Baby steps, right? Today's a weirdly sunny, 80 degree day in Michigan. So I taped off the carb inlets, put the sidecovers and seat on and wheeled it out into the driveway for a wash.
Side note, the tires I bought in '94 held air when I pumped them up. I mean, the sidewalls are dry-rotted and cracked all to heck, and they're going to get replaced, but that makes it easier to roll the bike around.
Anyway, bike pr0n
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Also, this is my first good, up-close inspection now that the dirt's off it, and I think the cosmetic part of this project is going to be pretty straightforward, and I don't think I'll have to really replace any metal parts because of looks. The aluminum is all fine, not corroded, just in desperate need of degreasing and polish. The frame's all unblemished, no problems there. The tank/sidecovers are good and shiny, no need to repaint or anything. The most work will be the chrome and steel, as it all has various amounts of surface rust spotting, but I don't think anything's rusted through, or even close to it. Time spent with a wire wheel, Simoniz and maybe a vinegar bath for the worst of it should take care of it.
'Nother side note, vinegar baths are GREAT for removing surface rust. Fixing up old bicycles is/was another hobby of mine, and putting steel parts in a tub of plain 'ol white vinegar for 3 or 4 days has been my go-to. The rust gets eaten away but the good metal doesn't. And it smells like vinegar but it's non-toxic, and not a problem to have sitting around in the garage, in case it gets spilled or a cat gets out there. Fasteners and hardware respond especially well.
All of that is to say that I'd rather spend time disassembling, de-rusting and polishing than just buy replacement parts. Basically everything on the bike came from the factory in '79, minus repairs and maintenance items, and I'd like to keep it that way. I personally LOVE survivor vehicles and originality, and I prefer patina.
Finally, there's the "before" picture of my "workbench." (so many air-quotes) You all see what I'm working with here. That old cabinet came with the house, and it has some lumber attached to the top to make it a decent work surface, I guess. When we moved in, we had about a million dollars of sudden expenses that month
in addition to our moving expenses, so the awesome workbench I was going to build didn't happen but I had a couple of outlets run to the wall so I can run lights and power tools, and of course you can see the beverage fridge, which is the MOST important part.
So it's not a
totally bad place to work, although it's unheated and Michigan gets kinda Michigan-y in the winter.
Anyway, that wall is begging for some shelves to be attached to it, so I can move all that stuff off the surface, and mount the bench grinder/wire wheel I got LAST Christmas, and start doing some BIKE WORK!
