Did you restore your gauges?

No, I had Al at Vintagemt1 in Calif. restore these gauges. They were in to bad of condition for me to do. He has done a few of my bikes over the years. Great guy to work with.

He did a great job!!!

Here are the 68-70 seat straps i made. Not perfect but i think they will do for now. Had to hand make the metal loops and solder each one for strength. The top strap has 1 original yamaha connector that i had. The new ones are stainless. 

Also while i am here i threw in a picture of the 68 DT1 250.  Coming along good. Front forks turned out real nice with the Dachi tubes. can't even tell there not OEM. Will have the front end and both fenders on in 2 weeks. Oil tank is original paint as will be the headlight bucket and gas tank. Didn't even paint the whole frame. touched up and left the cable and harness marks on the stearing neck to keep the bike as original as possible. Patina is a good thing on this one!  Still have time as i sent the original handlebars out to get chromed. 9 weeks! 







 

Straps are looking remarkable...as is the bike. Not surprising with your skill set.

Looks Super you really did a excellent job

Thanks Pedalcrazy and Ht1kid!  I like to think i still have the same skills i had 10 or 15 years ago but age is catching up with me. I guess you never loose the skill, just the ability to do it. It's been fun working on this 68 DT1 because i have learned alot about this bike and how it differs from all other Yamaha  enduro's. I suspect it will be right between the 70 DT1 and the 71 DT1 as for condition and looks go out of the 3 bikes i have. 

Thought i would try one of the repo seat straps i made out on the 70 DT1. Put it through the ringer, Lol! Seems to work good. I guess for now i will put the original strap onto the 68 DT1 until i find another. 




The 68 DT1 is moving right along now. Just need to buff out the gas tank and put a coat of polish on it, restore and install the seat, install kick stand, bleed oil pump and sit around and wait for the chrome shop to get the handlebars done.Going to be a long 7 weeks!! Hopefully she starts right up and runs fine? Did check the horn and brake light and they work.Thats a good sign. Lol! I have repo tank badges on it right now but do have a set of NOS yamaha badges coming for it. They will be on the bike before the vintage bike show June 11th.  

Oh c'mon.  I want to see bike hanging by the new seat strap under a helicopter at 10,000 feet...  over a lake filled with piranha!



Seriously, beautiful work as always.

Thanks Mark, Lol! I didn't quite go to that extreme but i did swing the seat over hard a few times and it held good and didn't even bend the tabs. folds like the original when closing seat too!

Glad i was able to finally work on a 68 DT1 before stopping this hobby or habit. Learned a lot about the 68 and it's differences. Never in my dreams did i ever think i would own one. Funny how things work out. My last bike and it's the rarest Yamaha enduro out there. Most expensive too!! I am not looking forward in going thru all the invoices and receipts it took to go thru this bike.