Finding my standard...

Well, it’s been a bit of a hiatus while we moved to the new house. The wife has been keeping me busy getting things in order here. Hell, I still haven’t been able to set up my workshop quite like I wanted too, but it’s workable for the time being.

Today I decided to spend a couple hours on the bike while the wife and kids were out. I previously installed a set of cb750 bars as they were predrilled for internal wiring. They just didn’t feel real comfortable though. So today I swapped out the bars for a set of no.10 tracker bend bars. They are low and wide and I find them quite comfortable. The only issue is they aren’t drilled for internal wiring like the stock 75 bars are. So that was my task for this afternoon.

Once I had the old bars off and pulled the wires out, I marked the location for the entrance holes under the controls. I started with a small pilot and the switched to a uni-bit to get to a size I was happy with. I tried to keep a small as I could as I don’t want to create too much of a weak point. Then in the center I did the same, but drilled 3 holes and filed them down to a nice oblong hole so both sides would fit through.
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Next I filed down all the holes so you don’t tear the sheathing. Then I used an old piece of wire and taped it up nice and tight to my wire bundle. I don’t pull too hard but rather rely on push feeding it through and pulling out the slack with the lead wire. Don’t forget to put your clutch perch on first though! It’s got to go on before you feed the wires through unless you have the clamp on style instead of the pinch bolt. It takes some work to get them through. You can use some spray lube if you want, but it usually just hinders my grip. Not my first time doing this, actually this is about my fifth set of bars I’ve internally wired. It really just make a clean looking setup
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I still have to finish hooking up the wiring, but that’s another day. I threw on my xs2 gauges just to see what it will look like mocked up. I’m quite happy so far.
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still to come, installing fork gaiters, the xs2 mufflers, and of course finishing up the gauges and ignition switch.
 
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Wow! I’m really impressed with that look! You’re gonna have to change your name to Mr. Clean! Suddenly I’m hating that mass of wiring on my XS2 handlebars. Nicely done, you’re gonna have to get some alone time in your new garage more often! :thumbsup:
 
Internal wiring can really clean up the look. Like I said, this is the 5th time I’ve done it and will likely do it on all my bikes in the future. I’m really liking the older gauges too. That stock 75 dash is just so bulky. My goal is to have a clean looking bike that looks like an xs2 in ‘75 black star tins.
 
I'm intrigued, the Standard bars on my '77 have the opening at the bottom between the risers but no holes at the controls. They're weighted end bars too.
Maybe a closeup shot of where the wires disappear at the controls?
Looking good!
 
My first picture shows this. The hole is in the underside of the bar close to where the controls meet the master cylinder and clutch perch. Once the controls halves are screwed together the hole is hidden under the control housings. You need to do some critical measuring and marking before drilling. It’s kind of a one shot deal. You don’t want to be drilling unwanted holes in your bars to create weak spots.
 
My first picture shows this. The hole is in the underside of the bar close to where the controls meet the master cylinder and clutch perch. Once the controls halves are screwed together the hole is hidden under the control housings. You need to do some critical measuring and marking before drilling. It’s kind of a one shot deal. You don’t want to be drilling unwanted holes in your bars to create weak spots.
Aye! Gotcha.
 
This project is definitely a slow burn. I’ve been gathering parts to redo the front end for a while now. With the bars swapped out I turned my attention to the forks. I need to drop them out of the trees to install the gaitors and then button up the xs2 gauges. As I was giving it all a good look over, I found that the PO had damaged the fork lowers when replacing the seals.
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So I ended up buying a set of replacements on eBay for a fair price. This morning my goal was to just clean them up and remove the old seals to prep for polishing and new seals (OEM sourced also from eBay). Now remember this is not a restoration piece, but rather my version of a combination of xs2 and xsb models. I like things looking neat and tidy, and since I now had an extra left fork lower, I decided to shave off the left caliper mounts. It actually went much quicker than I thought. I started by removing the old seals. Gary’s technique with mounting a tire spoon in the vice works like a charm! Then I pulled out the saws all and went to it cutting off the caliper mounts.
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After that was a 120 grit flap wheel in my 4” angle grinder. Once things were looking smooth, I switched to a flat file to even things out. Then some 220 grit paper by hand. Things were looking good and it is ready to start polishing. I realized that I need to polish the right replacement leg too, so I just hit it with my orbital sander and 220 grit to cut through the original clear. Both legs are now ready for polishing. I hope to get to that this weekend. Pretty happy considering I only spent about 90 minutes on this today.
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Will throw out that a blue dico wheel horizontally (think prisoner stripes) then just a bit of blue magic on rag or cotton buff leaves a finish very similar to factory and a quick rub with blue magic on a rag now and then keeps it looking nice.

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Wow good job having the Intuition to not buy that first bike you looked at. You got a steal of a deal on your bike especially having important things powder coated that is a huge step that is already done.
 
This weekend I turned my attention to my gauges. I’ve been collecting xs2 gauges for a while now trying to piece together a nice quality set. These gauges are hard to come by in good condition, but I’d grab up any I could knowing they’d need rebuilt. I finally got a set with some decent chrome bezels. Just after I got this last set with good chrome, I was about to order a set of new gauge decals when was contacted by our resident restorer, Mailman. He had a set of nice quality decals that were gifted to him. But he had already restored his, so he was paying it forward AGAIN and offered to send them to me.
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This is the second time Bob has sent me needed parts free of charge. I have determined that his screen name “Mailman” is the perfect fit for him, because he DELIVERS!!!!! I can’t thank you enough Bob!

So with my parts all delivered, I pulled out my gauge stash and started disassemling them to piece together the best parts from them all. I followed Mailman’s tutorial on the gauge refurb with great success. The only hiccup I had was that I could my trip meter shafts off the speedos. In the end I was able to work around it by uncrimping the face of the gauge covers and slipping the bezels off that way. The only tools needed were a pair of broad pliers and a small modified flathead screwdriver. The screwdriver was slightly bent to around 30 degrees and then shaved in half with my angle grinder. This enabled me to pry up the crimped face to remove the glass.
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The gauge decals he sent me were different than the ones he restored his with. These were thicker with a strong adhesive back. I was pretty lucky in placing them, as if I’d have misaligned them I would have been screwed as they stuck immediately.
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Anyway, they are finished now and look great. Getting boxed and shelved until I can finish the front end job that is next and will wait for final assembly.
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Rob, your gauges came out super nice, I’m so happy the decals worked out so well for you. Your hard work is really paying off on your beautiful bike!
If I may, I would just like to also give a shout out to forum member Gator, who is the guy that sent the decals to me. He had bought this really nice set to restore his original gauges and wound up not using them because he bought a nicer set of gauges. I had considered keeping them “ just in case” but the odds of me using them were slim. When I noticed you had picked up a set of gauges from our classified section, I saw an opportunity for these decals to go to a good home. I’m happy they worked for you and I’m sure Gator would also appreciate knowing his decals went to good use. This forums members have been so gracious , giving and helpful to me and others, I’m happy just to be part of that.
 
Ok, back to the forks. This weekend I put some effort into polishing my lowers. As you may recall, last month I bought the replacement fork legs and hacked off the left caliper mounts. The left leg took considerable more time as there were a lot of high and low spots to be sanded out. The right leg was pretty clean and smooth. This polishing was all done by hand and took about 2 1/2 hrs during 2 sessions. I’ll just do a progression of photos to tell the story, but sanding was done in stages starting at 230 grit, 600, 800, 1000, 1500 and then polished with Blue Magic Metal Polish.

As purchased on EBay, complete but dirty. Mounts chopped.
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Cleaned up with 230 grit to remove clear coat.
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Left leg fully polished next to 230 grit leg
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1500 grit sanded leg next to full polish
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The difference after 1500 and Blue Magic polish.
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Blue Magic is awesome stuff. Took them to a whole new level. These could look like chrome if I spent another hour on them. I may clean them up a touch more once installed.
 
Also had to make a few tools. Chopped an 8mm Allen wrench and fit in a socket to remove the old fork lowers with an electric impact. Also had to hack a 10mm socket with a 4” grinder to hold the fork pistons so I can reassemble the forks. I used Hugh’s thread here and Pete’s thread here for the info to get this done. No pics just yet but I can add some later.
 
I’m making progress. All be it at a snail’s pace. I’ve got some really nice parts stashed away for this project, along with one that I’m really excited about but have yet to reveal. More to come, so stay tuned.
 
Progress continues to slowly churn out. I got the lowers back on, but I may end up re-polishing the left lower leg. There’s just some low spots that stand out a little. I’ve also been wanting to clean up the front rotor before I put it all back together. I tore it apart to polish and paint it (thanks Bob) before putting it back together. I’ve also been wanting to drill some rotors too, so this morning I picked up a new drill press on CL. I’ve been wanting one for a while now but the cheapskate in me has kept me for buying one. Everything ive seen was 8 or 10” units and just seem too cheap and puny. So I snagged this 12” Bench-top with stand for pretty decent price.
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And shortly after picking it up I went to town drilling my rotor. It’s not perfect, but a solid first attempt. The template I had was not quite sized right, so I had to improvise a little.
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the rotor center is polished, taped and prepped for paint. I hope to button this up tomorrow.
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