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1980 CB250RSA Hawaiian Blue Project.
AshimotoK0:
Managed to get the swinging arm bolt out today (turns out collars had corroded to swinging arm long bolt). Lots of heat from two Mapp gas torches and plenty of release fluid and welly. Had to angle grind off one collar. Also main-stand pin is corroded in the pivot tube, so I chopped it out of the frame and I will drill it out (done loads like this).
Cleaned up and blasted the alloy brake parts and etch primed them with PJ1 satin paint. I will bake when I am in at work Thursday. Just need to zinc plate the bolts. I guess they would have been olive-drab passivated originally but I still need to find the chemicals to do this as lots of parts on this bike olive-drab passivated.
Stripped the engine completely apart from removing the generator rotor, which needs a puller tool. Bought a lorry wheel bolt M22 x 1.5 and hoping this does the job (arrived today and pictured in box). The crank and gearbox didn't look at all bad for a high mileage engine but I already have replacements from a low mileage import bike, so I will be replacing. Looked like the bottom end has never been apart before and absolutely caked in oil, mud and grime.
Didn't get a headlamp unit and rim with the bike as it had a fairing fitted, which I haven't got yet and unsure of the type.. So tonight I bought locally (near Beverley) a headlamp complete plus air filter housing, front indicator frame, brackets and indicators plus a spare main wiring loom off FB marketplace all for £25 :D Seller was asking £35 but I made a cheeky offer and he accepted without any quibbling. Nice bloke .. has a 400/4 and CB360G5 and probably more and only looked 30 odd, which goes to show that younger guys are still into our bikes ;) Says he misses his CB250RS and wishes he hadn't sold it.
Good old TEC shocks are back so I grabbed a pair whilst they are still available !
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Laverda Dave:
Fantastic progress Ash👍. I know how the guy feels about wishing he never sold his RSA, been there, done that😐.
AshimotoK0:
Cleaned tons of muck and oil off crankcases side cases, cleaned in paraffin parts washer at work,scrubbed with Scotchbrite pads and degreased in Acetone. Then PJ1 satin black finished. Still need to bake everything. Original Honda coating/ paint very durable, so just treated small areas before paint.
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Rear guard metal centre section (other two are plastic) corrodes really badly on this model. Mine was OK apart from rotted through one side around double-skinned mounting area so had to cut out rot, braze in new metal sections after blasted clean. Then painted in etch primer, then epoxy 2k primer then coat of dark olive drab paint. Original Laverda Dave tells me was that this metal part of the mudguard was zinc plated olive drab passivated. Bit of a labour of love job but nice and solid now and chances of finding a decent one pretty slim.
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AshimotoK0:
Guard in dark olive drab colour paint. (doesn't look as greeny in this photo though)
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Bolts stripped of plating ready for further cleaning and zinc plating (many are olive drab green passivated). I just received my 2l of of Olive-drab passivate solution ... man did I have to jump through hoops to get hold of it, as it's banned for sale to Joe-public.
Fuel tank was rotted out as shown but rest of it inside was rust free. I was going to braze new metal, until I grabbed this lovely condition, powder coated, one off eBay for £45 (most people charging well over £100 for dodgy looking ones). Tank will be pearl blue (as it was when the bike was new) ... eventually... ;D Same seller sold me a LH bar switch £20 and almost NOS condition gear lever and link bar. £15
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Johnny4428:
Some nice work there Ash on you restoration. Good to see before and after. Think you’ve got a knack of picking up a bargain too!
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