I Have A Dream... (literally)

[Lucien Harpress]

Thanks for the head's-up about the petcock screws- I knew that a couple of these fasteners used goofy threads that don't exist anymore, but I wasn't 100% sure on where. The plan is to re-use as many original parts as possible, and retain the stock petcock. I've also been kind of collecting parts here and there as they become affordable and available. I managed to get lucky with a few of the rarer pieces.

That said, I'm officially out of stuff to unbolt.



I still need to figure out how the fork lock comes out, and I'm probably going to need a key to do so. Still, it's something I'd like in the future anyway, so no biggie.

However, one last surprise awaited me on the bottom end, and reminded me what a good investment a parts bike was. Original part is on the left, parts bike is on the right.



This is the arm that connects the rear brake pedal to the rear brake. This sucker was ridden- or at least braked- VERY hard. Oof.

[Lucien Harpress]

Just for fun I decided to get the petcock off, to see what I was dealing with inside. Overall? About as bad as I was expecting, but nothing I can't work with.



The rubber and cork parts are pretty much a write-off, but that's to be expected. Anything that needs to be replaced seems to be available OEM, and (barring that) aftermarket rebuild kits are still available. The screen is a bit disappointing, but I may be able to cut a new one out of sheet material, assuming something like that exist. I still want to clean up all the metal parts to make sure pitting isn't bad, but I don't expect it is.

[Lucien Harpress]

Coming back to this, the rebuild parts arrived today, and I figured I'd put together as much of it as I could



Initially I was going to cut out a new filter screen, but I was able to find a NOS part for the same price as sheet material. Same with the screw- I was going to re-plate mine (due to being goofy thread that doesn't exist anymore), but I found a replacement set on ebay for... well, the cost of 3 screws. So once those show up (and I have a repainted tank to screw it to) this part will be good.

[Lucien Harpress]

Had me a bit of an "awe, beans" moment today. I'm starting to sand down old paint and rust to hopefully at least get some primer on everything before winter, and decided to take a look at my rather rough left sidecover. It had obviously been painted several times, so I started sanding down the roughest spots. Well, it didn't take too long until I saw the telltale pink of Bondo, and, well...



Now, I'm not TOO surprised. If you check the bottom edge of the cover (top of the picture), the sidecover as a whole is in pretty rough shape. But I can run more body filler on that, no worries. The problem is that the Bondo on the hole had no kind of backing to it, so it just kinda... fell out.

Thankfully the covers are metal so I have options. I'll probably just have a patch welded on the backside and re-do some body filler, unless of course they can re-weld it flush. Replacing the cover isn't an option- I have the early style, which are significantly harder to find than the later. I think eBay has one right now in nearly the same shape for like $300. Still, an expense I didn't really want, but nothing I can't come back from.

[Lucien Harpress]

I decided to do a bit of science after work today. With so much impossible to find hardware on this bike, I'm going to have to re-use a lot of it. I figured why not try to save them? So, I grabbed a smattering of salts and chemicals and tried my hand at a bit of DIY zinc plating (with some nickle thrown on for flavor).









Results? It's... tough to say, honestly. I took silver parts and put a silver coating on them, so the amount that got laid down was hard to determine. It bubbled a lot, the zinc plates are pretty pitted up, and everything seemingly did what it was supposed to. The nickle didn't change much, so I probably don't have the correct electrolyte for that (acid v alkaline), but it's not that important.

I'm hoping it worked, because if it did I've got plenty of other parts that could use it.

[Paola Zago]

I decided to do a bit of science after work today. With so much impossible to find hardware on this bike, I'm going to have to re-use a lot of it. I figured why not try to save them? So, I grabbed a smattering of salts and chemicals and tried my hand at a bit of DIY zinc plating (with some nickle thrown on for flavor).









Results? It's... tough to say, honestly. I took silver parts and put a silver coating on them, so the amount that got laid down was hard to determine. It bubbled a lot, the zinc plates are pretty pitted up, and everything seemingly did what it was supposed to. The nickle didn't change much, so I probably don't have the correct electrolyte for that (acid v alkaline), but it's not that important.

I'm hoping it worked, because if it did I've got plenty of other parts that could use it.

Wow! if I were to obtain a result like this, with a "home" operation I would be very very happy! it is an operation that I would never do, but Lucien, out of pure and simple curiosity and desire to know, can you explain to me all the procedure you have done, or is it a secret? and then I respect your silence
thank you

[Lucien Harpress]

It's actually not to hard (assuming I did it right). Zinc plating is pretty easy. Other metals can be done at home too, but zinc is the easiest. The most difficult part is figuring out what to use for your electrolyte, as everyone seems to have their favorite recipe. I pretty much just copied these instructions, as most of what I needed I could grab from the store.

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums/c1 ... ought.html

The one major change I did was obtaining the zinc. Rather than disassemble batteries, I just ordered some pure zinc anodes from Amazon. Same price, a lot less hassle.

[Lucien Harpress]

Plating is going well. Honestly, the most difficult part right now is finding a correct-sized container that will fit some of the longer parts, but without having to make an overly large amount of electrolyte. Still, a good problem to have, I guess. The actual plating seems to work well.



Speaking of which, I managed to get my chrome parts locked down. Doing the side panels (tank and fork trim pieces) proved to be prohibitively expensive, especially for how often replacements come up. But the handlebars plus some of the major hardware parts (chain adjuster, handlebar clamp bolts, etc.) was reasonable enough for me to pull the trigger. So at least that's moving.

Every day's just a bit of forward progress, even if it's just a small amount.

[Paola Zago]

thanks Lucien for the instructions, and congratulations on your work

[Lucien Harpress]

I'm always trolling ebay for deals on parts for this bike, given how rarely they come up. I recently managed to snag an additional speedometer for about 30 bucks, which is way below the usual rate of somewhere north of $200. On a whim I decided to open it up- I figured the inside was trashed, but I was curious to what extent.

Much like the GL1000 speedos, the Dream gauge is crimped together. Unlike the 'wing, however, the faceplate came off rather easily. Unfortunately, that's where the good news ended.



Apart from clean number on the odometer, the rest is... bad. The bottom drive magnet is frozen. Rust on everything. The faceplate is faded (but this can be salvaged). The biggest setback is that the hairspring on the needle is just... pieces.

The smallest glimmer of hope is that because this is a spare, I'm not out much if I attempt to bring it back. As you can see, I've already managed to get it apart- props to pre-1970s equipment that you COULD get apart. The metal pieces will clean up (I hope). The biggest PITA is going to be the spring. Even if I manage to find one close, I'll have to first (probably) solder it on to the needle shaft, and THEN find a way to calibrate it to read the correct speed.

Eh. It's an adventure.

(Because I was curious, I also popped apart the speedometer original to the bike. Good news on that one is that the hairspring on that is intact. Bad news is that the entire bottom end on THAT is frozen as well. On top of that, apparently the Dreams used two different companies to manufacture the (outwardly identical) speedometers. Unfortunately, the internals are COMPLETELY different, so I couldn't even swap parts if I wanted to.)

[ascot]

For zinc plating those long narrow pieces, use a piece of PVC pipe. Cap the ends and cut an opening of an appropriate size.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFZHhKYn5SY
Go to the 10:25 mark and see what I am describing.

[flyin900]

Eh. It's an adventure.

(Because I was curious, I also popped apart the speedometer original to the bike. Good news on that one is that the hairspring on that is intact. Bad news is that the entire bottom end on THAT is frozen as well. On top of that, apparently the Dreams used two different companies to manufacture the (outwardly identical) speedometers. Unfortunately, the internals are COMPLETELY different, so I couldn't even swap parts if I wanted to.)

Yes it is an interesting adventure for sure. As you noted the early 60's Honda bikes had some smaller bolts/screws that are a different JIS pitch standard than the newer bolts/screw JIS pitch. There was a technical service bulletin from Honda in the late 60's noting the change over to a new JIS thread pitch for these smaller threaded items.

The heads on some of the bolts are also much larger than the newer bolts used on later Honda models. On a newer 8mm threaded bolt now the head is usually a 12mm hex head. The older 8 mm threaded ones were a 14mm or 17mm head and no longer available to purchase for a correct build. They also are devoid of any of the usual Honda 8 or the 0 and a underscore on the bolt head surface. So like you I re zinc plated most of these older bolts to keep the bike as close to original as possible.

[Lucien Harpress]

Even beyond that, there's a couple bolts that are even more non-standard where a hardware store replacement wouldn't cut it. I'm thinking specifically of the ones that hold the support bars for the front and rear wheels (used while braking) that have super narrow heads in order to clear the front wheels. Honestly, I'm just happy plating them turned out to be as easy as it was.

On the speedometer front, I managed to free up the bottom drive, clean up the two geared shafts that run the odometer, and a bit of the support structure. The shaft that runs the needle moves pretty freely too, but the hairspring is still the big question mark. I managed to snag a bunch of watch parts on eBay to play around with, so I guess we'll see.

[Shadowjack]

Hardware store metric fasteners are NEVER close to Japanese fasteners. They are, however, closer to European fasteners. The only advantage is that you don't have to use a wood screw...

[Lucien Harpress]

The good news? I've gotten my speedometer to work.

The bad news? I have no idea if it works CORRECTLY.



The hairspring is a bit dodgy- the "correct" way to install one would be to slide it on from the top or the bottom. But this would require pulling apart a VERY fragile shaft with quite a few press-fit parts that need to come off AND got back on. Rather than risk ruining a part I can't replace, I simply took the spring, filed and pried the center collet open enough to fit it on to the shaft, then crimped and superglued it in place. Not the ideal way to do this, but I'm hoping it's under light enough tension that it will work just fine.

I still need to calibrate it, AND find the best way to do so. Stock speedometer has a 2240:60 ratio, which would be great if I had something I KNEW was spinning at exactly 2240 rpm. The closest I have currently is a Dewalt drill that supposedly runs at 1500 rpm, which after doing the math gets me up to about 40 mph.

I've got it close, but it's not final, I may find a better way to do things, and honestly, if I can get it within 10 mph, I'll consider it good enough. Still, overall a pretty good job from something that came out of THIS: