Re, Re, Re Buillding a 78 Cafe

[wingrider]

Is that black paint? Looks great whatever color it is!

[groupus]

Yeah it's black. The forks and trees turned out very glassy, the other parts have some orange peel. 3 coats each of primer, black, an clear. I was going to wet sand and all that, but I really don't care that much on these parts. maybe when I do the side covers that are more visible.

[wingrider]

If you don't mind me asking, what brand is that paint you are using?

[groupus]

It's Dupi-color engine enamel with ceramic. I used it for all three stages. I have stupidly used cheap paint and mixed brands before and it ends up chipping and looking like crap in a short time. High heat paint is totally overkill, but the ceramic is tough. I wanted to do it right and not have to redo it a year from now.

BTW, all Dupi-color engine paint is on sale this month at Advanced Auto buy 1 get 1 50% off.

[wingrider]

Hmmm should have swing by there when I was next to it today...at least I have the rest of the month.

[groupus]

It is finally starting to resemble a motorcycle again. Yesterday, I locked myself in the garage during the snowstorm to get some progress done on the wing. The front end is all hooked up: triple trees, forks, tire, brakes, headlight, gauge, handlebars, etc. etc... The gas tank went back in with only a moderate amount of hammering. The engine was also surprisingly easy to do by myself. I think I had more issues getting it out than I did now putting it back. Nearly all of the wiring is done too. I forgot to connect the harness for the temp guage and water pump before I bolted up the top-front engine support, so I had to redo that. I was going to solder the connections for the stator, but my soldering gun could not get the wires hot enough to melt the solder in my cold garage. I will be using bullet connectors and heat shrink instead. Although not ideal, it is still a lot better at isolating the leads than the original plug. Come warmer temps, I can try soldering again. The rear fender is also back on. I need to hook the battery back up so I can decipher the connections for the rear light.

I am pretty unhappy that some of the paint got chipped while handling the parts. I want to respray some parts, but I really am over painting anymore and too cheap to take it to a professional. I have to keep reminding myself that this bike is for riding, not for show. For touch-ups, I spray a paint brush and then dab that on the chips. I just really hope the paint can hold up to regular use and stone chips. The bike is roadable with what I have done so far. I still have to paint the side covers and front fender; those parts can easily be removed later for painting. Those can wait until warmer weather because it really made a mess of my garage with all the paint dust.

Anyway, sorry the rambling post. Here is what I have yet to do: radiator, new hoses, fill with Peak coolant (non-silicate), rear wheel, dyna beads, hub, grease splines, new rear shocks, new exhaust studs, fill with gas, and then wait for all this snow to melt!

I didn't take any progress pics, but it was pretty much just the standard "reassemble in reverse order/try to figure out where all the parts are". Please excuse this horrible grainy cell phone pic.

[groupus]

I finally got the stator wires connected. That was the whole point of this project anyways, but that does not mean that I am now finished with it, by no means. I used bullet connectors because I was unable to solder the wires together. I like having the ability to disconnect the wires easily too. I did solder the connectors on (not sure why that worked but the plain wires didn't ), then heat shrank the wires, heat shrank the connection, and wrapped it all up in electrical tape. Can you tell I'm paranoid about shorting between these wires on my new stator?





I am also going to try to get the rear end assembled tonight, that way I finally have a rolling bike! I polished up the shock bracket, it looks much better. I considered painting the rear hub silver since it has some gouges, but I think the paint is fine enough as is. However, I am toying with the idea of painting it black. I have seen that before and it looked pretty cool. The only thing is that my frame is a metalic charcoal grey, so it wouldn't match the swingarm. Not sure if i should match the swingarm, go black, or leave it alone.



Also to do is cut the mudflap off of the front fender and paint it. I don't want to shorten it too much b/c I'd like to keep the bracing, but I do want to get rid of the whale tail. I feel rushed to get this done, but I have plenty of time. THis is the easy part, getting all the little details down

[CYBORG]

I would match the color of the final drive to the swing arm. Makes the lines of the bike flow better

[groupus]

Thanks for the suggestion CYBORG, however, I decided not to paint it for now. I did some looking on the internets and realized that I do like the painted hub, but only on bikes with black rims or spokes. On the silver wheels like mine, and especially with my shorty exhaust, it just sticks out and draws too much attention to that area of the bike. The hardware is sexy and clean now tho

Anyways, got the rear end all together and wheels on - yay! I am using the old shocks until my new ones arrive. I Painted the headers and reinstalled them, touched up the frame, cut new radiator hoses and painted the spring guards for them. I also sanded and painted the drips and chips out of the radiator wings too, but now there is some crackle in the paint. I did it outside b/c the weather was so nice and of course some particles landed on them too. I have repainted those things 4 or 5 times and there is always some error in the paint. They must be haunted.





The timing belt covers are done with plasti-dip, as are the head covers. It's a rubberized coating. I am going to leave them like this because it protects against stone chips very well. I put short bolts in the inner bolt holes to plug them. I read somewhere on this site that people do this so that the covers are only held on with the outer bolts and can easily be removed for inspection without fussing with the radiator. I want to keep an eye on my new belts; the though of breaking them again scares the crap out of me.



The side covers are painted with plasti-dip too, but I'm going to paint them the same black I've been using on everything else. The weather this weekend should be good for painting. I work 9am to 9 pm on saturday at my other job, so it will have to be sunday. Those are my priority, trimming and painting the front fender can wait.

I also finished the wiring. The neutral switch is dead so I have to pull the clutch in to start it. It's not a hassle since my other bike is like that too. While playing with all that, I cranked the bike over before I realized it didn't have any oil in it! Good thing I realized that now. Spilled oil everywhere tho. I also put fuel in the tank, which then leaked out by the petcock and ruined the paint there. I am reconditioning the o-rings now, but I may need to buy Randakk's rebuild kit, even though my petcock is the non-rebuildable type.

[CYBORG]

On second thought I agree with you on the paint/no paint final drive. It should match the wheel more then the swing arm.

[jimmyz3286]

The petcocks are rebuildable and Randakk has directions on rebuilding them. That is one thing I need to do too since everything but the engine is rebuilt.

[Patriccio]

For the tank you can try OSPHO, & there's another product that I bought at Home Depot last year that I used on my tank. It worked great! The name escapes me & I'm at work, so tomorrow I will get the info. It ran about $25 a gallon & the innards of the tank sparkled after I let it sit for a couple of days. You can reuse it after running in through a filter. I used a paint filter & a coffee filter. Dang! Can't remember the name.

[Patriccio]

Metal Rescue. That's the product I used on my GW 1100 gas tank last year. The stuff works great! I think I bought three gallons & poured them into the tank, let it stand up in a corner over night; then I rotated it to treat the entire interior.
I've used it on many other parts of the bike also. I treated the tank, had the carbs cleaned, rebuilt the radiator, assembled everything, & the bike fired up.
The Metal Rescue really works.
Happy Trails.

[nelsonbc25]

Looking good. I'll echo what others have said about metal rescue. I bought the last two gallons at Menards today and after an hour I noticed a significant improvement. I'm letting it sit overnight and then I'll rotate it to get the whole tank done. Home Depot or Menards stock it but you may want to call in advance. The Home Depot near me said I'd need to order online and have them ship it to the store.

[groupus]

Its finally rolling and outside. Huzzah!



I started on painting the side covers but did not get very far. 2 are fully sanded, the right lower is ruined and needs replaced, and the left false tank cover has some deep crackling in the paint that will require that I sand all of the old paint off. What a pain.

If you would like to contribute a right lower side cover to my cause, I will gladly accept. I will also trade you anything from my pile-'o-parts listed here: http://ngwclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=51716