A non-zero answer

I haven't worked on the bul since September!  Sheesh.  I wish I had a good excuse.  I don't.  I've been lazy.  With the 3rd car back - it's really hard to get out to the garage and do work, since I have to move so much stuff around.  But, I'm tired of looking at it in pieces, and I'm afraid that I'll start losing parts.  So, I'll try to do little stuff again.

Today's little stuff was getting the cover back on the clutch plates and shifter.  I had some Yamabond 4 left over from when I did the valve cover gasket on the BMW330i.  Basically, it's a lot like form-a-gasket, but better.  I used small amounts of it on both the case and the clutch cover, to both hold the paper gasket in place and fill in any areas in case of warpage.

While I had the case cover off, I gave it a light polish with metal polish and a buffing head in the drill, as well as colored in the "Bultaco" emblem with Krylon paint marker.

After about 30 minutes of work, here's what it looked like.

I've also been noticing a small drip underneath the bike every so often, so I checked that out as well.  There was a crappy paper/rubber gasket on the transmission oil drain.  Suckage.   I dug into the parts box, and found a copper crush washer that was the same size.  I put that on the oil drain bolt and tightened it up nice.  That should stop that leak.  I also re-installed clutch drain plug, and luckily the new aftermarket one I ordered came with an aluminum crush washer.  I hope this stops all of the leakage around the bottom end that I used to have.

Finally, I dug the shifter out of the box of things that were chrome plated ages ago, and reattached it to the bike.  Maybe next weekend I'll fill the transmission and clutch up and see if there are any leaks.  Hopefully not.

The cylinder is back on the case

I started today looking at a 1984 BMW K100 on craigslist.  The owner got the bike from his brother, who is overseas.  It doesn't run, because it hasn't been started in a year.  The fairing is scraped up from the bike being dropped.  It's a mess.  It looks like a really neat cafe' project.

I showed my wife.  She said, "You never wear the motorcycle coat I got you.".

I said "Well - my motorcycle is in pieces".

She said - "Why don't you handle that?".

Enough said.

So, I went out to the garage and started working on the bike.  The shop manual I found says "Put the piston in a 100 degree F oil bath.  Then, insert the wrist pin.".

Lit my grill outside (we're not gonna repeat that oven event), and put the piston in with 1/2 a bottle of mobil 1 that I had laying around.  Let it sit for awhile, and then took it all in the garage.  Tried to start the wrist pin and "zoop" - it went all the way in!  Oh jeez.

It took me awhile, but I was able to beat it out.  Good grief.

Tried it two more time, and it never slipped right in like the first time.  The last time, I literally beat it in with a deadblow hammer while holding it.  What a circus.

Got the end clips in easily, so it's together.  Then I had to stab the cylinder.  I was going to use a hose clamp as a ring compressor, but it was too much of a hassle.  I ended up just compressing it with my thumbnail while sliding the cylinder on with one hand.  But it's on, and it fits perfect.

Torqued the base of the cylinder down, and loosely put the head on.  I'll torque it later.

Then - I put the motor on the frame (still cleaning up the mounting bolts.   While I had that together, I also put the chain on.

It's really starting to look like a motorcycle!

The carb is just sitting on there loose as well, so nothing can get in the intake.

But - even though it's made progress, there's so much more to do.

Steve - I worked on it

I haven't been able to get out to the garage for awhile.  Since I got the triple tree back.  But, I did a few things.

I installed the headlight bucket, and just stuffed all the wiring in there.  It is far from complete.  I also got a small bag to hang on the front fork to hold some tools and stuff.

Today, I adjusted the front brake cable and installed it.

I had to test it though, so I rolled the bike down the driveway a few times and tested the front brakes.  Pretty cool.  I need to get to work and get the motor back together.

Back on Two Wheels

For a nice Father's day post - back on two wheels.

My wife was gracious enough to help hold the bottoms of the front forks while I installed the front wheel.  Happy Father's Day indeed!

For comparison, here's what it looked like about 6 months ago:

Of course, the seat is just sitting on the frame, and the tank still needs to go out for paint, but I'm moving in the right direction.

Inching along

I haven't done much over the last few weeks, because I'm always waiting on parts to get done.  Well, and I'm lazy.  But - I recently collected up a few parts, so I figured I had better make some progress.

I have the rear brake pedal, again.  Rechromed and pretty.  This time, I got out a grinding tool and cleaned out the hole on the frame.  Put some anti-sieze on it, and it slid right in.  I also cleaned out the holes for the  fork lock and the fork lock holder, so those work better as well.

With the rear brake pedal on, I went ahead and put the whole brake linkage on.  So, now it looks like this:

Which is very close to being a roller.  Just need the headlight bucket back and the top of the triple tree, and I can finish getting the front fork together.   And it's a roller.

It's starting to look like a motorcycle

Last weekend, I worked on the front fork.  I added oil.  I tried to finish them.  I ended up messing up the top of the triple tree.  Rats.  I did, however, figure out how to bolt the bottom together, so that I could put the top on correctly.

Friday at lunch, I took the top of the triple tree over to D.A. at Spectrum Powder coating.  He's going to strip it and re-coat it.  I know D.A. will make it perfect.  At the same time, I took him one of my headlight buckets.  It will look pretty good coated as well.

D.A. gave me the name of another chrome shop to try.  So - the tank fastening bolts and the brake pedal went over there with me, and dropped off.  Get that back in a week, and I won't make the same mistake.

Today, I dropped the swing arm with my buds at Atlas Auto down the street.  They pressed the bushings into the swing arm for me, and I brought it all home and bolted it onto the frame.  So now, it's starting to look like a motorcycle.

I'll try and work on the wheels tomorrow.  Might have a partial roller by the end of the weekend!!!

How exciting.  Now I have to go hide my camera from my family.....

I can't find the camera

I have no idea where it is.  I really wanted to post pictures.

I have the front fork pretty much assembled.  Just waiting for the frame to get finished so I can mount it.  It came out great - the powder coated triple tree parts along with all of the polished aluminum.  And the Forks by Frank are beautiful - too bad they will be all covered up.

Speaking of the frame - I dropped it and the swing arm at Spectrum Powder Coating today (spectrumpowdercoatings.com).  I met the owner - DA - and he is a very cool guy.  I requested gloss black on the frame, and that we keep powder out of some of the critical areas (bearing races, threads, areas where bushings are going to be pressed).  DA was on top of it.  I'll get it back about a week from now.  It will be about $160 to do the frame and swing arm.

I collected multiple other parts this weekend.  I went up to Atlas Chrome and got the headlight bezel and the fork spacers.  The good news is that the bezel is fantastic, and the polished spacers are amazing.  The bad news is that the bezel is for a 5-1/2" diameter headlight bucket.  The one that came with my bike is 5-3/4".   So - not a match.  Doesn't seem like a big deal, until you break the 5-1/2" lens.  Which I did, trying to remove it from the reflector that looked like crap.

Which means now I'm looking for a 5-1/2" reflector and bulb holder.  If that doesn't work out, I'm going to take the pitted bezel to the bodyshop and see if I can get it painted or something.  Sux.  The words of my friend Alex haunt me every day - "Why don't you get a Honda?  Something you can find parts for....".

I also collected the wheels from Reagan at Ace Motorworks (www.acemotorworks.com).  They are true and fantastic.  Got home, and the newly lined brakes would not fit in the hubs.  Uh oh.  A few minutes grinding about 0.06 inches off of the pads - and they are in!  Pirelli tubes on the way from J&P Cycles, and I can finish putting wheels together.  Who knows - in a couple of weeks, I may have a roller....

Finally, I bought a new camera.  I'm going to hide this one, and only I will  use it.  Good grief.

Progress has slowed but I haven't stopped

I haven't posted for awhile, mostly because nothing has happened.  What has been holding me up is a small weld repair on the fork stop on the frame.  I was able to get the frame to my friend Mando on Thursday, so hopefully that will get done soon.

When I get the frame back, then I can take it and get it powder coated.   Of course, that means I'll have to get the bushings pulled out of the swing arm  - since I should have both the frame and swing arm done at the same time.

On Friday, I also dropped the wheels at Ace Motorworks to get them trued.  The owner, Reagan, seems like a pretty good guy.

The only other thing I was able to do was put the brake shoes on the hubs.  Not too tricky, but there is a sequence it turns out.  Springs go on the shoes, then the eccentric goes between the shoes, then it all goes on the hub.

Hopefully I'll start getting all of the parts back, and I can get this thing moving.

Half baked plans

I got the re-bored cylinder head back.  Unfortunately - we had a miscommunication.  I thought I had asked for the cylinder to be cleaned, painted and bored.  The shop that did the work heard "bored".  So - the good news is that a freshly bored cylinder is at my house.  The bad news is that it looked all mungy/ugly on the outside.

I started with Orange degreaser, and did the big spots with my nylon brush.  But that wasn't getting between all of the fins.  So, I put it in a small bucket with the rest of my degreaser and let it soak all day.  It looked like I had most of the grease off, so I rinsed it off and blew the remaining water I could see off with my air compressor.

Let it dry for a little bit, and I sprayed it with VHT (very high temperature) exhaust header paint (black).  Now - if you read the instructions for this paint, in order for  it to be completely impervious to everything (and good to 2000 degrees F), you have to cure it.  I didn't even read the directions for "if part is on vehicle" - since that is moot.  But here they are for "if part is not on vehicle":

Place object in 250 degree F Oven for 30 minutes.
Let cool for 30 minutes.
Place object in 400 degree F Oven for 30 minutes.
Let cool for 30 minutes.
Place object in 600 degree F Oven for 30 minutes.
Let cool.  Paint is now cured.

Wow - my oven doesn't even go to 600F.  But, I'm not going to let that stop me.

Got out one of the old pizza pans that my wife bought years ago, and put the cylinder head in the 250 F oven.

That seemed to go OK.  Next the 400 F oven.  Hmmm - lots of smoke.  Didn't get all the grease off, did we?

Next - cranked the oven as high as it would go (somewhere north of 500 F).  Yikes - that's not a good smell.  Vent fan on.  Window open!  Puffs of blue/white smoke coming out of the oven.

That was a long 30 minutes.  My wife came in the kitchen once while this was going on and said "Ewwww - what's that smell?".  I opened the oven and showed her - she didn't say anything and just left (the kitchen, not forever).

Once it was done - I took it immediately out to the garage to cool.  Luckily - leaving the window open all night allowed the smell to dissipate.

So - there are some blotches of grease around the bottom flange, where I missed some spots with the degreaser.  But - overall - it looks pretty good.  Hopefully I'll find out someday how durable it is.

Exhausted

A big box came today, from Mobley's Bultaco.  I immediately knew what it was.  The exhaust is here.

So - I opened it up, and here's what it had:

Wow.  So - it's in 2 pieces - with two loose metal tabs.  I figured that the tabs were to be welded onto the exhaust, so that you could mount it to the frame.  The header has some springs and two washers on it.  Apparently, it's an expansion joint.  The two washers welded to it connect to more springs, which attach to the exhaust nut on the head.  

This will probably be the last item installed on the bike, but it looks pretty neat.  Way better than the stock exhaust.

Lacing

Now that my hubs and spokes are in my garage, I decided to take on lacing a wheel today.  I picked the front, since it looks less intimidating than the rear wheel.

It didn't start well.

I tried to follow the spoke pattern that I took a picture of.  That went poor.  Then, I tried to lace one side - inner and outer, before starting the other.  That went very bad.

Well - I say that.  I was able to figure out the pattern - every spoke is 4 holes apart.  That is - on the inner spokes - start one, count 4 holes, and that's where the next inner spoke goes.

So I decided to start over.  Took all of the outer spokes off, and left the inner ones on.  Laced the right side inner spokes.  So far, so good.  Laced the left side (going the opposite direction as the right side ones.  Better.  Laced the outers on the right side (it's easy to thread them with the wheel partially laced).  No problem.  And finally - the remaining spokes matched up to the empty holes.

And I ended up with this:

Which may not seem like 3 or 4 hours of work, but it is.

I'll try to true it, but not today.

Still - pretty happy with my first wheel.

Still Waiting for parts to come back

Not much progress on the Bultaco lately.  It seems like I'm waiting for a lot of parts to come back before I can start re-assembly.  But - here's a status update anyway.

The triple tree and kickstand came back from Barry in North Carolina.   The powder coating came out great.

I cheated and took the frame, triple tree spacers and headlight bucket down the street to Atlas.  For $50, Don drilled holes and tapped them where the rear pegs were (this is where the reflectors are going), and drilled out the spacers and headlight bucket to accept the turn signals.  Pretty cool stuff, and way easier than  I could have done it.  I told Don that I was still struggling with bushings in the swing arm - he said "Bring it to me - I'll get it".  I might.  Let me try the slide hammer/bushing puller I just bought first.  Don's only words of wisdom "Don't mess it up and make it harder for me".  Great - my reputation now proceeds me.

I got a call today from Atlas Chrome Plating.  All of my chrome bits are done.  I'll head up there tomorrow and pick it all up.  While I'm there, I'm going to drop off the headlight bracket/spacers for the triple tree for polishing.

The biggest news - the brakes came back today from Matt at Speed and Sport.  I can't adequately describe how well these came out, so I'll just post a picture.

Wow, huh.  Since I have my hubs back, I'm going to start lacing wheels this weekend.  Matt is great to deal with, and does great work.  www.speedandsport.com

Finally - I was surfing e-bay for Bultaco parts, and came across this Mercurio for sale.  I think it's a great looking bike.  Sold in 1 day for $2600.  I contacted the owner (Doug) and we've e-mailed back and forth.  Doug got the bike mostly like it is - did a light restoration and has now sold it. 

There are two things non-stock about this bike.  The first is the 40 spoke Honda front brake.  Wow, that's a big brake.  Second is - the Bultaco Kit America exhaust.  THAT is cool.  In e-mails with Doug, he offered that I should contact Mobley's Bultaco in Nevada to see if they had one.

So - I e-mailed and they said that I should call Lynn, and he might be able to fix me up.

I called Lynn on Wednesday at lunch.  Apparently, years ago, a guy in Houston had an actual Kit America exhaust from Bultaco.  He shipped it to Lynn in Nevada, and Lynn had about 8 copies made - downpipe, exhaust, mounting bracket, silencer.  This was years and years ago (Lynn might have told me, but I've forgotten).  Now - he has one left.

I was almost afraid to ask how much.  I found a Kit America exhaust on e-bay that is in Spain for $545 (without shipping).  But I asked.

The answer:  "$245".

Done.  Lynn was laughing - "It started in Houston, and the last one is going back there".

Serendipity.

Powder coating - Part 2

Spring covers came back from Barry in North Carolina yesterday.  Took them out of the box this morning - beautiful.

Here's some powder coated eye candy:

Now he has the upper and lower triple clamps that are getting the powder coated treatment, as well as the kickstand.  Hard to believe that the front fork will probably be the first part of the bike that is completely done.

I'm going to send the frame out for coating as soon as I drill and tap the old rear peg locations for reflectors.    

This is going to look great.

I'm calling Atlas Plating tomorrow to see what's up with the rest of the bits.  If they can't save my headlight trim, I was able to find one on e-bay that I paid way too much for.

Love it.

Powder coating - Part 1

I've been going back and forth on what to do with different painted parts on the Bul.  Paint (as in rattle can) or powder coat?  Painting is cheap.  Powder coating is durable.  Paint I can do.  Powder coating has to be sent out.

The latest debate centered around the spring covers on my fork tubes.  They are basic black.  I could paint them with gloss black krylon (which - honestly, a lot of parts are going to end up), or - powder coat.  But who could do the powder coating?

About a year ago - I had some wheel locks for my Porsche project powder coated by another Porsche enthusiast in North Carolina.  He posts to a porsche bulletin board that I frequent.  We agreed on a price, and I sent the wheel locks.  After getting them, he said:

You know - this is the price I charge for all 20 lug nuts.  You only sent me 4.  If you want to send me the rest - I'll do them for free.

Well - I had already bought all new lug nuts on e-bay, so I didn't need it.  Opportunity lost?

Nope.  I sent him a note to see if he would remember me.  He actually didn't, but his wife remembered the conversation.  And wouldn't you know - he powder coated the spring tops (black) for nothing.

Nice.  They are back in the mail.  I hope to have them next week.  Very excited.

 Thanks again Barry.

Boomarang

Parts left, parts are returning.

Got a call today from Buchanan's.  Turns out, I have 6 different spokes on the Bultaco - Front Inner, Front Outer, Rear short Inner, Rear short Outer, Rear long Inner, Rear long Outer.  So - that's how they are going to custom bend them for me.  Plus - they are going to send me some more assembly oil and a wrench.

The bigger news - I got home from work today, and there was a long box from Frank's Maintenance and Engineering Inc, with this on the side:

How exciting.

I opened it up, and there was my rotten old fork tube, with two new ones sitting right next to it:

Pretty.

Fork re-assembly needs to follow soon.

Parts everywhere

Just sitting here thinking about where all of my parts are now.  I hope everyone is careful:

Fork tube is at Forking by Frank - hopefully 2 are now being made.

All of my spokes are on the way to Buchanan's in Azusa, Ca, to have new ones made.

Front and rear brakes are on their way to Speed and Sport in Meadow Vista, Ca for re-lining, painting and polishing.

Fork spring covers are on their way to get powder coated by someone who owed me a favor in North Carolina.

And finally - a bunch of levers, bolts and bits are up at Atlas Plating in North Houston, where we'll re-chrome a bunch of parts.

I hope everyone is careful and I get my stuff back.  Some of that stuff is really hard to find!!!

Why don't you send me that

I'm learning more and more about restoring obscure classic motorcycles.  Mostly - that even though it is hard to find parts, there are specialists out there that can help.

A week or so ago, I took the front fork apart.  The fork tubes were pretty corroded.  I thought about having them re-plated, but my friend Alex suggested I call Forking by Frank.  Here's how that conversation went:

Me:  I need fork tubes for a 1966 Bultaco Mercurio
FbyF:  What?

Me:  Fork tubes for a 1966 Bultaco Mercurio

FbyF:  What model Bultaco?

Me: Mercurio

FbyF:  We don't have prints for that.  Send us one of your tubes.  We'll make you new ones.

So - off went one fork tube, and we await the results.

Next - I've been taking apart the wheels in order to send the drums out for new brakes.  Since I was doing that - I figured I'd order new spokes for my wheels as well.  The place to call?  Buchanan's Spoke and Rim of course.

1st call to Buchanans:

Me:  I need some spokes for a 1966 Bultaco Mercurio

BSR:  Hmmm - that's not in the catalog.  We have a 65.  Is it the same?

Me:  I don't know.

BSR:  Here are the hub dimensions.  Go measure.

So - went home and measured.  Looked OK.

2nd call to Buchanan's:

Me:  I have a 1966 Bultaco Mercurio.  I need spokes for front and rear.  A 66 isn't in your book, but it's the same as a 65.

BSR:  What size wheel do you have?

Me:  17", 28 spoke

BSR:  There are two sizes of rim.  One with a 16-1/4" ID, one with a 15-15/16" ID.  Which do you have?

Me:  I don't know.

3rd call to Buchanan's

Me:  I have a 1966 Bultaco Mercurio.  I need spokes, front and rear.  A 66 isn't in your book, but it's the same as a 65.  I have the 16-1/4" ID wheels.

BSR:  OK.  Are the inner's and outers different?

Me:  I don't know.

BSR:  Why don't you send us some samples?

Me:  Well - I've already taken apart the rear, and I can't remember which are inner and outer.

BSR:  You can send us all of them, it's OK.

So - I bagged up the rear spokes (long ones in one bag, short ones in another) and the front ones - freshly disassembled (insides in one bag, outsides in another) - and boxed them up to go to Buchanan's.  I'm actually glad they asked a bunch of questions.  These are all custom made - no returns!  Very nice people to deal with as well....

http://www.buchananspokes.net/

Woah Benny

In one of my many converstations with they guys at the Bultaco Center of Excellence, they told me that there are no new brake shoes for my motorcycle.  It seems that the 17" wheels that Bultaco used on the Mercurio are yet another of those rare things.  So - what to do?  Brakes are pretty important.  Google is my friend.

Of course - before you send anything off, you have to take something apart.  I started taking apart brake drums this weekend.  Wow - nasty mess inside.  But - I was able to get the old shoes off without breaking them.  Actually - I cheated a bit.  I had found a front brake on E-bay for a mercurio, and I bought it.  As rare as the bikes are, it seemed like a good idea.  I figured I'd mess with this one, and understand how to dismantle it before I messed with the one on my bike.  If I break it - so what?  I tore into it, and I broke one of the parts of the shoe where it attaches to the backing plate.  Whoops.  Good thing I got the real one apart without drama.  Also - after beating on the "test" drum for awhile to try and remove a bearing, I've decided to send them out for that job!

So - the second part:  Google helped me find Speed and Sport (www.speedandsport.com).  I talked to Matt - and they will re-condition my shoes (front and back) with new lining, as well as change my wheel bearings and paint the hubs.  Hopefully, when done, they will look like this (which is from Matt's site):

But first - I have to unlace the hub out of the wheel.  Spoke wrench is enroute........

Next I'll have to call Buchanan's and get some spokes.

Mercurio 175

So - the Mercurio 175 is a pretty rare beast.  Bultaco made a lot of Mercurio 155's for domestic use (ie - in Spain).  The 175 was primarily made for overseas markets.  

I've not seen very many Mercurio 175's.

Regardless - the guys at the Bultaco Center of Excellence sell a sticker that says Mercurio 155 and has a picture of Mercury on it.  On the 155 bikes, this sticker was located on the rear fender.  I can see the outline for one on my bike.  I'm not sure what it looked like, and I figured it would be nice to have something like that on the rebuilt bike.

So - where to get a sticker?

Lucky for me - I know someone that owns a graphics company.  So - thanks to Scott Sislane and Calico Grapics (www.calicoscreenprinting.com) I now have a fantastic sticker on the way that proudly proclaims that this is a Mercurio 175.

Thanks again Scott and Ashley!!!

Chains

Well - I read how to understand the code of motorcycle chains tonight.  They are sized by the number of rollers on them.  So - to figure out what you have, you can:

Count the number of rollers on the chain

Count the number of pins on the side plates

Count the number of side plates and multiply by 2.

So - the Bultaco has a 124 link chain (62 side plates, 124 rollers).

Now - I had planned to re-use the chain, so I was just doing this for tonight's "one thing".  And then I found a split side plate while counting.  That's not good.

I thought about going with a basic chain while I searched for a new one.  But - I've heard the o-ring ones are so much better.   So - thanks to amazon.com, a 124 link o-ring chain is headed my way (with free shipping no less!!!).

It's too bad I can't re-use the old one.  I did a lot of work cleaning that one up...

Just a pile of parts now

Well - I tried to honor the "do a little every day" thing, plus I was able to free up most of Saturday.

So - here's what's been done.

Removed the swingarm.  That was a huge pain, but the shaft came out intact, so I think I can re-use it.  Also - test fit the seat from Roc City Racers - thanks again Sean.

So - took the picture, and continued to tear everything down.  The triple tree was especially challenging, as it probably has not been apart since 1966.  So - there was lots of pounding with a dead blow hammer for about 2 hours or so, but I got it.  

Then it came to get the triple tree off the frame.  It didn't want to come, so I smacked it with the 3 lb dead blow hammer (the new BFH).  Out it popped, but so did all of the bearings around the triple tree!!  It turns out that there are 22 on top and 22 on bottom.  I was not able to recover all of them.  I ordered 22 new ones.....

While taking the upper spring covers off, I twisted off one of the screws that holds them to the triple tree.  whoops.  Tried to drill it myself to put the extractor on it - whoops again - off center.  Took it to the shop down the street, and they were able to extract it for me.  Thanks again Don and Jeff.  

So, the fork is all the way apart.  The fork tubes are severely corroded.  Alex - you are going to hate me, but they are pretty bad.  They may be beyond saving.  On one hand - I may take them with me to the chrome shop to see if they can do anything.  On the other hand - I've asked the Bultaco Center of Excellence for a quote on new tubes.  

Speaking of the wonderful people at Bultaco.com - thanks again Tim.  You've answered at least 20 -mails and really helped me make progress.  I could not have gotten this far without you guys.

Wheels off - tires off.  I swear these are the original tires.  They are old, dry rot and hard.  It was a bear getting them off.  But - off.  Here's a pic so I remember what the spoke pattern looks like.

So - I'll order new stainless steel spokes from Buchanan's, polish and lace the hubs into my new wheels, and true them on my new truing stand.  We'll see how that goes....

Finally - I busted out the angle grinder, and cut off the rear pegs and the front seat bracket.  I'm going to fab a new front seat bracket to fit the new seat, and I'm going to mount reflectors where the rear pegs used to be (so I don't need to completely grind down that spot.

And so - the little garage is even more crowded, with a pile of parts.

But at least it's progress.

I'm doing it

Tuesday - changed chain de-greaser.

Wednesday - flipped chain over.

Thursday - Removed swing arm (yay!).  Removed rear wheel from swing arm.

OK - so maybe the chain stuff was minimal, but I am making progress.

Pics this weekend hopefully!  By the way - seat came from Roc City Racers - it is awesome.

One thing - no matter how small - every night

I was talking with a car friend of mine who also works on cars, and he's having issues finishing projects too.  So - I'm going to try something that my good friend Mando offered up once.  Do one thing - every night.  No matter how small, just one thing.

So - it begins.  Tonight, I went out and pulled the chain out of the bucket of degreaser.  Dumped out the black degreaser and cleaned out the bucket.  Wow - there was a lot of crap still coming out of the chain.  Put the chain back in the bucket, and put in fresh degreaser.  And there it soaks.

My one thing for Monday.

PS - the brand new Beltor shocks from the Beltor dealer in Spain showed up today.  Very very nice......

A maelstrom of activity from nothing

Well - maybe not a maelstrom.  But - big words sound cool.

I was able to do more work this weekend.  The engine is off the frame, and the chain is soaking in degreaser.


After watching You Tube videos on chain cleaning - I probably should have cleaned it while it was on the bike.  Oh well.  I have a gunk brush, a bottle of degreaser/cleaner and a bottle of chain lube headed this way (thanks Amazon.com).

The engine was crazy heavy to get out, but only 3 bolts.  Luckily, most of them have been soaking in oil for who knows how long, so they broke loose pretty easy.  With the engine on the bench, I removed the flywheel nut, and ordered the flywheel pulling tool.  I'm going to have to get behind there and re-wire the dynamo anyway, so might as well pull it.  Besides, probably need to for the engine case re-seal.

A bunch of parts showed up.  New throttle cable (yay), new clutch and brake cables (yay), new taillight switch (yay), new speedo cable (dang - cable is for a different size speedo than the one I have, so it won't fit - all the way from Spain too).

Sean at Roc City Racers called me - seat is done and enroute.  So - hopefully the next pics I send will be of the seat mocked up and the fiberglass rear fender mocked up too.  We'll see......



The teardown will continue, but the bike is looking pretty bare.  Soon, I'll be painting the frame, and re-assembly can begin!!!

I touched it - no really.....

Wow - no progress in awhile.  Maybe that's why I'm such a bad blogger.

Anyway - got some spare time to work on the Bultaco today, thanks to a visit from Mimi and Pa (thanks Mimi and Pa).  While they were out with the wife and kiddos - I was able to do nothing but work on the bike.

Stripped all the tin off of the frame.  Now it looks really naked:

While I had everything out, I also used my impact wrench on the bolts that hold the swingarm.  They didn't stand a chance.

The other big motorcycle thing today was using POR15's Motorcycle Fuel Tank restorer/coating kit today. That went pretty well.  One bottle of marine clean, one bottle of stuff to prep for paint and stick a hair drier in the neck of the tank for about 2 hours - and then one bottle of coating.  Once I drained the extra coating out, it turns out I only used about 2/3 of the rustproofing paint - but oh well.  So - that's drying and I hope it works good.  The plus side if it works - the kit was about $50, and it only took me about 5 hours to do everything.  Which is way cheaper than I was quoted by professionals for them to coat it.

A bunch of stuff headed this way - shocks, wheels and a speedo cable from Spain.  Throttle, clutch and brake cables from the Bultaco Center of Excellence in New York.  I sent an e-mail about my seat on Thursday, and haven't heard back yet.  I hope I'm not going to be disappointed.

Once I get the new seat - everything goes out for paint!!!!!

And then I can try my new soda blaster on the stuff that's left......