a significant amount of bare metal. And today, I managed to pop the tank back in, which is a good thing.

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The black is more glossy than the original, which I sort of regret. I did manage to scratch only two small places reinstalling the tank, which is something of a feat.

I also primed and painted the seat pan. I have a '78/9 seat that I'm going to use, and my reproduction cover is in the mail. The foam is mostly good, with a little wear from exposure to the elements where a seam gave way right by the passenger strap. It'll be fine. And I cleaned up the aluminum seat trim, so I can button it all up when the cover gets here.

And the braided stainless brake lines are also mounted up - though not yet tightened down.

Once my copper exhaust gaskets arrive, I'll be in a position to bolt up the headers and move to a carb sync.

I'll need to ponder the right time to mount the horseshoe muffler, perhaps before I bolt on the headers. Not sure yet.

I'm also not sure I'm going to use the Progressive shocks I picked up a couple months back. Maybe I'll ride the originals and see how she rolls.

I can see daylight at the end of the tunnel, and I can now tell that it's not a train bearing down on this project!

[NotSoLilCrippseys]

I hooked up and bled the front brakes, which wasn't that hard even with the retained splitter. The rear brake will sit until I mount the tire and install the wheel.

My punchlist on this Sulphur Yellow '76 still runs a couple pages, with most of it pretty straightforward.

I took a little time to clean and wax the panels and get a good look at things. The paint is really gorgeous, though it is pretty obvious that the shelter lid has a bit more UV fading than the other panels. It's not bad, but jumps out a bit next to the shelter sides.

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I didn't take a photo of it, but my ABS-cemented fix for the broken tab on the left side panel is solid and holds up well. A little of the black cement is visible right where the tab hooks onto the frame. It could be brought down flush if I were going to repaint, but I'm not.

I used a sacrificial ABS side panel and cut a suitable chunk from it to reform the "hook" portion of the tab. I then shaped the mating contours to closely fit the broken part of the side panel. Using ABS cement and some fiberglass cloth to help hold some goop together on the underside, I bonded the pieces. The "angle" of the hook is not quite a match for the original, which means it requires a little fidgeting and care to install/remove. But that's true for almost any motorcycle side panel.

[NotSoLilCrippseys]

I took a little time this week to recover the seat I'll be using on this build, a '78/9 number with good foam.

I had to do a little work to clean the rust, prime, and repaint the pan. The metal prep left me with a couple cheese-grater size holes out near the edges on one side. But it was plenty solid to withstand a wire brush mounted to a drill. It should last another 45 years if it isn't stored outside and in the harsh rainy/snowy New England elements.

The cover is a high-quality reproduction of the OEM cover, down to the pattern and lettering. I've sourced a couple other repro covers from that vendor and have been quite pleased. This Honda GL1000 cover is quite good and came with the strap. I reused the original hardware.

The trim pieces went back on nicely, and it all looks quite nice. There are few smudges of anti-seize visible in the photos. They'll wipe off. The few creases in the vinyl are from shipping and will likely disappear or become less notable in the coming weeks.

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