The $100 basket case

littlebill31

Smells of Raw Fuel
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Here she is boys and girls.

The $100 basket case.
‘81 with 13K on the clock

Looks like it sat outside on the side stand for quite a while, but its complete and after getting the engine back together, a good TCI, and a carb clean it fired right up.

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And now its torn down and ready to be brought back....

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Bummer. I'd be concerned about corrosion (eating the pipes from the inside - out) and possibly splits from that water freezing. Maybe try the hammer test (beat on it a little) to look for any weaknesses...

I checked it out. Its fine. Not the first yard bike I’ve owned. I always check the bottom of the frames for splits and bottoming out marks. Probably more solid than most of the bubblegum weld jobs I’ve seen on other’s bikes anyway. I guess at least I know there was water in there and can check for corrosion. Can't say as much for other peoples bikes that a PO painted or covered up some thinned out frame during their "restoration".

My brother looked at a 2017 Harley at a dealer and the whole bottom of the frame looked as though it cased a curb. The frame was smashed. It was crazy.


Update: Factory weld job behind battery box.

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Straight shot for water to enter.



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Holy cow - I think I’d be tempted to gum that opening up with something soft and easily removable and drill a couple of little drain holes down on the underside.

Anyhow - stick at it LittleBill - you’re a master at resurrecting old bikes.

Pete
 
Holy cow - I think I’d be tempted to gum that opening up with something soft and easily removable and drill a couple of little drain holes down on the underside.
Pete

I was sitting on my little chair and noticed it. It's way off and factory welded. The tube is cut at the wrong angle. It's got spiders in it too, lol.
Must have been a Monday.

...
 
I was sitting on my little chair and noticed it. It's way off and factory welded. The tube is cut at the wrong angle. It's got spiders in it too, lol.
Must have been a Monday.

...

....so much for Japanese perfection and attention to detail....
 
Fork plans? I recently did up a set and added 1" preload spacers to the stock springs. This stiffened them up quite nicely and saved me the cost of aftermarket replacement springs. I like the stock springs. They're a nice dual rate progressive spring but are usually too soft and sacked out by the time we get these bikes. Even with the adjuster caps dialed up to the max, I've found the stock springs are usually still too soft. The adjuster caps have 2 stiffer settings. Each adds 10mm of preload which gives a total of 20mm available. An inch is about 25mm so the added spacers start the forks out about 1/2 step stiffer than the highest setting without spacers. This seems to have worked well. Of course, I also did my version of the Minton Mods and used more oil (7 ounces) .....

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Wow, 5twins!! I was looking into this on another build as I thought the springs were way too soft.

Do you have a link or anything on how the spacers were constructed?
 
I just made my spacers out of some 7/8" O.D. pipe I had laying around. Old handlebars would work fine too. The "tophat" shaped spring washer came out of some '77 forks. It's the type of washer Yamaha uses between fork springs and their tube spacers on quite a few of their bikes. I like the way it fits down into the top of the spring and stays centered .....

https://www.partzilla.com/product/y...?ref=cf809e53e6cdc988252465f9ed808af5a651fe77

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Once you fully extend the forks, the spring, spacer, and washers sit level with the top of the fork tube so installing the adjustable top cap isn't too difficult .....

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