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Coming together nicely!

The goal is to try to work on a little something every day. It's still too blasted hot to polish up the right valve cover, but at least I got the front heat shield and electronic ignition installed.



It's not actually timed yet- I've got to re-acquaint myself with how to time a Dyna ignition. I've pulled up the instructions before, I just have to get around to doing it.

Annoyingly, I've finding places on the top of the engine (mostly in nooks and crannies around the cylinder bore indentations on the outside of the cases) where I accidentally painted over a LOT of dirt and loose paint. I've been able to spot paint these areas to touch them up relatively easily, but I worry about missing something major once more stuff (carbs) is in the way.

Oh well. The next big project is de-rusting the gas tank, which will take a while. Hopefully I can find all my problem spots in the meantime.

I am super-happy to report that both valve covers are polished and done, and the valve cover badges painted and installed.





Emblems were refirbed the same way I usually do it- the entire thing was spray-painted black, then the raised areas wiped clean with an MEK-soaked rag. If you take your time it's relatively hard to mess up, and you're left with a nice crisp looking emblem. (Just be careful with MEK- the stuff is NASTY.)

I've also started looking at my gas tank. A couple days soak in Evapo-rust is promising, but there is quite a bit of crap to get through. The reserve line has been plugged since I bought the bike, so I'm hoping to rectify that soon as well.



I currently have about 3 gallons in it, and while I could rotate the tank to get all sides, it'd be nice to just fill it full and forget about it. Then afterwards it's the familiar song and dance- clean, paint, and install.

I'm calling the fuel tank done. After a week of soaking in Evaporust, it's heads and shoulders better than it was starting out. I drained, strained, and saved as much of the cleaner as I could, and what was left (along with a small pile of crap) sitting at the bottom was sucked out with a shop vac. There's still bit of discoloring here and there, but nothing any worse than any tank on my other bikes.

I also managed to clean out the reserve line as well. That was another part of the bike that hadn't worked since I bought it, so it was long overdue to correct.

I'm not going to line the inside of the tank. I've heard as much good as bad with tanks that have been lined before, and while I'm sure liners work perfectly if applied correctly, that assumes my abilities are enough to apply it correctly. Naw, I'll stick with clean steel and just keep the tanks filled.

It's currently sitting with a bit of gas and about a quart of 2-cycle oil in it, washed around the line the sides. When it comes time to paint I'll splash around a bit more gasoline to dilute things down, clean the outside best I can, then slap some paint on it before shoving it back into the frame.

I just got back from spending WAY too much on paint, but it was for a good cause. Most of the body panels on this bike are in very, VERY good shape, on account of a previous owner coating most of them in black Plasti-dip- ugly for a motorcycle, but great for preserving a rare color for 45 years. The one exception was the radiator wings.



As you can see, even the backsides are fairly good. However the front faces, along with some rust damage at the bottom, is rather unsightly. After a (failed) attempt at ordering touch-up paint online, I spent the money for an auto paint store to scan and color match the correct yellow. I still need to prep the rust spots and figure how I want to spray the problem areas (airbrush vs touchup gun), but this is all that's stopping me from getting the radiator back on.

Of course, the cost of the paint pushed back getting a quote for getting my exhaust ceramic coated by a couple weeks, but the exhaust is pretty much last thing to go on anyway.

I have made an attempt to clean up the rust spots on my radiator wings. A trip to Harbor Freight for their cheapest touch-up spray gun later, and this is what I ended up with.

The good? It seemed to go alright. Color seems like a very close match as well, although the real test will be covering up the rust on the other side, that will just consist of spot touch-ups I'll have to blend with the stock yellow.

The only real downside is that a bit of crud landed in the paint as I was spraying, so there are a few spots I'll need to touch up later. It's also not a flawless factory job, but very good compared to what I had before.

This photo is a bit of a mash-up because, well.... that's kind of been the progress the last couple days. Due to waiting on the mail for some things (paint for my fuel tank, hardware for my last engine hanger and other assorted hardware), I've been picking at the radiator and it's assorted parts.



Initially I was going to paint the radiator, but an examination proved it's not that bad, and most everything is covered by trim anyway. In the end I settled on just hitting the small shield on the left that covers the cooling fan. And speaking of which, I attempted to disassemble the fan to paint that, only to ruin the motor because I forgot (again) that hitting a threaded rod with a hammer WILL mess up the threads, no exceptions. Thankfully fans are cheap, and a replacement is on the way.

I popped one radiator wing on to see what it looks like, and I like it. I still need to touch up some areas on the backside for both, so this isn't permanent yet. I also got new NAPA coolant hoses, got my hands on some model-correct hose clamps, and painted them plus the anti-kink springs.

The front grill is pretty good, but the edge needs cleaned and shined up. Still, I get my fan, I get the bolts for the clamp, and touch up the wings, then the radiator can go back on.

Another day, another step closer to checking off a big step forward on the to-do list. I still need to paint the bottom once the top is dry enough to flip, but I don't know. I think it's good enough for something that'll be 80% hidden.

The fuel tank is back in the bike. I thought about taking pictures, but... that's the thing about these tanks. It was an absolute pain in the behind to get it in, and now that it is there's really nothing that different to look at.

I can kind of go a couple directions now. I'm still leaning toward working on the radiator, but I should probably start thinking about carbs soon. I need to replace some of the o-rings due to some fuel leakage on the underside, and I'm sure I'm not done polishing things. On the other hand, it would be nice to finish up the rear end, which means cleaning up the final drive and addressing issues with the brakes.

EDIT: Oh heck. Why not. Here's a picture. Everyone loves pictures.

I’d be a little concerned about stuff dropping down the intakes…

Why don't you have your intake ports covered? Seems a bit risky given all the work you're doing. I meant to ask about that earlier.

Nice work though!

desertrefugee wrote: ↑Sun Sep 12, 2021 9:34 pm Why don't you have your intake ports covered? Seems a bit risky given all the work you're doing.

That's exactly what I was thinking. stuff a rag in them holes.

Y'all making some excellent points over here. Should probably get on that, huh?

-----Later------

I'm getting a sinking suspicion that I'm probably going to have to strip and re-paint my gas tank. Because I needed it to be fuel-resistant, and because I lack the facilities to paint it properly (spray gun, two-part paints, etc.), I went with Spray Max's 2K gloss black in a rattle can. It comes with a hardener/activator in the can, so you can get two part paint without needed a full spray gun setup.

Problem is, it's been two full days, and the paint is still tacky. It's "dry", but feels more like a plasti-dip rubber coating than anything. I'll give a few more days to be sure, but I get the feeling this is going to be a do-over.

Not a fan, if I'm honest. But it's probably better to take care of this now, rather than with the tank fully buttoned back up and the rear end on, but it's still a pain either way.

I pulled the trigger on a gas tank repaint. I've got some epoxy primer ordered, and have to two-part black to paint the tank correctly. I will have to strip the old paint, which I'm NOT looking forward to.

The hardware for my coolant hose clamps came in as well, and.... well, as a small indication of how my luck usually goes, here's the full story- I got my hands on some stock clamps (because I'm a bit of a stickler for that now, apparently), but the bolt were trashed. I had to order a new lower engine hanger, so I added new clamp bolts to my order.

A MONTH goes by before my order is even shipped out. True, it showed up a couple days after that, but I've been waiting a while. Finally get them in, decide to get at least a couple of them installed and ready- come to find out my new Napa hoses are JUST different enough that the stock clamps won't actually work on them!

Essentially the small bit of metal that's supposed to slide under the other side as you tighten the clamp... doesn't. It binds up, bends, and eventually digs into the hose. I haven't tested how well they seal, but I guarantee you it's not good.

While worm drive hose clamps are always an option, I still want to keep it period-sensible. I see the GL1000 switched to the double-wire type clamps in '78 and kept them all the way through the GL1200, so I picked up a set of those. It's a bit of a bummer, but on the other hand, a leaky hose is why my radiator fins rusted out in the first place, and I'd like to avoid a repeat.

Uhh, why isn’t the Valkyrie in your sig line? I just realized the pride of the fleet isn’t there!