XS750 Restoration, Part 9 -- Cleaning and Miscellany

It's been a while since I've posted the last entry. In that time, I've mostly been cleaning and doing prep work for some upcoming tasks, and finishing up some of the work I've been doing.

First, I received the K&N air filters to replace the Emgo filters that don't work with the Mikuni MK. I carbs. The K&N filters, on the other hand, seem to work perfectly. Of course, I won't know that for a fact until I can fire up the engine, which I can't do until I get my throttle and clutch cables from Motion Pro...but I'm getting ahead of myself :)

I've also spent more time stripping the paint from the tank -- that's a tedious process! I'm starting to understand why so many others on various web forums talk about using aircraft stripper (chemicals) to strip the paint. However, I have a well at my house, and I really don't want paint stripper or dissolved paint in my drinking water (no, I have no intention of dumping the chemicals in my yard, but inevitably, you're going to spill some).

While discussing the tank, I noticed that the gasket on the filler cap was leaking. Since I had to pull the filler cap to strip the tank anyway, I pulled the gasket while the cap was off. It was no wonder the cap was leaking -- the gasket was crumbling to pieces >:( Fortunately, I saw one for sale somewhere on-line...

In addition to prepping the tank for fresh paint, I also got detailed measurements for the clutch cable, throttle cable, and front brake lines. I now have stainless steel braided front brake lines and bleeder banjo bolts on order from SV Racing Parts (Blair's a great guy to work with!), and I've shipped the throttle and clutch cables to Motion Pro to have new cables made to replicate the originals, only about six inches shorter. I'll try to get the drawings of the new brake lines, the throttle cable and the clutch cable added here soon, in the hopes that it may help others with their XS750 projects, too.

Speaking of brake lines, I'm getting low on funds, but I haven't ordered any of the stainless steel banjo bolts that I intended to get to replace the rusted, corroded bolts that were originally installed on the bike. Fortunately, I pulled out a wire brush attachment for my drill that has done a great job cleaning up the bolts. In the photo in this paragraph, you can see the "before" shot...

...a close-up "before" shot...

...and two of the bolts after being cleaned up.

Still to come: crankcase breather filter, brake line install, clutch and throttle cables, and hopefully, painting the tank.

XS750 Restoration, part 8 -- Carbs are Done, Starting the Tank

This is a shot of the o-ring that had me stumped last time, along with the main jet upon which it fits, and the old o-ring, just to show why it was not exactly obvious that this was where the o-ring belonged. <shrug> Whatever. It fits, and the carbs are reassembled.

After I finished cleaning and rebuilding the last carb, I reassembled the carbs on the angle iron that ties them together, adjusted the butterfly valves so that they are more or less in synch, and reconnected the choke lever. Unfortunately, I cannot find the photos I took of the choke assembly when I first started to rebuild the carbs, but I think I reassembled it correctly.

I think...

Once I was satisfied with the carb assembly, I opened up the package containing the Goodridge braided steel fuel line I ordered to replace the old, ugly, plain rubber fuel line that was originally installed on the bike. Cutting the line into the appropriate sized pieces wasn't exactly trivial, at least with the tools I had at hand, but I was able to get it cut eventually, and installed it on the carbs as shown here. This is going to look sweet when it's reinstalled on the bike!

Then, I took a paint stripper disk to the fuel tank. The more I look at it, the less I dislike the blue and white paint that was already on the tank, but...yeah, it's still gotta go :)

I was at O'Reilly's auto the other day, picking up a set of turn signal bulbs for my wife's CB750A, when I found the paint I want to use on the tank. It's a Dupli-Color (tm, probably) two-part paint kit used to create a black-out effect on chrome or other polished metal. The more I thought about it, the more I thought a black-out chrome finish on the tank would look awesome against the black frame and engine already on the bike, so after work tonight, I got started stripping the old paint off the tank. I wonder how the black-out kit would work over "chrome" painted plastic side panels...? Well, I guess I should first paint the tank and make sure I even like that before I start stressing over painting the side panels.