Cafe Bike Project- It's begun

Graham_A_M said:

Looking great. I hope you reference the jetting on those 38mm carbs, if those weren't on the bike before you started it.

here, these guys are local. I've brought stupid amounts of parts from these guys over the years with my custom bike builds.
TJ's Cycle - New and Used Part Emporium
If you need anything at all, these guys are awesome, definately vintage bike nuts themselves. Some of their builds are frickin' sweet.

Good luck!

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The 38mm carbs were on the 74-ish bikes. My '77 came with 34mm. I'm going to have both sets of carbs rebuilt and jetted to my bikes specs, but I'll be starting with the 38's. I have a spare engine that I can install the 34's on and have ready to go if anything happens to the current engine. I'll need to take my bike in to get the carbs synched and jetted properly for my exhaust/filter set-up and a final tuning. I know an old school local guy who can do this stuff with his eyes closed. I've heard good and bad about both set-ups, but when it comes down to it, it's all in the jetting/synching/tuning per application.

Thanks for the link, I'll definately check it out.

I'm also going to start collecting engine internals just in case. I've already found some 1-size overbore pistons and rings that I'm keeping my eye on.

Tomorrow I'm shaving those grab bars between the shocks and signals. If it's unneccessary it's going.

And as far as paint goes, what's a good frame paint. I was thinking por-15, but I want something durable that comes in a spray can....any suggestions. It needs to be durable as hell, and powdercoating is out of the question.

Got the Bike down to frame now and chopped off the rear frame section to the shock bolt. Cut off the center stand brackets and have the steering head, kickstart, shifter, brake pedal, battery box, and engine air scoop sandblasted and ready for either paint or sanding/polishing. I'm gonna order a powder coating system and get myself a big toaster oven to sit on my workbench to do the small parts.

Still waiting on my cousin to ice blast the frame and wheels. The tank is down to bare metal and ready for final sanding, polishing, and flat black detailing. I need to go get some fibreglass and make a seat mold.

I also have a huge parts list that I need to order still, plus the paint and polish on the engine.

I'll post pics of my progress tomorrow, it's late, and I'm sleepy.

Edit: And here we go.

Spent about 4 1/2 hours in the garage tonight. Took the grinder to the tabs I cut off and cut them down to the frame, all nice and smooth. I also took the rear fender mount/frame crossmember that was chopped off and welded it back on to the frame further forward. It'll be the new seat mount, should mount right under the hump of the solo seat I'll be making. If you go up and look at the old pics, you can see how much of the frame I took off.

That tank looks sexy in raw metal. I'm tempted to just give it a nice even sand to take all the swirls and scuffs out and clear it like that.

Here she be.

Don't even know which one I'm using...

Some partially blasted parts. The headlight ears are actually going in the garbage and being replaced with some aftermarket pieces.

Random parts. I need to sort this stuff and figure out what I'm keeping and what I'm buying new.


And yeah, that aluminum side cover in the last pic has sandblasting marks on it. My cousin was over helping me and decided that he should "clean it up". I peeked in the cabinet to make sure he wasn't blasting anything he shouldn't be, and...he was blasting something he shouldn't be. It'll take a lot of sanding to get that smooth again.

ouch-ka-bibble.......

other than the f'd up side cover she's lookin good man. I agree on blasting the tank and clearing it. That would look amazing. I get my needle this weekend i think, i can't wait to see it run right!

I gave my co-worker more death threats about the title. The joke of "do i have to send a sheriff to get it from your grandma or what" came out with a non joking tone..... he's going to look for it this weekend. Which i'm sure monday he'll say some bullshit like i din't have the time or she was really sick. Its more or less a cat and mouse game. I don't understand why he wont' look for it but like i said. He's the local thug at work, i'm amazed he even spends time on his '51 chevy.

On a side note do you have any extra signals. I'm not too fond of mine, mostly how crappy they look. If i could clean them up i would probably be alright with them but they are plastic i believe so sanding would take off the chrome plating and leave them white..... I'm looking for short stubby style like off a KZ or a yamaha virago.....err whatever yamaha that had shorties....i'll show a pic

BTW this thing is going for 5100 right now on ebay, i think thats a bit of a rip-off for one of these. Seems you can get a pretty decent one for around 3 grand. Whatever though, here's the style i'm looking for.

Just ordered my Clubman bars, fork gaitors, axle nuts, and every part to do a complete rebuild of my carbs down to the mounting screws, even the little screws that hold the butterfly to the shaft. I also ordered my 52mm XSperformance oval pod filters, carb boots, and petcock screws, petcock rebuild kit, and about 6 pairs of main jets so I can get the carbs tuned properly when the bike is running.

What do you guys think of this lower fork brace, it bolts on where the fenders bolt on, either over it or instead of it.
I'd be running it solo.


Here's what it looks like, painted on a bike.