Not a Restoration. More of a Freshen up, or Refurbishing. 2,200 mile one owner bike that'd been sitting in his backyard shed since 1995. I'm pretty much done with the cosmetics on the bike, with just a couple few cosmetic things left I'd like to do for now.

 

 

 

I thoroughly cleaned the bike and motor. I've hand polished the gas tank, oil tank, front and rear fenders and the taillight bracket. The painted tin has either a Ceramic coating or wax protecting it. I've replaced most all the rubber grommets, hoses, cables, grips, kick starter and shift lever rubber, have new rubber foot pegs, most all lock washers, and most of the phillips head screws on the bike and motor. I wonder what kind of screw drivers the original owner has? The heads were all messed up, with several I had to drill out. A few pieces needed the paint that was left stripped off, rust removed and repainted; Upper and Lower Chain Guards, Air Box and Lid, inside the Tool Box, Upper side of the Skid Plate, Side Stand, and Rear Brake Lever. I installed new hardware/grommet kits for the upper chain guard, and both front and rear fenders. I replaced the Front Brake and Clutch levers; Brake lever had the end broke off and Clutch lever was bent. NOS flashers are on front and back, I've two new NGK B8ES plugs ready to go, and a new battery installed. The horn, and all the lights that are to operate in the first and second key position with the motor off work, encouraging.

The non running bike didn't look too bad when I picked up in mid November.

 

 

There was a fair amount of pitting on all the chrome with rust in the pitting. I was able to remove all the rust with WD-40 and many 0000 Steel Wool Pads. I also cleaned every piece of hardware I removed with either the WD-40 and Steel Wool or the wire brush on my bench grinder, on my drill or on my Dremel tool before putting back on. The wheels I've also hand polished with a metal polish that has some protectant in it.

 

A Goat had it's way with the seat cover at some time, as seen in one of the above pics. Then the bike sat where the seat foam was exposed causing it to turn hard. When touching the exposed seat foam it'd crumble and fall off. I pulled the cover and foam off, wire brushed the rust and repainted the upper portion of the seat pan. I had a local Upholsterer attach the new seat foam and cover. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

 

 

I had to pull the Headlight to wire the NOS Front Flashers and found the black plastic spacer/washer to the side to side Headlight Adjuster (or what was left of it) laying in the bottom of the Headlight Bucket. One of my Nephews has recently purchased a 3D Printer, and I had him make me the piece as I was having trouble sourcing it.

 



Next I'll be moving on to the mechanicals of the bike. I've already disassembled, cleaned, and rebuilt the carb, installed a new Yamaha air filter and a new rubber boot between the air box and the carb, I've scraped the carbon from the head, top of the piston, and exhaust port. A new head gasket is on and a new gasket is in the cylinder exhaust port. It was obvious the head gasket had been leaking and with the amount of oil from the front of the cylinder below the pipe inlet onto the underside of the motor, it just made sense. I cleaned the pipe best I could without cooking it. Transmission oil's been replaced, and the old oil didn't smell burnt so I'm hoping the clutch is okay. I also replaced the fork oil. I have a set of oil seals incase the motor leaks once running and warmed up. I cleaned all the oil soaked sand from around all the seals and in the two months since doing that nothing has seeped out on its own.

Today I plan to check compression and do a leak down test.

Nice work. Sounds like the right approach to a survivor bike. 

Man what a great looking bike! I was just trying to find a way to take care of pitting on chrome pieces and ran across this post. Thank you.

"I was just trying to find a way to take care of pitting on chrome pieces and ran across this post."
Try scrunching up tin foil, dipping it in water and use that to polish your chrome, you'll be amazed how effective it is and not as aggressive as steel wool.

If using Steel Wool, make sure to use 0000, it won't scratch using WD-40, Metal Polish, or even Glass Cleaner as a lubricant. Any more aggressive than 0000 and it'll scratch.

Thank you for that info. So once clean, just hit the pieces with a coat of wax to keep it pitting again?

I see you have two post going. All good & man your bike is coming up nice.

Once the rust is cleaned out from pitted chrome you're going to want to put something on the chrome to protect it. The protection could be a wax, a synthetic sealant, a Ceramic coating or even WD-40 or silicone spray wiped on after a ride or after washing.

Progress continues...
I was about to get ready to start the bike. I performed a compression test and found a problem; 225psi. Seems that while the bike sat idle for the past 27 years 2 stroke oil seeped past the check valve in the autolube oil pump and filled the cavity under the piston where the crankshaft is. I believe I've now removed most all of the excess oil and have pulled the pump and sent it off to DEET to rebuild. While waiting I've been busy with a few other things on the bike.
All the rubber parts have been replaced in the gas cap
I removed, striped and repainted the foot peg bracket and installed new rubber foot pegs.
My rear tire arrived from RevZilla, a 4.00x18" Heidenau K67 that matches the original Dunlop pretty closely.

 

With the wheel off I cleaned and polished all the associated bits
Before
 

After
 

I deglazed the braking surface and removed some rust with 80 grit Emory Cloth and scrubbed the brake backing plate with WD-40 and 0000 Steel Wool. Once I removed the tire I found quite a bit of rust on the inner part of the wheel.

 
I got most of it off with a brass cup brush on my cordless drill. I picked up a set of heavy duty tubes and new rim strips from my local Yamaha dealer while I was working close to them. It's been several decades since I last changed a motorcycle tire. I pinched the damn tube! There's a Honda dealer closer to me than the Yamaha shop, I had them do it the second time. I'm not one to give up and will try the front again myself. Speaking of the front, it's also a Heidenau K67 in size 3.25x19". I went with the Heidenau tires because they match the original Dunlops and have the correct size for the front. Problem is, I couldn't find it in the US and had to purchase from a guy in the UK through eBay, it's scheduled to be here February 21 a month since placing the order.
The rear wheel's back on with the axel and all associated bits cleaned, polished and greased. I've also replaced the brake shoes. Yesterday I pulled the front wheel off.