What I did yesterday

[Brittles]

Should be nice when finished.

Your going with a green color? You must not be superstitious. 

Ive heard about green being an unlucky color but, Im not a supersticious person. I'm a firm believer that we make our own luck most of the time. The rest of the time, things just happen. Sometimes good, sometimes bad.

Just messing with you on the green. I'm not superstitious and have had 2 different green bikes and never wrecked either one.

Can't wait to see your transformed bike.

[piscatorial_phd]

Man, I can't wait to see it. Just look how easy it will be to clean all that other stuff...

[JB1290]

I picked up some parts from powdercoat today. I'm very excited to start working on the bike but unfortunately, I'm waiting for my income tax return money so I can buy the more expensive parts I need.

First off, let me appologise in advance for the picture quality. My 17 month old broke my digital camera which wasn't very good but, I at least knew how to use it. So, on my way home from getting the parts, I picked up a cheap camera at Best Buy so I could continue the documentation of this build. I literally took it out of the box, put batteries in it and started taking pics without knowing how to use it. I don't think the pics do it justice. Every part looks fantastic in person.

Here are the lower fork legs.

Side rails, grab bar and rear center logo.

A couple more of the rear Honda logo


A closer look at the grab rail.

Brake and shifter lever and footpeg mounts.

Fork brace and rear brake lever.

Triple trees done in silver. They look great but I'm not sold on how it will look yet on the bike. If I don't like it, I may have them redone in black.

Here is the brake drum (before). I'm starting on the hand sanding and polishing today.



I dropped the wheels off today since I finally found the time to get the tires off. I was going to have them done in the chrome powdercoat but, I liked the black so much on the other parts, I decided the wheels would look good black as well. The bike will have a nice break up of black, silver, polished aluminum and lime gold so, I think it should look really nice when it is done.

The best part of all of this powdercoat work is, I am getting it all done for free. My cousin is doing them at his shop for me. Total tally in money spent on this project to date is, $43.96.

[hppants]

Parts are really nice - pictures look fine to me.  I wonder what it would cost to powdercoat these parts if you didn't have a deal?

[JB1290]

Probably anywhere from $$100 to $200 I'm guessing. Depends on how much the shops charge for prep labor.

I spent the morning doing a brake job on a friends Tahoe. I was going to do it for free but he insisted I take the money so, now I have an extra $100 bucks for parts. I found a few things on Ebay this weekend that I can afford now. 

[JB1290]

Trying to get a little accomplished on the NH today so, I figured I would start putting the forks back together. I started cleaning up the parts that go into the TRAC system and saw that one of the boots that seal the sides is torn and one of the C clips was missing (I knew it was missing when I took it apart). So, I started doing a search online for the OEM boots and C Clips. One place I found had the parts but they wanted to charge me 14.00 for shipping and they wouldn't be here until mid February. WTF? I'm betting the parts are coming from Japan. I finally found them on CheapCycleParts.com and they are only charging 5.95 for shipping. Now, call me crazy but, I sell alot of stuff on Ebay and parts that small should only cost a buck or two to mail out and the buyer would usually receive them in a few days (inside the continental US that is). Add another 95 cents for a padded envelope from Wally World and at the most, you spend about 3 bucks for shipping. Sorry for the rant but, I hate it when companies try and squeeze every dime out of you that they can.

On a good note, I got a call from my cousin today and he told me the wheels are done so, I will be picking them up after work tomorrow. At this point, Im still not crazy about the silver triple trees so, I may bring them back to him and have them done black. I will post some pics of the wheels when I get them home. I still need to order the tires. I ended up using my extra cash on some other parts. 

[JB1290]

Quick update...

  Got the wheels back from powdercoat. They look great. Been busy as heck so, I still haven't taken any pics yet. Tires are ordered and should be here this week. I ordered a new seat cover from Ebay. I'm hoping its a decent one. Looked good in the pics but, sometimes you never know on Ebay. I got my Renthal MX bars I bought for a song on Ebay as well. I really think they will look great on the bike. I just hope they clear the tank. They are a little longer than stock but way lower so, it looks like the length will compensate for the lack of height. I'm still waiting on the rubber seals I need for the TRAC system so I can get the forks back together. I decided I didn't like the silver on the triple trees after all so, those went back to be coated black. I ordered new brake and clutch levers at the local indy shop. At this point, all I need to buy is a headlight, sportier footpegs (if I can find some that will fit) and if all goes well, I will be buying the paint next week.   

I'm going to the Chicago Supercycle show and swap meet on Saturday. I'm hoping to find the headlight and pegs there. I can't really do much assembly right now until I get the remaining parts I need so, now its just playing the waiting game.

[JB1290]

Here are the pics of the wheels with fresh powdercoat.



I came home for lunch today and found a present on the front porch. My new Kenda K671 Cruisers. Nice, aggressive tread pattern and the best part is, I got them both for 117.00 shipped from JC Whitney.



I couldn't resist getting them mounted up tonight. I'm so lucky to have a wife that didn't have a problem with me mounting motorcycle tires in the living room. Gotta remember Valentines Day this year.


Renthal bars




I had to email Cheapcycleparts.com today to find out what was taking so long to ship my TRAC parts. They just told me I'd have to wait. So much for customer service.  I should have just gone to a Honda dealer. I would have paid more but, the parts would have been here by now. Oh well, thats all for now. Wish me luck at the swap meet this weekend.

[luckylindy]

Those wheels are looking good.   I ran those Kendas on my VLX. Good tires for $117.

[niteman]

Hey JB, check out www.bikebandit.com. I found the parts for my track system and pretty much every other part I have needed with them. I order the stuff and it almost always arrives within a week; the longest I waited was about two weeks for some seals on my '86 cb450.

[niteman]

Oh, and the powder coating on the parts looks awesome!

[JB1290]

Thanks Niteman. Ill have to check them out next time. I struck out on finding a headlight at the swap meet. It was 99% Harley parts so, Im not too surprised. Ill just have to keep searching Ebay. I did finally get the TRAC parts. Im hoping to get more done this week. Also, I started putting the new seat cover on. I went to Sears and bought an electric staple gun. It works pretty good but, getting the cover to stretch and fit right is definately a bitch. Ill get it done but, after a couple hours, I had to quit and rest my hands and fingers. Ill get it finished after work tomorrow. I hope.

[niteman]

Cool. Can't wait to see how the seat cover turns out and also how the rest of your project turns out...maybe motivate me to get some more things done to mine. I just ordered the brake lever and some new grips tonight to repair some of the damage from my parking lot tip over.

[JordanA]

Those wheels look purty!

[Vermontster]

  Great work!

[JB1290]

Thanks for the words of encouragement, guys.  I finished the seat tonight. The other threads on fitting the new covers on the seat were very helpful. I followed those directions to the letter. Heat with a hair dryer, stretch, staple, repeat... My hands are sore.  It did turn out pretty good. Its a good thing that all of the staples are hidden on the bottom though. The electric staple gun worked ok but, an air powered (pneumatic) stapler is the way to go. Not very practical though unless you are going to be doing upholstery work on a regular basis.





Looks like we are going to get severely dumped on with snow tonight and tomorrow so, my plans of doing more work on the bike will most likely be sidelined to shoveling. No biggie. Maybe this weekend will be productive.

[fishball]

That seat looks great JB.  Did you do anything other than recover it?  New foam or gel underneath?

[JB1290]

Thanks Fish. I didn't have to do anything else to it. The foam was in near perfect shape. I was thinking about putting a gel pad in it but, I figured I would just recover it for the time being.

[hppants]

Man - your bike is looking great.  If I had a powder coating source, I'd do my wheels as well.  Mine have the polished rims - I like the '86 rims that are completely blacked out.

[FocusPlayer]

seat looks smooth as a baby's butt,  NICE job !

[JB1290]

I finished polishing the brake drum tonight (in between shoveling the driveway).  I started out using 800 grit sandpaper with Mothers polish and working my way down to 1000, 1500 and 2000 grit. Its a long and tedious process but one that I have done many times before on other projects. I wasn't getting the results I was hoping for and my fingers felt like they were going to start bleeding. However, this past weekend I was at the Chicago cycle show and swap meet and saw one of the many vendors selling their various polishing compounds. If any of you have been to these shows, you have most likely seen some guy with a bunch of Pepsi cans and the bottoms of them look like mirrors. I stopped and checked it out and figured, since I didn't find anything I was looking for, I may as well buy some of this polish and try it out. I gotta tell you, I used it on the brake drum and it looks as close to a mirror as its ever going to get now. I'm sure all the sanding helped but, I wish I would have tried it before I spend countless hours sanding and killing my hands. If any of you go to a show and see this stuff, BUY IT! Its worth the $25.00. Its not a name brand so, I will post some pics of the bottles when I get the chance. The pictures don't do it justice. I need a better camera!
The finished product.

[brickerenator]

Looking good

[JB1290]

  I spent the day in the garage trying to do some assembly. I spent the better part of the morning trying to get the front tire aired up. Had a hell of a time getting the bead to finally catch so the air would fill up. I was almost at the point of filling the tire with lighter fluid and throwing a match at it to get it to air up. Put the trees back on the frame, put the forks together only to find that A, my only pair of snap ring pliers broke and couldn't get the C clips in above the seals and B, one of my fork tubes is slightly bent. I'm going to have to be on the lookout for a replacement. I ended up taking off the valve covers not only to clean and polish it but after closer inspection, saw that its leaking a bit and figured I may as well replace the gasket while the bike is apart. I bought new brake and clutch levers from the local shop a week ago so, I replaced them. Took the covers off the master cylinders and saw alot of condensation and sludge in them so, I had to get them totally cleaned out so I can properly bleed the brakes and clutch.

  All in all, it was a productive day but, I would have liked to get more done than I did. Oh well, there is always next weekend. I was hoping to get the bike finished (minus paint) by the end of the month but, all the little things are what takes up so much of your time. Maybe I'll have it done by the end of March. Its all good. Its always better to take your time and get it all done right than to hurry through it and screw something up. 

Cheers and ride safe everybody. 

[JB1290]

Spent some time in the garage today. I gotta say, I had a vision in my head as to how I wanted the NH to look when I was done and, I really think its going to look better than I thought.

Seeing that this is the first time I've really messed around with a shaft drive bike, it was really pretty simple. No messing with a chain or making sure the rear wheel is aligned correctly. It was nice and easy. The front end on the other hand pretty much fought me every step of the way. 









I still have alot left to do. I need to finish polishing up some of the aluminum parts, rebuild the front brakes, bleed the clutch now that the master cylinder is cleaned out, install the carbs, clean up the wiring and of course, primer and paint the tank, fenders and side panels. I still need a headlight but, I'm still watching Ebay for any decent deals. Spring is right around the corner. Are you ready????

[fishball]

Looking good JB, can't wait for the finished bike.