Author Topic: Great or cover  (Read 5444 times)

Offline Laverdaroo

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Re: Great or cover
« Reply #30 on: May 05, 2022, 03:30:51 PM »
Don’t even think this is legit but here’s both the faves of the shit I’m stuck with mate. Dunno if this helps at all


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Mornings are the invention of the devil!

1977 CB550F (current money pit!!)
2002 VFR800 VTEC (The Beloved)
1977 CB400F (the last money pit!)
1998 Ducati 748\853 conversion(sold :()
1980 ish CB750KZ in a billion bits (need to get rid, anybody want one?))

Offline Laverdaroo

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Re: Great or cover
« Reply #31 on: May 05, 2022, 03:31:45 PM »



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Mornings are the invention of the devil!

1977 CB550F (current money pit!!)
2002 VFR800 VTEC (The Beloved)
1977 CB400F (the last money pit!)
1998 Ducati 748\853 conversion(sold :()
1980 ish CB750KZ in a billion bits (need to get rid, anybody want one?))

Offline Laverdaroo

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Re: Great or cover
« Reply #32 on: May 05, 2022, 03:32:56 PM »
I’ll try to get a couple up on my 550 started thread.


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Mornings are the invention of the devil!

1977 CB550F (current money pit!!)
2002 VFR800 VTEC (The Beloved)
1977 CB400F (the last money pit!)
1998 Ducati 748\853 conversion(sold :()
1980 ish CB750KZ in a billion bits (need to get rid, anybody want one?))

Offline Oddjob

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Re: Great or cover
« Reply #33 on: May 05, 2022, 04:46:48 PM »
Funny that as the lever I suspect of being off a 550 also has that A stamped on the back facing. Maybe that's how you can tell it apart from the 500 lever.

Why do all your parts look like they've been severely neglected, some amount of damage on there Roo. The pinch bolt has been overtightened so the gap has been closed far too much, most likely the gearshaft splines are buggered, maybe check that. People tended to do that so it would try and grab harder and thus not slip.

The front face where the dot or punch mark should be is the second pic and it's gone, there is a very faint mark on there but it may not be the one I need, plus the splines are so worn looking it's hard to tell what spline it was meant to be on.

I do have a NOS brake pedal Roo, if the state of the rest of the bike is the same as that gear lever you're in a for long restoration I'm afraid.
Kids in a the back seat cause accidents.
Accidents in the back seat cause kids.

Offline Laverdaroo

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Re: Great or cover
« Reply #34 on: May 05, 2022, 05:03:59 PM »
It was a pile if shite buddy but I paid that sort of money for it. Too late to turn back now

Anything usable is knackered mate, if you do have either a brake arm or gear change, I’m yer man as I’m already swamped with what I’ve got

I’d forgotten about the earth bolts for the headlamp, yeah them too

Do you remember the rotor shot I posted with the big gray chair all round it? You said you might have s better one lurking in s corner?

The way you’re going, you’ll have an empty garage before long between all of us, we’re clearing you out

Well done for being such a great hoarder, at least you have an idea what you have and roughly where it is


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Mornings are the invention of the devil!

1977 CB550F (current money pit!!)
2002 VFR800 VTEC (The Beloved)
1977 CB400F (the last money pit!)
1998 Ducati 748\853 conversion(sold :()
1980 ish CB750KZ in a billion bits (need to get rid, anybody want one?))

Offline Laverdaroo

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Re: Great or cover
« Reply #35 on: May 05, 2022, 05:04:55 PM »
Graunch not grey chair! Cheers spell check


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Mornings are the invention of the devil!

1977 CB550F (current money pit!!)
2002 VFR800 VTEC (The Beloved)
1977 CB400F (the last money pit!)
1998 Ducati 748\853 conversion(sold :()
1980 ish CB750KZ in a billion bits (need to get rid, anybody want one?))

Offline Oddjob

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Re: Great or cover
« Reply #36 on: May 05, 2022, 06:14:49 PM »
Oh yeah, it was where it looked like a bolt had got carried around it grinding a big groove all the way around.

Mine are rusty but you know me, that just means I'll have to clean them up  ::) ::)
Kids in a the back seat cause accidents.
Accidents in the back seat cause kids.

Offline Laverdaroo

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Re: Great or cover
« Reply #37 on: May 05, 2022, 11:26:23 PM »
Just send em Ken bloody hell mate youve enough on pal.
Mornings are the invention of the devil!

1977 CB550F (current money pit!!)
2002 VFR800 VTEC (The Beloved)
1977 CB400F (the last money pit!)
1998 Ducati 748\853 conversion(sold :()
1980 ish CB750KZ in a billion bits (need to get rid, anybody want one?))

Offline Oddjob

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Re: Great or cover
« Reply #38 on: May 20, 2022, 03:14:14 PM »
Just thought I'd post these here so you can see what you passed up on  ;D ;D

The starter motor cover that was gold, stripped off the gold which TBH was actually very easy, just used a Dremel and a light sanding wheel, turned out really nice under the gold, not a lot of pitting and what was there was quite shallow. So after a bit of sanding etc I finally got round to polishing it ready for the chromers, the brake arm is ready at the chromers BTW, picking it up on Monday when I drop the next lot off. Due to the amount of prep work I'm doing on my parts he's being really generous on the cost of chroming them, which is good as it keeps the overall outlay down.

Starter motor cover, just polished, not chromed, YET.







Gear lever, just polished.







And just to show you what you can achieve with old parts, a CB550F2 front indicator stem, stripped of chrome but heavily pitted, mostly the front side which faces forward.



And after sanding/grinding all the pits out and a little polish. You may not believe this but I actually wasn't that pleased with the result as there were still a couple of pits left so I redid it yesterday to remove them. I have 3 of those plus 1 NOS stem.



And a CB500 rear brake lever, chrome stripped, sanded, ground and polished. It was finished but again I spotted some small blemishes so I started to redo it, hence why there is some sanding marks on the front of the pedal, it's now done.





So don't give up on parts which you think are maybe scrap, you can save a LOT more than you realise and considering how expensive these parts are too replace and that's assuming you can replace them, it's cheaper in the long run to try and save them, your labour is essentially free so why not use it and save a LOT of money.

Kids in a the back seat cause accidents.
Accidents in the back seat cause kids.

Offline mickwinf

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Re: Great or cover
« Reply #39 on: May 20, 2022, 04:33:23 PM »
I am in awe of your polishing skill Ken, what do you use to get the pits out of the steel items without leaving scratches in the metal?
Love the 500 and 550 have a 500 called Lazarus under restoration

Offline Oddjob

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Re: Great or cover
« Reply #40 on: May 20, 2022, 04:59:38 PM »
I use a small grinding stone in a Dremel, genuine Dremel stone only as the copies tend to be crap. Something like a Dremel 952 or 8153, aluminium Oxide stones. I have a selection and it depends on access etc as to which I select. That's usually to get deep pits out. If the part is circular, like the stems, it can have a tendency to threepenny bit them so unless the pits are really bad I'd use a 80 grit flap wheel in a Dremel, like a 502 or 504, these I do use copies for but find them much rougher than genuine Dremel but miles cheaper. Just bought 20 of them made by Winfred which are not bad. So I either sand or grind until pits are gone, this leaves the surface pretty rough TBH, so I then resort to either a 36 grade Speedclic abrasive wheel to smooth it down somewhat or my new choice is to use some new ones I found recently which are MILES cheaper, I was very sceptical of them when I first bought some but they are really good. I may sell some on the forum in a selection of sanding grades, there are 7 in a set of various grades, TBH for metal only the bottom 3 really work but the next 2 grades are useful on alloy for instance. So I sand down using 36 or 80 grade abrasive wheels and then finish off with a 220 grade wheel. Then onto the polisher, you can see reflections of one of the mops in some of the pics, I start off with a felt wheel with grey soap to get the initial shine and finish off with a cross stitched cloth mop and white soap, I have others and use them on some but that's it's in a nutshell.

The stems weren't that hard TBH, took me about 1 hour to do each one sanding wise and another 30 mins on the polishing machine, this should give a surface smooth enough for chroming to really shine on and have no underlying marks which chroming just doesn't cover. The other side of this is that the chromer loves getting my parts, less work for him, quicker turn round, normally less than 2 weeks to get them back, sometimes less than a week. TBH the chromer I'm using isn't considered to be great by others but I think it's a case of how much work they are prepared to put in to get it right, if a lot, like Prestige then that's reflected in the turnround time (around 6 months at Prestige) and the price. The brake arm ( the one on the brake plate) was done for around £10 for instance, he charged me £15 to strip a pair of handlebars and chrome that brake arm, so £5 for the handlebars and £10 for the arm is my breakdown.

It's not hard, it's just incredibly boring, however in winter it's something to do so why not.
Kids in a the back seat cause accidents.
Accidents in the back seat cause kids.

Offline Johnny4428

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Re: Great or cover
« Reply #41 on: May 20, 2022, 05:19:55 PM »
Jesus Ken! I hope the platers don’t dull these down! 😂😂😂

1952 Cymoto on Triumph bicycle.
1961 Matchless G3
1974 Honda CB550K1. Running resto,
1978 Honda CB550K3.
1999 ST1100 Pan European 50th Anniversary.
1975,1980,1984,1986 Honda C90’s
1973 Honda CB750K3

Offline Oddjob

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Re: Great or cover
« Reply #42 on: May 20, 2022, 05:59:32 PM »
No they come out even brighter TBH, the better the underlying surface is the better the nickel plating above it, chrome is clear and it's the nickel that gives it the shine.

Just bought a job lot of parts which include quite a few shiny bits, along with masses of engine parts including 6 camchain tensioners, I'll be restoring most of those and selling them on to make a bit of profit. There are at least 4 starter motor covers I can see. All look salvageable, there also appears to be a 750 points cover but what condition it's in is not clear, might clean up though and be worth a few bob nowadays. £250 for a new one now, ridiculous price.
Kids in a the back seat cause accidents.
Accidents in the back seat cause kids.

Offline Laverdaroo

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Re: Great or cover
« Reply #43 on: May 20, 2022, 07:00:35 PM »
Bloody hell Ken, they look the dogs doo dah's mate.

I've not given up on stuff but when parts are clearly shagged out to wafer thin in some places, its best to say enough and replace it.
You cannot imagine the state of someof the parts off 'Mejima', this bike has had no love for a considerable time and some parts have managed to cling on to an existance but once threatened with a trip to the brass wheel they quickly show that there's really nothing left to restore or what there is left wont leave enough to be used once removed.

Ive a bag of stuff to polish up tpo nopw.

Ally Rims although tired, I love the way they look and I want to keep them if I can
Chain Guard
Headlight ears
Front hub
Rear Hub
Rear Brake lever and arm from the hub
Kickstart
Gear lever
Exhaust clamps ( :-[)

I have to buy a new bench polisher/grinder as mine's about seen its best. Although ok with the wire wheels, its not really fast enough for polishing now. .............It is 50+years old though so it's not like I've not had my money's worth. 8)


Can we have a recap on what I'm having off you mate, my head's been firmly up my  backside trying to organise ponds, flight tickets, finishing bits and bobs and fitting all that crap on the VFR for the MOT......................Which it failed I might add!


Sodding reg plate bulb ;D ;D
Ive had teh bike 21 years and never changed it, I dont look backwards so never noticed, and apparently, neither has any MOT bod who's ever looked at it ;D ;D

I had it as:-
-sooper dooper extra shiney fork sliders I got simons forks off him bnut Id like to fit those sliders you have mate if thats still on the table? You can have these sliders as a swap if that sweetens the deal as I wont need them and they'll only go for sale somewhere?
-Earth nut thingies for the head light shell
-Primary tentioner thing/upgrade
-Fork internals if still up for grabs or do you think I might as well grab a new set??

-I'm sure there was something else but you must have a huge pile by now.....?

Where I'm going to in Hicksville USA , there's a breakers bike yard a mere 50miles away with 15 acres of 70's and 80's honda's, kwacks and yams and the like  all lined up so I'm trying to get a  list of stuff to root about for. Such as a good last section of the rear mudguard, new or better gear lever and maybe a new rear arm for the hub, dunno yet, That and what ever takes my fancy for a few other bits I have tucked up in the shed for later. Quite looking forward to it now, well I will be once I've finished this little job I'm doing for some friends in the way of a new shed base and path. Bloody rain!
Mornings are the invention of the devil!

1977 CB550F (current money pit!!)
2002 VFR800 VTEC (The Beloved)
1977 CB400F (the last money pit!)
1998 Ducati 748\853 conversion(sold :()
1980 ish CB750KZ in a billion bits (need to get rid, anybody want one?))

Online andy120t

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Re: Great or cover
« Reply #44 on: May 20, 2022, 07:50:26 PM »
Can you send us a few good piccies of the breakers yard.D and I used to be a bit like that in its old yard in the early 90's. Big shed with line after line of old rusty st uff....I used to love a ride out for a poke around.
andy120t

CB550f/k
Zephyr 550
ZX6R G1
GSXR 7/11 - I need to sell it
Triumph 5TA - and this..

 

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