Restore or Customize?
Posted: Wed Jul 17, 2019 10:45 am
Bought a 82 Interstate the other day. The plan was to lightly customize it to make a bagger, but now that I'm looking at it in the shop I'm feeling a little guilty about chopping it up. This is one of the nicest one I've had out of 4 or 5 previous old wings. The bike has 45,000 miles and was parked in a shop about 10 years ago due to "carb problems". So been stored indoors for the past decade (last registered in 09).
Paint and plastic is all in very good condition, no broken tabs or anything. A couple of cracks (less than 1") on the corners of one of the bag lids and the top box, but other than that it's clean. Frame is not scratched or rusted - just a small amount of surface rust on the side stand and center stand. I was going to strip it and powdercoat it but it really just needs a light touch up. Exhaust is perfect.
Engine spins nicely (not frozen) although I haven't tried to start it with 10 year old fuel in the carbs. Of course EVERYTHING has to be gone through - its been sitting for 10 years. Tank is full of rust (duh) so right now I'm in the process of dismantling the rear of the bike to get the tank out. I pulled the carbs just to see and they aren't really that bad, some varnish as expected but not horrible.
So, do I save it as a "survivor" or continue on with the customizing plan? If I go the bagger route I'm going to end up cutting quite a bit of the plastic and metal as well as new paint and powdercoat over the chrome - a path of no return to original.
I didn't take a pic of the bike when I got it but here it is in the shop semi-disassembled.
Paint and plastic is all in very good condition, no broken tabs or anything. A couple of cracks (less than 1") on the corners of one of the bag lids and the top box, but other than that it's clean. Frame is not scratched or rusted - just a small amount of surface rust on the side stand and center stand. I was going to strip it and powdercoat it but it really just needs a light touch up. Exhaust is perfect.
Engine spins nicely (not frozen) although I haven't tried to start it with 10 year old fuel in the carbs. Of course EVERYTHING has to be gone through - its been sitting for 10 years. Tank is full of rust (duh) so right now I'm in the process of dismantling the rear of the bike to get the tank out. I pulled the carbs just to see and they aren't really that bad, some varnish as expected but not horrible.
So, do I save it as a "survivor" or continue on with the customizing plan? If I go the bagger route I'm going to end up cutting quite a bit of the plastic and metal as well as new paint and powdercoat over the chrome - a path of no return to original.
I didn't take a pic of the bike when I got it but here it is in the shop semi-disassembled.