Thread: New bike - TX650

Sir...you have some wonderful skills
Really enjoy your posts mate...Mr Fiddleback

Just a back yarder. According to some, I haven't a clue!

i thought some might be interested in the making of a couple of ally headlight brackets. i started with two strips of 3mm ally, 50mm x 230mm. worked out PI for 34mm fork legs and did two 90 degree bends Pi apart. I used a bit of angle iron with the edge radiused for the bends as this aluminium fractures if bent to acutely. I then bent the ally around a 34mm dolly, bringing the 90 degree bends together with a 3mm gap between when clamped tight. Of course I had to stuff it all up when I shaped it, didn't I, made two right handers instead of a right and a left. The joys of getting old. Oh well, soon as I make a lefty I'll shape, drill and polish. Some polishing was done beforehand for the areas I won't be able to get to after bending. Last pic is a finished one, minus the headlight bolt hole. I'll have to wait until it's mounted so I can find the correct radius before drilling the hole.

Absolutely brilliant. You sir, have the skills, well done.

Originally Posted by sacc51

Finished painting the tank,

That is a BEAUTIFUL paint job, something an Auto Refinisher would be proud of.
Kryn

Nice,
I admire a bit of metal work,well done on forming the radius, it’s not as easy as it looks.

Cheers Matt.

Finished of the tank, scrubbed it back with cutting compound, then super cutting compound, then Silvo, then finished of with wax polish. Silvo is an excellent, very fine final cutting compound before a final polish, also an excellent aluminium polish, certainly better than Autosol or Mothers or any of the other commercially available aluminium polishes.

It's starting to look more like a motorbike now with tank and front mudguard. The slight imperfections on the right side of the tank will probably worry me to death and I'll probably end up repainting. The bike will probably never get finished, not enough life left in this old body, cancer will probably finished me off before I finish off the bike and the wife will sell it to somebody who'll part the bike out for parts. Still it served it's purpose, provided me with a better hobby than my previous one: wandering the streets, green can in hand, yelling abuse at everyone, throwing rocks at windows and passing cars and kicking cats and dogs.

After stripping and blasting the fuel cap parts, I cleaned the melted rubber off the centre spigot only to find it cracked, so, new fuel cap required, don't know where I'm going to find one of them, apparently, the 74 TX had a cap different from the other models.

Previously, I said the prior owner must have had a tool kit consisting of hammer and chisel. Looking at the damage he caused to tank, headlight, forks, fuel cap, engine and other bits and pieces, I don't think he had access to anything as technologically advanced as hammer and chisel, an axe was more his style I think. What a butcher.

Headlight brackets finished and fitted. Polishing isn't as good as I'd like as I couldn't get the mop in to the tight areas, came up all right though I guess. Eight inch headlight will be replace with a 7" led unit, should arrive next week.

Let me know when your ready for the next one. I have an 74, 76 & 80. The 74 I was riding, the 76 is a basket case and the 80 half done cafe racer project.

None come close to what you have done. Excellent job.

No next one, too old now, not enough time left. It's the building that interests me not the riding, I'll never be able to ride it anyway. I started this project knowing it was to be an end of life project so I'm in no hurry.

Finally finished off the forks today, right side needed a final polish. These pics show how not to remove fork seals. Some people shouldn't be allowed near bikes, gouging the fork legs like that to get a seal out is criminal..
The damage is actually worse than the pictures show, both legs have deep gouge mark inside and outside the seal housings, one was cracked, but despite blasting the area and using a loupe I couldn't find it. I thought about cutting the top section down to the level of the top of the seal, then turning up an aluminium sleeve with a circlip groove and shrinking it over the seal housing, but, the seals were a damn tight fit and no more aluminium broke off the top. I might still remove the top section down to the level of the seal as the circlip really isn't needed, so tight is the seal fit. The stanchions have a bit of rust on them, hence the gaiters, but, I think the forks look better with them.

I had another shot at the left side engine cover. No matter how much I polished it before, the aluminium appeared stained. I've tried a nylon fibre wheel before with no luck, so this time I scrubbed it down with wet and dry then polished it, Still the same. It appears there is a fault in the aluminium, I must have scrubbed the aluminium down by at least half a mm, all to no avail. Still nice and shiny, but the staining is really annoying me. Strangely enough, whilst the other aluminium on the bike was in terrible condition, badly pitted and oxidised, nowhere else is staining a problem. It's only in sections rather than the entire cover. Nothing more I can do, so I'll have to hunt around for another cover. Japanese metals have always been of bad quality, too much junk in the casting I'd guess.

My ‘77 CB400F2 had the same problem; all engine casings had those funny splotchy marks that wouldn’t polish out. Probably explains why the Japs always painted their castings that awful silver colour rather than try to polish them!

Originally Posted by sacc51

Finished of the tank, scrubbed it back with cutting compound, then super cutting compound, then Silvo, then finished of with wax polish. Silvo is an excellent, very fine final cutting compound before a final polish, also an excellent aluminium polish, certainly better than Autosol or Mothers or any of the other commercially available aluminium polishes.

It's starting to look more like a motorbike now with tank and front mudguard. The slight imperfections on the right side of the tank will probably worry me to death and I'll probably end up repainting. The bike will probably never get finished, not enough life left in this old body, cancer will probably finished me off before I finish off the bike and the wife will sell it to somebody who'll part the bike out for parts. Still it served it's purpose, provided me with a better hobby than my previous one: wandering the streets, green can in hand, yelling abuse at everyone, throwing rocks at windows and passing cars and kicking cats and dogs.

After stripping and blasting the fuel cap parts, I cleaned the melted rubber off the centre spigot only to find it cracked, so, new fuel cap required, don't know where I'm going to find one of them, apparently, the 74 TX had a cap different from the other models.

Previously, I said the prior owner must have had a tool kit consisting of hammer and chisel. Looking at the damage he caused to tank, headlight, forks, fuel cap, engine and other bits and pieces, I don't think he had access to anything as technologically advanced as hammer and chisel, an axe was more his style I think. What a butcher.

It's nice to catch up with this thread again, been busy the last 5 months finally restoring my old Honda 750four.
Your tank looks great, the slight imperfections on the right side are not noticeable in the pictures.
When I stripped the paint off my bike I was horrified by how much bog was lurking under the paint. There were lots of dents and even a big area where a puncture had been welded. Not only that, the inside of the tank had some rust and an old tank liner that had fallen off in lots of places and stuck like nothing else in other places.
I put a new POR tank liner inside the tank but was not convinced it was a top notch job. Wasn't too keen on re-bogging and painting.
In the end I decided to just spray 2 pack paint over the bare metal and show off the battle-scarred tank warts and all.
Really quite happy with the result.
Not trying to hijack your thread, you are doing a stellar job there.
Cheers
Brad

Honda bog tank.JPG Honda tank weld.JPG Filed with blue metal glue to a board.JPG
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