Winterfield's first project (400/4)

[Winterfield]

I bought some new bushings from Julie, set about 'pressing' them into the swing arm with my MacGyvered threaded rod and Ikea spare bits.



Putting it all together so far, with a new to me rear brake drum (thanks again to Julie):



Looking good so far, but it needs some forks for the front wheel. The fork tubes were quite pitted, and would have minced any new seals I fitted in very short order, so those were replaced. The lower stanchions were cleaned up and polished on the bench grinder.



Note the cable tie indicating the top of the spring. Haynes says that these are progressively wound, and need to go back in the same way they came out. Not pictured is the later stage where I removed the springs again without re-marking the top. I couldn't see which was the top and which was the bottom.... soo... hoping for the best there.



Both cleaned up, rebuilt with new seals, boots and oil.

[Nurse Julie]

Excellent progress 👍👍👍

[Trigger]

I have always found the ideal tool to put swing arm bushes in is a sash clamp.

A little advise, always keep polishing mops on sealed plastic bags, once they get damp, they do not give a good result 

[Winterfield]

Thanks for that Trigger, I'll do that ASAP. My garage is not the most water tight building I've spent time in. Nor is it the least somehow...

[mattsz]

I have always found the ideal tool to put swing arm bushes in is a sash clamp.

A what now?

Hmm... I'll be back in a bit...

[mattsz]

Ahh... never heard them called by that name before...

[SteveD CB500K0]

I have a couple of sash clamps that I inherited from my father. I think he got them from his.

He always told me that they were for repairing sash windows.


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[Bryanj]

They are basically a long flat G clamp used for assembling any large wooden assembly till the glue goe off, gets scary when you star adding the extensions to make them even longer!!

[Winterfield]

So it's been a long time since I last posted, and I have been busy during that time. Lots has happened, so I'll update with the progress so far.

With the frame painted, front shocks rebuilt, wheels rebuilt, and various bits repainted (and replaced), it's rolling chassis time!



And after that, I used the sleeping bike trick again to get the engine back in the frame. Unfortunately, not without some small scuffs on the frame - but they won't be seen.

Because I have two engines, I have put the running (but dirty) one back in at this stage. The plan is to rebuild the other engine entirely, repaint etc. then put it in this bike. But I wanted to proceed with the rebuild with the running engine... mostly due to impatience, but also in case I don't manage to rebuild an engine by myself.

[Winterfield]

Painted the battery box and installed it, then installed some of the electrics.





During the lockdown, not much else to do but polish my lever, paying particular attention to the knob (sorry...).

[Winterfield]

The dials were next up. They were a bit ratty, but nothing so bad a bit of a strip, clean and repaint couldn't fix. The faces looked reasonably good, and I didn't want to replace with newer vinyl faces because I suspect they were originals.
I did a bit of damage on the tacho when I tried to clean up the rust stain from the screw. I was clever enough to not use a solvent, but still scuffed it a bit with the dry rag I used. I left them alone after that.





I managed to do a bit of a batch painting session, but forgot to do the brake calipers



I made a (really dodgy) lazy susan to try and speed up the painting process, and make it easier to paint without touching the pieces.



Throughout the project, I've been playing with different painting techniques. Initially, I used rattle can primer and then 'tough' paint. This time I thought I'd try a spray gun. Learning all about painting with a spray gun is fascinating, and I recommend it. I'm still terrible at it, but learning how to configure the paint gun, what consistency paint, air pressure, paint volume etc. is great. The primer didn't go on too well, but the basecoat and clear lacquer went on perfectly.



The restored dials back on the bike:

[Winterfield]

Now onto the electrics.

The loom was in generally good shape, with a few dodgy splices, but the wrapping was getting a bit tired.



I rewraped most of the loom in self amalgamating tape. It's not stock, but it felt more robust and generally tougher than a thin tape layer.



And with the wiring loom in-situ:

[Nurse Julie]

Great progress.

[Winterfield]

Moving on to the exhaust. It's in pretty bad shape, and its not something I can fix personally (without a welder and some skills). The pipes are in bad enough condition that I don't think it's worth trying to restore them. Unfortunately, some uncertainty with my work situation means there isn't money to splurge on a repro set of pipes. I also missed out on a reasonable condition set here in Edinburgh on ebay, which went a little out of my price range.

That pile of rust is just what shook free of the collector. There was more in the pipes which made its way out later.



The collector was almost rusted away, with presumably just the chrome on top surviving (to an extent).



So, with the above concerns, I attempted to patch the collector with some ebay special exhaust repair tape. It did not go well.



Attempt number two was to try heat wrap, with some exhaust repair foil underneath it where necessary to try and make it air tight. I like how it turned out, sort of cafe racer style. I guess that makes this a resto-mod now.

This stuff is made of basalt fiber, which is fairly forgiving to wrap, presumably due to the weave. It does shed, and itches like hell, so wear gloves etc.



The eagle eyed among you will note that the exhaust collars are on backwards, and should be sticking out a little from the joints on the end.

[Winterfield]

The silencer was also a little ratty, so I made do with a £36 ebay generic one.