| Author | Message | ||
     86129squids |
 Post up more pics as you progress with the resurrection- I know all of the armchair mechanics here on BW will pipe up! That paint still looks great from here...  Honestly, I'd imagined much worse, but you certainly have your work cut out for ya. Keep your eyes on the prize- when the day comes that she barks back to life, how happy ol' Crust will be!  | ||
| 86129squids |
Idea: See if you can get in touch with a good HOG chapter down there- once some folks hear about the Crusted Odyssey, surely they'll pitch in with some help/parts/connections... | ||
| Reepicheep |
That will be a project for sure! But it would probably be a fun one. | ||
| Greg_e |
Uggg! There are some non-trivial parts that are wrecked. Reading the story about you building it and then seeing the pictures made me sad. If you can get it running and replace the forks, the only thing I can say is that rat bikes are the in thing right now. I wouldn't even worry about the chrome and aluminum until it was running and driving. Since it's a kicker, can you run it with a dead battery, or do you need to replace the battery before trying to start it for the first time? | ||
| Alfau |
Go to super-cheep and buy some rust converter. With a small paint brush and some elbow grease, You'll be amazed. Does the motor turn over? | ||
| Crusty |
Without even giving it a good inspection, I know that it's going to need fork legs. The rust is very heavy on the surfaces that the seals will be moving on. I can sand and paint most of the chrome and even some of the aluminum surfaces, so I'm not too concerned there. Both brake lines have been disconnected, and the calipers are corroded up pretty badly. I suspect that it'll need new braking everything, but I'll wait to pass judgement, for now. The drive chain is really rusty on the outside, but it's an O-ring chain, so it seems to move pretty smoothly. I haven't even tried to turn the engine over yet. That will be the first thing I try as soon as I get it in the shed. I'll report back here after I give it a good look. | ||
| Ourdee |
Whoa, It has almost as much rust as my first Uly muffler. I've seen way worst start up. I'm hoping it fires up. You do have a marketable skill the locals there seam to lack. Contact the chip manufacturers and offer your tasting skills to fix their BBQ Chips. You could become a hero/legend. | ||
| Alfau |
Believe it or not, HD in their wisdom, chose to reintroduce your toy from the past in the 72. http://www.bing.com/search?q=HD+72&src=IE-SearchBo x&FORM=IENTSR You just might be sitting on a fortune. lol. | ||
| Alfau |
Take the spark plugs out and fill to overflowing with two stroke lawnmower oil and leave over night before attempting to get things moving. | ||
| Alfau |
a marketable skill the locals there seam to lack We don't need your additives that cause disease., Mate It's a potato.. flavour is enhanced by cancer causing crap! (Message edited by alfau on December 05, 2015) | ||
| Pwnzor |
Spoken like someone who has never had Grippos chips! You can't live forever. | ||
| Crusty |
Sunday Morning, Praise the Dawning It’s a beautiful morning. There isn’t a cloud in the sky and the temps are supposed to be in the mid 80s. That’s pretty much the forecast for the next week. I’m sitting here drinking my first cup of coffee, and looking at the day ahead. I think it’s going to be a good day. Yesterday started out looking kind of bleak. We got the Sportster off the truck and into the shed, and I started cleaning it and making assessments about whether it’s worth trying to revive. To cut to the chase; yes, it is. It will take some money, but I think it’s doable. Everything chrome is rusted. Heavily in some places. The front fork legs are junk. They have to be replaced. The master cylinders are full of dried brake fluid. The front brake line is detached from its master cylinder. I don’t know if the calipers can be saved yet. I took the primary cover off (I cut the plastic band that was kind of holding it in place). I discovered that the really heavy corrosion that was inside it was a mixture of corrosion and sand. I detached the clutch cable, and removed the ball and ramp mechanism from the cover, then hit it with the pressure washer. The aluminum is pretty oxidized, but I think it will be OK. The clutch is disassembled, but the basket is still in place, so I screwed up my courage and kicked it over a couple of times. The engine turned over smoothly enough that I think it’s OK. Any bike can be restored if you spend enough money. I think I can get this Iron Motor up and running affordably. She won’t be nearly as pretty as she was, but she’s still beautiful. I’m going to give it a shot. If nothing else, it’ll give me something to do and focus and spend all my money on. Kind of like it did 20 years ago. (I wish I was making the money I was making back then, to go along with it, but we gan’t have everything now, can we? We have a full house, this weekend. Not only are Roni Ann and her kids here, but Adam and two of his and Kristyn’s kids are here, as well. 8 people, two very large dogs and two cats makes for a very crowded house. Dinner was really good, last night. Roni Ann cooked burgers and fried onions on the BBQ, I made my Internationally renowned (on 3 Continents!) fried potatoes (Chips to you, Mate!), and Melia cooked fresh corn on the cob. We all ate well. Well, I need a shower and another cup of coffee. Later. | ||
| Damnut |
A good read........ http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/406 2/771306.html?1449359796 | ||
| Alfau |
http://i1276.photobucket.com/albums/y468/Crusty195 0/DSCN0205_zpsumyk64if.jpg This plant is a Grevillea, lol. sorry, and Aboriginals Have been dining on it for thousands of years. Snap off a blossom and bash it on your hand a few times then lick it clean. You will be pleasantly surprised, guaranteed. (Message edited by alfau on December 05, 2015) | ||
| Crusty |
Thanks, Alf! I don't know if I want to eat it, but it sure is beautiful. | ||
| Daddio |
"Drinking nectar direct from the flower is best avoided as some commonly cultivated grevillea species produce flowers containing toxic cyanide." Source:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grevillea | ||
| Crusty |
Monday, Monday Mornings here are a joy. At night, the temps get down to the 60s, and I sleep well, and the mornings are clear and bright and not too hot or cool. At 5:00 AM, the phrase that runs through my head is, “God’s in His Heaven, All’s right with the World” (That line came from a poem I read in High School) I sent off an E-mail to the shop asking for price quotes on a few cheap items for the Sportster. After I sent it, I discovered quite a few other items it’s going to need. What that bike really needs is for me to unbolt the last tank, raise it up and slide a new bike under it. Then set the tank down and replace the gas cap. Since I can’t do that, I’ll have to just see what I can do with it. Today, I’m not sure just what I’m going to do. I’ll do something, though. If I don’t feel up to doing a (more or less) difficult job, there are enough mindless easy jobs that need to be done. It’s funny; the difficult jobs aren’t really that difficult; but I have so much emotion attached to the bike my brain get overloaded and easy things look difficult. In the end, things will get done. I also have a few errands that need to get done today. I need to go into Gatton and pick up a few items. It’s Sunday afternoon back on the East Coast right now; but it’s Monday morning here. That’s the part that gets me the most, I think. Trying to work out what time it is back there. I just had to jump up and chase a chicken out of the house. It’s such a beautiful day that all the doors and windows are open, and the chickens just walk in. They are the reason that the name “Bird Brain” is such an insult. They add a whole new dimension to the word stupid. Anyway, that’s about it for today. I think I’ll have one more cup of coffee, then start back in on that Sportster. | ||
| 86129squids |
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| Greg_e |
At the very least, you could get it propped up on a crate and pull the forks. | ||
| Alfau |
What is the year of manufacture? This might help a little. http://www.jockeyjournal.com/forum/archive/index.p hp/t-98402.html Also, it's a bit of a hike but this prick might be able to hard chrome the forks without replacing them for you. Rodney. Ph.0738926493. He rebuilt my rear shock for the x1. | ||
| Greg_e |
Would the plating be cheaper than a good used fork? | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
I wonder if you could get away with spinning them in a lathe and rubbing them with a scotchbrite pad soaked in WD40. I mean as a short term thing. I've used the WD40+scotchbrite method on a lot of machine shop stuff to great effect. | ||
| Greg_e |
Polishing them on a home built turning tool might be the best idea. I wonder if the tubes would fit on a wood lathe, just need to turn them, and a wood lathe is probably easier to find than a metal lathe. Lots of people turn wood for part of a hobby. Maybe Emory cloth if the pits are very deep. | ||
| Greg_e |
How about JBweld epoxy? http://advrider.com/index.php?threads/refurbishing -mildly-rusted-pitted-fork-tubes.636463/ Found another tip, use drill press with cone on top and bottom to hold the tube. Something you can probably build there without a lot of expense. (Message edited by greg_e on December 06, 2015) | ||
| Crusty |
Mid Day News Flash Just thought you'd like to know. I just checked the weather at Intellicast. At the Fitchburg Airport (in Fitchburg, Massachusetts), the current temperature is 37º F. At Ipswich, Queensland, the current temperature is 86º F. This ain’t such a bad place to spend the winter. Oh; the Koala with the spotted bum is back in the Gum tree in Ace’s paddock. | ||
| Crusty |
Twilight Time It’s 6:30 PM and the sun is setting. Roni Ann is slicing onions and potatoes. I just washed my hands after coming in from the shed. I’m feeling a sense of minor accomplishment. The bike is looking much better than it did. It still needs a lot of work, and the cleaning process is barely started, but I can see a lot of improvement. Ron has three tool boxes full of tools, yet half the time I can’t find the tool I need. Then, half an hour later, when I don’t need that particular tool any more, I find four of them. I feel like I should reorganize all the tools. I can’t think of a better way to piss a mechanic off than to do that. That could be construed as a justifiable excuse for homicide. I know that if somebody did that to my tool boxes, I’d consider drawing and quartering a mild disciplinary action. I do wish I had my tools here, though. Ron is an excellent mechanic, but he’s an A&P (Airframe & Powerplant) helicopter mechanic, and his selection of tools reflects that. My tools are more oriented toward Motorcycle and Automotive repair. Ron has many tools that I don’t have, but I have a few that he doesn’t have (and I could sure use them). Plus, I know where all my tools are and I could go right to the correct drawer when I need something. Once I get the bike cleaned up to a respectable level, I’ll take some more pictures of it. With all the corrosion on all the metal surfaces, I’m wondering what the wiring looks like. I thought of that today as I was wire brushing the rust off the muffler. The battery is junk. I can see the white sulfation through the semi-transparent outer case. I can’t get either of Ron’s battery chargers to work. I even tested the voltage output with a very nice Fluke Meter. Nada. Zip. So I’ll concentrate on making the bike look prettier. Once I’ve got it cleaned up, I’ll start on some of the more glaring major issues. It’s easier to work on a bike that doesn’t look like it should be on it’s way to a scrap yard. One of my strong suits is that I can make a bike look pretty. When I came to Australia the first time, back in 1994, I wound up riding a Yamaha 900 Seca that I bought for $1800. That was a cheap price for a large displacement bike, but it really looked rough. After I left to go back to the US, Ron and Melia sold it for $1900, and the guy who bought it thought he was getting a real bargain. It took a little work, but the improvement in appearance was dramatic. If just spending a few hours cleaning like I did today improves my attitude as much as it has, then once I’ve got the Sportster looking lot better, I should have a pretty positive outlook. And, as we all know, with a positive attitude,you can accomplish anything. The fact that I’m sitting here in Queensland typing this Snippet is proof of that. The Iron Motor will run again. And I’ll be riding it around Australia. | ||
| Greg_e |
Many new chargers won't output voltage until they sense being connected to a battery. If the battery is lower than their set point, you'll get no charge. | ||
| Tootal |
I had a friend pick up a Yamaha 750 Virago that had been sitting outside and was rough. She got it for a good price so I took a few evening and put some elbow grease on it. When she came by to pick it up she walked right past it and wondered where her bike was! Yours will come back too! | ||
| Crusty |
Today's Mid day News Flash Red Rock Deli brand Sweet Chilli & Sour Cream Deli Style potato chips are very tasty. They ain't BBQ chips, but they still taste pretty damn' good to me. | ||
| Alfau |
http://www.gattonstar.com.au/news/golden-potato-ch ips/628920/ Don't insult the locals before you try local produce. Australia is bigger than the USA. You had better get a better bike than that sorry looking blast from the past. Just saying. |
