At lost for words.

I truly appreciated having been given a sneak-peak before your post here, but I gotta tell ya.... I got as big of a smile seeing it here as I did when I got the texts from you!

Of course, the packing peanuts pic wins, though...... My in-laws had a chi -huy-huy, too----- things never change, do they? Lol

 

Again Dave, thanks for the donor tail loop. Together we brought purpose to two machines. One to give of its self so another can ride on.

 

Nice to see it going back together. Looks like it went back on well.

 

looking good. One thing that I'd want to see is for there to be a sleeve inside of the frame sections where they were welded together. That will help prevent cracks from developing along the heat-affected area of the weld. If you have already done a finish weld then just leave it, but make inspection of the welded area part of your normal monthly walkaround.

 

I wanted to do that but due to the unusual cross section it prove to be difficult. I did put a heavy fillet on the bottom though, and I normalized the area with a torch to release any heat stress areas.

 

Razz, are you going to strip and repaint the rest of the frame or is it OK and just paint the back parts where you made the repair?

I was looking at another bike and the guys frame was a purple color that must have been base coat clear coat it looked over the top perfect.

I was always wanting to do a frame off restoration but have not made it that far.

I was also wondering what lever and brake set up you got there with the white screw top reservoir




MN

 

Yes, I am starting that Sunday, going to have to do it the hard way with the wire wheel of death, since I can't get my compressor working.

It is not difficult, Just take a lot of pictures and put the hard ware/bolts back into there respective spots so you don't lose track where they go. Just think of a frame off as a deep cleaning. With your winters up there, It would make a good project. And as far as cost, my last 2 rebuilds on this bike cost me less than $1000. I am only into $600 right now on this rebuild, most of that is in hard parts as you can under stand.

Here is a link (there is plenty on ebay even ship from here in the USA) they are very well made for the price, cnc and anodized aluminum. I put a set on another member's, bike they work well. If you want I can PM you with more details and pictures.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/CNC-Univers...num-/251346278457?hash=item3a8567d839&vxp=mtr

Here is an ebay search for ya http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fro...le+clutch+brake+levers+set&rt=nc&LH_PrefLoc=1

 

Wow the wire wheel of death! That seems to be a lot of time and a few of those. That works too. Bummer you don't live closer , you could come over and use my bead blast cabinet before you put the back end on there it would have just made it.
I will be interested to see those levers mounted and working. They look nice. In any case keep us posted.

 

Just a little update today. I got my compressor up and running again, I had to bypass the presser cut off switch. Picked up another media gun since my other one is on the fritz. And by the time I helped my wife move one of her clients I did not get much done. I will have to Finnish up next Saturday, my next day off.

 

Progress in the making. One more step towards done every time you work on it.

 

after what this poor thing's been through, tip it up so any water in the frame can run out. i hung mine from the head bearings and couldn't believe the crap that came out.
then
The cavity where the swingarm bearings are should have a hole on the bottom to let any water out, make sure it's clear.
You'll also see the open end of the lower frame tube, shoot some oil in it to stop internal rust.

 

Already planed on putting oil inside the frame and rotating it. Surprisingly there is very little rust. Mostly surface rust no corrosion.

 

Hey Razz,
Can you flip your frame up and snap a picture of those drain holes?
That would be great.
Thanks
MN

 

Here you go.


There has been some that suggest drilling a hole at the very bottom of the frame here on each side to allow water to drain.


But the ONLY way water would get in would bee here (where the frame meets the swing arm bearing) and......


.....here (under the neck). As you can see they are sealed up tight. So if you drill a hole in the bottom you might be creating more problems than you save.

 

Time for some more welding, found an incomplete weld at the kick stand.

 

Glad you found that bad weld by your kick stand.
The frame drain holes, I think you are correct in assuming that the swing arm area is were water could enter. Good to know

 

The water (and more importantly condensation) gets into the lower frame tube and rusts it out via the cavity for the swingarm bearing; the tubing is not sealed at that location, and is not internally treated for rust. I repaired mine just last year. Adding a drain hole might not be a bad idea; followed by a thorough dousing with an internal frame coating like this.

Oh that spot at the kickstand....that isn't just an incomplete weld. I'd be poking at that to check for thinness. Even odds that the frame tube is rusted there.

 

K-Moe,
Is that the location that Razz has his Sharpie on to drill the drain holes. 1/8" good enough?

 

Thanks for the heads up moe. Yep it is a hole. I hit it with a spring punch in the areas shown pretty solid. But I will be doing a more through check along the entire bottom of the frame.

 

I don't know. I hadn't thought about ading a hole there until it was mentioned in this thread (I sprayed cold galvenizing compound into my frame tube prior to filling the last small hole with weld).

If I were going to put a hole there I would wait until I had the frame coating on hand so I could size the hole to match the tube for the coating. I would also not just drill a hole there. I'd want to put a patch over the frame to increase the thickness around the hole to help make-up for the loss of material in that area.

 

Well I just talk to a buddy that is a body man about how to detect any internal rust. He told me to take a nickle and lightly tap, not to hard on the frame. He said that when you come to a thin spot the metallic tapping will turn into a dull thud. So far so good my frame sounds solid. but I am definitely going to do a overlapping weld. Then I am going to weld the front and rear section of the kickstand mount. Can not be-leave it was not done at the factory. Can't imagine the amount of road grime and moister that could have collected there.
Moe I am definitely going to try that Eastwood product, $17.99 is really cheap insurance.

 

I'm thinking of trying it too. I found out about it recently from a guy who has been putting a '47 Chevy truck body onto a '95 Dodge frame (using bits of the Chevy frame in places). He's had to do a lot of stitching things together to get it all to line up and has used that stuff to treat the areas in the Chevy frame that didn't have drain holes.

 

After a whole day and 250 lbs of sand she is finaly down to bare metal.

 

Love it when you can get down to bare metal and bring it back up with modern day
Primers and paints.
I'm sure the factory skimped on metal prep and good primer. The frame paint on my bikes seem like its pretty thin at best.
Looks Good Razz!

 

Primer? From what I saw there wasn't none. And it looked like the bike was dipped from the amount of paint runs.

 

your shower look like a beach?

 

Still picking sand castles out of my ears.

 

Yea sandblasting is pretty gritty unless you have a tyvek suit and a hooded face shield. I get so hot inside those things the face plate starts to fog and I can't see anything.
I really like my blast cabinet but a frame won't fit.

 

Get a bigger cabinet

Btw Mn, did you get my pm to you?

 

Dave,
Got your PM, I will get back to you when I get to my PC in the AM
Working off this iPad is not the greatest.

 

Ok just checking...... Back to our originally scheduled programming--- razz it's looking good!!

 

Nothing beats a good enamel IMHO.

 

Me too. The original factory paint on the part that I had to graft on practically fell off, but the paint that I painted on the original frame I had hell getting off. Between last weekend and today it took me a total of 5 hours to do. Trust me I am going back with the same stuff, Rust_oleum self etching primer and VHT chassis black.

 

We used to use acrylic enamel paint and put some hardener in the mix. The primer was Ditzler DP40 which was a two part primer. That combo was really good for the time. I don't think DP40 has been around in a long time though. Harbor Freight has a nice little HVLP spray gun for cheap I bought for painting projects.
Spraying the frame and getting at it with all angles to get into those hard to see spaces will be interesting. Can't wait to see it all sprayed up!

 

Yeppers. This is turning into the feel-good story of the century! Can't wait till she rolls again. Keep it up, Razz!

 

My method is to mount it on my engine stand and use it as a rotisserie. Spray all the tight spots first, then the easy spots.

 

Use a brush

 

Finally finish the paint, now the fun stuff, reassembly.

 

You can only guess at how big of a smile this brings!!!!!

 

Great work, Razz. Love seeing it come back from the ashes, so to speak.

 

You will have to change the name to Phoenix
The mythical bird that rose from the ashes to live again!

 

a yellow frame with black parts would have been fitting

 

I always liked the bird on the hood of my Turbo Trans Am with the flame coming out of its beak
I'm going to throw that stupid 301 turbo engine away and find a 400 and slip that in there in the spring.

 

No doubt that you painted it very finely. You can also use powder coating machine instead of painting which is also a better option due to its durability. Read or view images about powder coating here.

 

We already are very familiar with powdercoating here

 

I think power coating a trans am would be tough to do, plus i don't think the windows would roll down ...
At the National Art Gallery in Ottawa, they have a black TA with the entire book of revelations scratched into the paint. Pretty bad assed, especially the stuff about the beast of the apocalypse. "Woe to thee, o earth and sky, for the devil sends forth the beast with wrath, for he knows the time is near..."
Iron Maiden (or something!)

 

@MattiThundrrr: I think Emma was referring to Razz's bike.

@MN-Maxims: Put a LS3 in it and buy a good alarm system.

Gary H.

 

First off, welcome to the sight. Powder coating is a great option. And it is very durable. But powder coating has one flaw, if you get a stone chip all the way to bare metal water tends to seep under the coating and rust the metal. If you go back a few post and see tha I have used this system before. And it took me over the coarse of two weekends and 5 hours to sand blast it off. Plus it is cost effective, less than $30 compared to $300+ for powder coating. The method I used was media blasting, wipe down with acetone, self etching primer, then VHT chassis paint. No sanding, and the finish is smooth as silk and it looks like the original paint.

 

I use to have a '74 TA, should have never got rid of it. Saw one sold recently at the local classic "junk yard" for $20000 (yes that is four zeros). No motor, no trans, no interior, just a rolling chassis with that beautiful shaker hood, T-tops and snow flake rims.

 

Wow Razz, you are a man amongst men . . . . Or something cool like that!

First your epic, heart wrenching adventure with a lost love being found again. Then doing the whole 'Phoenix' thing with the bike all the while with an elevated ability in all aspects of refurbishing. Now you embrace and welcome (what appears to me) an obvious trolling spammer who jumped on this thread for self serving purposes only.

I stand for you and applaud and raise a glass of bourbon to toast you!
There is a hero amongst us and his name is Razz1969!