starting to look like something!
Hey Nugs81! I like the seat! I’ve been eyeballing all those seats on ebay for a couple weeks now, I figured for 30.00 if it didnt work it wasnt too much to have wasted. Where did you get your seat? It looks similiar to the ebay ones.
 
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Ok, here she is without the fugly highway bar and new rubber. Removing and re-installing the stock exhaust system to remove the rear wheel all by myself was “fun”. Got it all off and back on in the space of 5 hours though, and that’s including the drive to and from the shop to have the new tire mounted, and the time they had it. Pretty good, if I don’t say so myself.
 
. Removing and re-installing the stock exhaust system to remove the rear wheel all by myself was “fun”.
In the owners manual they mention removing the two inserts on the back of the swing arm so the axle, wheel can slide straight back to remove, no exhaust removal needed, for "next time".
You can also get the centerstand up on 2x's and remove the shocks to drop the swing so the axle comes out under the mufflers.
 
Hey Nugs81! I like the seat! I’ve been eyeballing all those seats on ebay for a couple weeks now, I figured for 30.00 if it didnt work it wasnt too much to have wasted. Where did you get your seat? It looks similiar to the ebay ones.
sorry, bud, just saw this. i actually got that one from 4into1, which is a honda site, but i took my chances with it being "universal". itll work. the frame up by the tank is a tad wide for it, but you cant notice.
 
my 2nd attempt at painting the tank... I think I'll keep this oneView attachment 116370
Thanks for the reply about the seat. And yes, that’s a nice paint job. I am thinking about plasti dipping mine because the damn thing is too nice to fuck with, but I have never been a fan of blue. That way I can just peel off my “custom paint job” and revert back to it’s original splendor. That may be one of the best ways to preserve the original finish too, now that I think about it.
 
Maier makes a universal oval number plate. I think I got mine at Dennis Kirk.
 
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Ok, she’s coming along. Here’s the new bars installed, with new cables and grips. I really love the profile of the bike with these bars. I’m going to go with a brown tuck and roll style seat to compliment the brown grips and blue/gold paint scheme on the tins. I also installed black round mirrors since these pics were taken. This bike has kind of an Indiana Jones/adventurer vibe to me. I probably wouldn’t be half as succesful on my bikes as I have been without this amazing forum; my starter wouldn't work after installing the bars, but a quick Search through the forum revealed I needed to sand off the paint from under the switch; problem solved. Waiting for my caliper rebuild kit to arrive Thursday, then hopefully I’ll have the front brake all finished in time to enjoy this upcoming (Alleged) 60’s week. I ended up not installing the new sprocket set I bought. Both sprockets clearly had a flat edge on the end of each tooth, and I didnt want to deal with the time cleaning and torquing all the bolts would take. If it ain’t broke, as they say. I’ll have them at the ready for some point down the road when I’m feeling a little more Ambitious. It was fun to use my new torque wrench to properly tighten up the rear wheel. I don’t know if this happens all the time due to precision engineering, but I was happily impressed when my torque wrench clicked at 108 ft lbs, and I pulled off the socket to see where the castle nut was in relation to the cotter pin hole-perfectly alligned! I just dropped the cotter pin through the hole. It was beautiful.
 
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This is my 83. Pretty much finished only need to cut down front fender and a couple other small things. Had a blast this past winter and now riding. Thanks to all those who helped with my cam chain, guide and reg/rec mod installs. All is working great and have installed a small lcd voltmeter to keep an eye on stock charging system. Here are a few pics of it. JC from Moncton NB Canada
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Ohh and out for a ride last night heard something clanging stopped and saw the rear bolt missing from the chain guard. Had nothing around except a red straw. Tied a knot around the fender strut and back I was on the road lol. Gotta hide a few tie wraps somewheres on my bike.
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Looks like we’ve got the same bars! I like how they look totally different on our different setups. Nice looking chop
Man. Well done.
 
When I bought this '82 Special around 1.5 years ago, she was stock and ran fine. I then went down the frustrating and fruitless path of installing a PMA kit and capacitor... After some advice and parts from the people who make this forum so great I went back to a stock charging system, and now she runs just fine again.

Some of the mods I've made:
-headers off an earlier model
-wheels off a '79 (I think that's the only year you could get a "16 aluminum rear wheel)
-repro tank for an XT500 or SR500 (not sure which, or if there is a difference with their steel tanks)
-Mikuni VM34 carbs w/Uni pods
-Rewound rotor from Custom Rewind
-PAMCO ignition
-ACCEL coil
-Antigravity lithium battery
-Hagon rear shocks
-Race Tech fork springs
*lowered the front and rear by 1"
-HHB fork brace
-Joe Wiseguy swingarm brace

Oh man, the time and money I've dumped into this project... I learned a lot the hard way, but I can't imagine how much time I would have wasted or money I would have burned if I didn't have your experience to guide me. Thank you, ALL.

And I didn't do it all myself. I had a lot of help from the team over at Lucky Wheels Garage in LA,

https://www.luckywheelsgarage.com/
https://www.instagram.com/luckywheelsgarage/

Thank you, Jackson, Ty, Morgan, Mason and, most importantly, Manny.
 

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