Monday, June 17, 2013

Humble Beginnings and Mysteries solved!

Happy Monday!

I am now deep in the throes of the Bridgestone restoration, focusing today on sandblasting and stripping the frame.  This for me is the most tedious job, especially when preparing for powdercoating.  Here is my progress up to this point:


The blasting cabinet I have access to is brilliant for small parts, however frames are a different story. I will say, this one has been easier than an OIF Triumph frame.  It is smaller, lighter and the paint doesn't seem as brutally thick.  Now home, I have applied Behr spray stripper which is effective but heinous in nature.

It burns the skin in seconds and will eat through plastic and rubber.  I will press on and hope to drop it off when I pick up my tank.  (I will follow up on this very soon) 

As for the seat, here are some preliminary shots of the progress I am making.

Here is what remained of the original foam.  You can see the rear part was chewed away, likely by barn rats.

Before

I cut out a piece of cardboard and lined it up with the remaining foam.

I used what I had to make a rough  template which has since been refined.

I hope to have the seat completed in the next week or so while I am waiting on powder coating and for this:

My Vinegar solution.  Anything rusted  that I reckon can  be saved goes in there.  A few days later , I wipe clean and neutralize in a baking soda bath.


I managed to figure out the origins of my smaller bike, turns out the engine was so dirty I completely missed the stamping on the motor.


This is in fact a Sport 90 with Oil injection that was built in early 1966.  Now I have three projects built  in 1966 in the garage including Dad's Trophy.  I hope to get to this one sometime in late August.




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