74 TX650A Project – AKA “The Parts Bike”

Oops, I posted this to the Gonzo ignition thread by mistake.

I had some time yesterday morning so I cleaned and polished the exhaust pipes and mufflers.

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There is a decent sized spot on the left side muffler that had the chrome stripped, almost certainly by battery acid, and some rust pits but they cleaned up decent, about the same as the rest of the chrome.

Before I could clean them I needed to empty all the "stuff" inside.(almost half a Cool Whip containers worth) Looks like a mix of rust and carbon with a wasp nest thrown in for good measure.

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Today I sanded and polished the fork sliders and started sanding the valve covers which, thankfully, are the last bit of aluminum polishing left to do.

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My original plan was to get the bike running and find out what problems the engine or transmission might have before removing it and swapping it over to the titled frame. Here’s where I am now…

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Now that I have “the PB” down to the engine, battery box and wiring harness left in the frame I’m thinking I might as well move everything over to the titled frame as it’s a toss-up whether putting everything back on the original frame to ride it isn’t as much or more work than taking the chance the engine/trans is OK and moving everything over now without running/riding it and maybe having to remove it twice.
 
One of the parts that was missing when I got the bike was the left side cover. The right side cover looks pretty decent for it’s age so I’m going to use it as-is.

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I found a pair of tired side covers in Cinnamon on eBay a while back. The paint is dull and the decals were in sad shape but nobody bid on them and I got them cheap and it included the latches.(I forgot to take a before picture but you can imagine 40+ year old decals and dull paint.) I am going to try and use polishing compound to brighten up the paint but the decals are toast. My plan is to remove the decals, polish up the covers as best I can and apply new decals from diablocycle.com. (unless there is a better supplier?)

The first step was to remove the existing decals. I started experimenting with the right side cover as I don’t need it and it won’t matter if it doesn’t turn out well cuz it’s not that great to begin with. I tried both lacquer thinner and acetone and they worked about the same at removing the clear top layer and the white and black vinyl or whatever it is. Just rubbing didn’t do much but soaking a paper towel with the solvent and covering with plastic wrap for about a minute which softened things up so they could be rubbed off with a solvent soaked rag.

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This still left a layer of adhesive that the solvent would soften but didn’t remove so next I tried the same paper towel/plastic wrap idea but with water and a little dish detergent. It didn’t do much after an hour but when left overnight the adhesive turned milky and could be removed with a plastic scouring pad and a little elbow grease. This is how the right cover looks after scrubbing off the adhesive.

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Now I need to get some new polishing compound as mine is pretty old and dried out and see how much the paint can be improved.
 
Now I need to get some new polishing compound as mine is pretty old and dried out and see how much the paint can be improved.
UV has removed most of the cinnamon. What you're left with is the metallic base. About all the compound is gonna do is shine up that base.... it won't restore any of the color unfortunately.
 
Yes Jim, I agree the left one is pretty bad but there's still some paint left on the right one.(middle picture) I don't have any illusions it will look "good" or even as good as the right one but if I can get it to "passable" I will be satisfied. At least it won't be any worse than when I started. I could paint it but I understand matching the Cinnamon is difficult and painting everything is a possibility for the future (but not terribly likely) but I prefer preservation to restoration if possible with the exception of not preserving the "patina" of oxidized aluminum/failed clear coat or rust, otherwise I like to use as much of what's there as I can and clean it up as best I can.
 
Just a little background on my "philosophy" on resurrecting old things:

I admire and can appreciate a well done restoration (such as yours Jim) but I think an experience I had when I was young still sticks with me. My dad and I went to a Saturday morning car show and got there early while the participants were still setting up. There was a BIG black mid to late 30's car, don't remember exactly, maybe a Buick, that was absolutely flawless, you could have eaten off the frame rails. My dad stopped to chat for a while with the owner (while he was wiping it down with a cloth diaper) and tell him how much he admired the car and how much effort, time and money it must have taken to get it to that level. The guys answer surprised me, he said when he first got the car he freshened it up and he and the family used to go on frequent weekend drives, informal car shows, picnics etc. and they really enjoyed the car. Then he got the bug to make it "perfect', like it deserved. Long story short, when it was done it was so nice and had taken so much effort and was now worth so MUCH more money that he basically never drove it except onto and off the trailer at shows and he was thinking of selling it and getting another driver. I have since run into other enthusiasts who had gone down that same path and come to the same conclusion. I could see myself feeling the same way. My hat's off to guys like Jim that can put that much time and effort into a project and then actually use it but I don't think I could.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled program...
 
I understand where your philosophy's at Mike. I suppose you could say I was pointing out the obvious...:rolleyes:
Re my bike... I look at it as a new bike, fresh off the showroom floor. You don't buy one like that to just polish it and stare at it, you buy it to ride it. That's how I treat the SG. it was new (restored) just once. Now it's a rider. For me, the joy was in the work to get it there. I don't see the point in keeping "show bikes" though.... it looks used now. :sneaky:
 
If there are 20 people who are following this thread (I'm being generous)

Oh you’d be surprised how many of us enjoy reading these resurrection threads. They just don’t pipe up if they don’t have anything useful to add. I have been enjoying this thread from the beginning. Carry on....;)
 
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Oh you’d be surprised how many of us enjoy reading these resurrection threads. They just don’t pile up if they don’t have anything useful to add. I have been enjoying this thread from the beginning. Carry on....;)
Yep. I'm here too. This thread has over 1,600 views as I post this.
 
I cleaned the remains of the sticker off the left (eBay) side cover yesterday. This one was a little tougher than the spare right one I was practicing on. Soaking in soapy water took two days and didn't get all of the adhesive off, it took a final clean-up with alcohol and some extra elbow grease. I polished up the paint and it came out "meh" but from 10 feet (maybe 20) with one eye closed and the other watering from a stiff wind in the face it will look..."meh". The new sticker should help distract from the paint a little-ish.

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I cleaned out the old wax from under the raised edge around the sticker and polished up the original right cover and it came out pretty good for it's age.

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Thankfully they are on opposites sides instead of next to each other on the bike or the difference would stand out even more. I didn't even notice until cleaning it up that the word "electric" is gone, you can just see the faint color difference in the paint underneath where it used to be. Must have been applied on top of the clear top layer, or different ink or who knows what.
 
Today I decided to tackle getting the engine out. After reading a bunch of threads and a considering all the different techniques people have used I decided to do it the way I did the engine on the BMW airhead (R75/5) I did a while ago. I screwed some eye bolts into the floor joists (I'm working in the basement) and hooked up four ratchet straps. I removed all the motor mount bolt except the bottom two and raised the frame and engine using a small HF motorcycle lift. I hooked on to the engine at the exhaust port studs and rear motor mount with four ratchet straps and took the weight off the lift and removed the remaining two mounting bolts.

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I could then raise or lower the frame separate from the engine and could tilt the engine by adjusting the straps. Boy is that thing TIGHT! You really have to get it in just the right position before it will come out. After I figured out to quit trying to tilt/move the frame and use the straps to tilt the engine it went a lot better and I finally worked it out of the frame.

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I then let the engine down onto a dolly and rolled it out of the way.

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Next I can start transferring bits from the old frame to the new (old) frame. Probably should clean the frame up a bit first, at least get the grease off and touch-up the paint a bit.
 
I decided to do it the way I did the engine on the BMW airhead (R75/5) I did a while ago. I screwed some eye bolts into the floor joists (I'm working in the basement) and hooked up four ratchet straps.

There’s more than one way to skin a cat, well done!
 
Thanks Mailman :thumbsup:

It was a lot simpler on the airhead with those big cylinders sticking out and plenty of room in the frame. Still it only took a couple hours doing it this way by myself and I don’t think it would have gone much quicker with a helper.
 
Today I was removing the few things still connected to the new frame and noticed this bracket welded to the right hand center stand mount. There were no holes in it, no slots just a square cornered U-bracket made from 1/8 inch steel and welded behind the mount. Sorry the picture is a bit out of focus, but at least the bolt above the bracket is nice and clear...

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I cut a slit in the bracket and cut most of the way through the welds (which weren't very good thankfully) and snapped it off in two pieces then ground the remains of the weld flush.

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The only thing I can figure is that when the lever broke off the center stand it was banging around under the frame and one of the PO's welded this on to give it something to rest against. They must have lost the lever as it would have made more sense to weld it back on than to weld a big ugly bracket to the frame since they had access to a welder. It won't be a problem as the Parts Bike has a good, if a bit rusty, center stand I will be swapping over after I get it cleaned up and painted.

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