Honda-SOHC

Quality Chrome are very near me in Hull  but I was not particularly impressed with the parts they did for me. Some of the parts cost more to re-chrome than you can buy them for new from David Silvers! They took ages to to get back to me and did not give a price upfront, so they basically can charge what they like. Depends on what you need rechroming really but anything thin like starter cover and clutch cover they seemed to remove a lot more metal that I thought necessary. ChrisR has a few nightmare stories about chromers he has used. It's the one area where you entrust your rare part to someone else  (e.g. K0 750 double-cut mudguard (fender)) and it can come back totally trashed. If you do the polishing yourself you must remove every trace of the nickel base. To check this I paint the part with a coppering solution made up of sulphuric acid and copper sulphate that the old guys used to use before marking out blue became popular. It will leave copper on the areas that are bare steel but any areas with nickel will show as a slightly yellowish colour. The copper will not adhere to the steel and can be easily buffed off afterwards. You can then tell chromers that you just want the part plating and it should be relatively cheap. I did this on my 400/4 parts in 1986. The place in Hull (who the Quality chrome guy used to work for) told me I had totally wasted my time in polishing myself but I told him to just chrome them and I would take a chance. The parts came out perfect and 26 years later still look the same. He obviously did not trust me that I had removed all of the base nickel plate. The Chrome plate can be removed by reverse plating with a caustic soda electrolyte and stainless steel electrode. Nickel is more difficult to remove by electrolysis and acid removal will get into any rust pits and cause even deeper pits to form. I think there is a nickel stripper around in the States which removes nickel chemically without attacking the base steel but not tried it yet. I find you can do wonders with a Black and Decker power file (with really fine belts cheap  off Ebay) and a buffing wheel. Mucky horrible job though (often entrusted by chromers to the 'tea boy') - but it's probably the most important job of the rechroming process

I am starting to phone specialist dealers/breakers  again and not use Ebay. I wanted a '68/'69 250/350 K0 fuel tank. Even in the States a really ratty and rusty one went for 100GBP plus shipping. I found a UK dealer who, it turns out,  had three on the shelf ranging from 30 to 40 GBP but doesn't really use eBay and although they have a website it's years out of date and they never respond to email's

Cheers AshD

Another one -  I rest my Case M'lord

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Honda-CB350-GAS-TANK-1967-_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem43a61736bbQQitemZ290549348027QQptZMotorcyclesQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories#ht_691wt_742

If it's a K0 without the black band you can use cut down mini trim - this comes from advice kindly given to me by ChrisR.

cheers

AshD

I think the DSS one is for a US K1 bike ('300' style) Honda should  just produce one with no holes for a lamp bracket, so the buyer can drill to suit. That's what I have told 'Eric' in Vietnam to do and also to offer them unchromed. This then opens up his market to early 750/550 owners. OK the 550 had a different wiring 'tunnel' and no wire clip but that's not the end of the world

cheers

Ash

David Silver gets them from Morretti in Gloucestershire They have a nasty plastic base but someone else zoom22 on Ebay  from memory does a metal seat (again in Gloucestershire)  Morretti do the foam too. Their eBay outlet is Discovers. He told me DSS hammers him on price so the ones he sells direct have a better fit and finish (but cost slightly more )

http://www.motorcycleseats.co.uk/

I got Morrettis seat cover and foam and used a new base and trim and strap from a brand new Genuine K1 seat Here are the photos.

http://i697.photobucket.com/albums/vv340/AshimotoK0/K0seatash1.jpg

http://i697.photobucket.com/albums/vv340/AshimotoK0/K0seatash2.jpg

 The real solution is Yamiya whose seats/covers/foam are first class but really really expensive. The seat is about 1000USD plus shipping  plus VAT & Import Duty

 http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1969-1970-HONDA-CB750-K0-SEAT-ASSY-SANDCAST-NEW-T023-_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem1e62a753dcQQitemZ130504152028QQptZMotorcyclesQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories#ht_3631wt_802

Cheers

Ash

Hi Kacey,

I paid top money to have my 750K0 tank etc.  painted by Andrew Parnaby but I have two CB250K0 tanks and fork ears to paint, one in candy red and the other in candy blue (half of the tank is white). These projects don't justify bags of money spent on them so I may have a go myself. I have a large compressor and a really old Devilbiss JGA spray gun. Any advice on settings on a Devilbiss gun. It is the suction not gravity fed type.

Cheers

Ash

You need a 341 type - If you trawl US eBay you should find a nice one fairly cheap. Also Hondacrome on eBay always has them - love to know how he gets them from and also UK 400/4 ones. The US 341 style has the four holes that fit a UK lamp bracket perfectly but the bracket sits at a slightly different angle, which only the eagle eyed will notice. A CB550 one will also fit but has a different length wiring 'tunnel' and lack of cable clip.

Eric in Vietnam (Hondaclassics) will make you a new one with no holes, if you tell him I sent you. PM me if you need info.

Cheers

Ash