Kiwi Canuck tries his Luck with a Six Fiddy

[SVSooke]

It's ironic writing this as I'm sure others here are working out of much smaller places and doing just fine but when you have the space it's always seems like you can use more.

You got that right

[dorkburger]

That's a bummer about the frame. I'm in the same boat, but worse since my sprockets can not be made to line up.

[Kiwi Canuck]

Not sure if anyone is still following this thread but I'll give a quick update to anyone still interested as to what has transpired in the last week or so.

I have started on the carbs as much as I don't want to deal with them, but I still haven't got the rest of the parts from Parts Outlaw and it's holding up some important pieces that need to get finished before I move onto other parts of the build.

I have both the front and rear brake calipers and master cylinders disassembled and laid out over my work bench along with a few other pieces and I don't want to disturb them by bagging them all up, so I've made some new space to start work on the carbs.

Remember this.




They are disgusting, that green sticky slime is just nasty, some of it stuck to the bathroom sink as I was taking it out of the ziplock baggy as I opened it in the sink.

It's so weird, even using Comet Cleaner which can remove almost anything wouldn't touch it, I eventually scraped it up and used a little lacquer thinners and then comet to finish it off.

The rubber bung on the pilot jet was like soft chewing gum, the main jet and needle valve were stuck solid, so 24 hrs in Berrymans and then into the ultra sonic and it's starting to clean up.

I got the needle valve seat out by using heat but somehow have lost the needle valve, hopefully it's not in the bottom of the Berrymans can, that could be fun trying to retrieve it from in there.

The 2nd carb I did was not quite as bad so after 1 hour in the ultra sonic it's looking a lot better.

I did try a new secret sauce in the ultra sonic, 3 litres of distilled water and about 100ml of Franks degreaser which I found in my garage when I bought the place 5 years ago.

http://www.prowax.com/cleaners/C-84_Franks_Special_Cleaner.html

The carbs came out quite nicely and did not darken even though I gave them three 20 minute cycles at 50 degrees celsius over about 2 hours.

The water came out very dark after just one carb and almost black after two were done, so it's working quite well.

I'll take some pictures of the progress and post them in a day or so.

I also got my big 6 foot long pry bar, and got my son to hold the bike while I gave the rear subframe heck, (I did wrap 3 wraps of duct tape around the frame to protect it) it's improved but still about an 1/8" low but didn't want to risk bending something permanently so have left it as is and will do a trial fit and see if it's close enough before I go too far.

The POR 15 tank sealer came out nicely and I need to get the parts over to the painter this week as I didn't have everything ready last week.

I did manage to break the good mirror, the nut was seized on the shaft and rather than pull out the mapgas torch and give it some heat, I just gave it a hit of penetrating oil and tried working the nut back and forth until I was able to break it off, which I did quite easily. Oh well saves me from cleaning and painting it and I'll now have 2 new matching mirrors.

Lastly, I have dropped off a few more parts to Wally Routledge to have them media blasted as I'm sort of done with manual labour cleaning up parts by hand, the brake rotors, new front fender which I stripped but he will clean it up a little more, the exhaust heat shields as one had a broken bracket that needed welding, and a few misc. other rusty pieces that I'll paint once I get them back.

More to come.

[jibledso]

That's some of the most slimy carbs I've ever seen

How did they get like that?

[SVSooke]

I for one am watching with interest. Lack of others posting doesn't mean we aren't watching.

[steve murdoch]

Disassembling carbs in the bathroom sink?
You're a brave man.

[roeme]

Well, I've been side tracked with sorting out my new lathe and mill that I received a few weeks ago, still waiting on a few parts to get them running but learning plenty as I go along.
(...)

It's ironic writing this as I'm sure others here are working out of much smaller places and doing just fine but when you have the space it's always seems like you can use more.

Yup, here I am, working both in a tiny corner of an underground parking space, and a former village butchery. Having a lathe and mill, and a place for them, is one my dreams. Thanks for linking where you've got your machines from!

Not sure if anyone is still following this thread but I'll give a quick update to anyone still interested as to what has transpired in the last week or so.

a) What sooke said and b) This thread is both entertaining and useful, since you not just document what you've done, but also how you did it. And furthermore, there is real work to be done, not just brushing off dusted pieces.

Keep it coming!

[Kiwi Canuck]

That's some of the most slimy carbs I've ever seen

How did they get like that?

The bike sat for about 30 years, I suspect they may have used stabil or some other fuel treatment and the fuel dried up and left this mess.

I for one am watching with interest. Lack of others posting doesn't mean we aren't watching.

Greg, thanks for the support, I do these reports to keep me motivated and on task, (as well as having a record of what I've done) but lately I've been a bit distracted and a bit overwhelmed so I was wondering if anyone was actually following along and was I just wasting my time by keeping the thread up to date, apparently not, so that's good to know.

Disassembling carbs in the bathroom sink?
You're a brave man.

Steve, I was just unbagging the one carb I sealed in the ziploc, as it had leaked while I stored it, and the bathroom is in my house garage so not inside our home.

I do have washrooms in both my workshop and garage and they come in handy for rinsing parts with hot water and warming up paint cans before painting, I also get to cleanup before coming into the house which my wife prefers.

They are my responsibility to maintain and keep clean as the cleaning ladies don't come near them, so no complaints from anyone and I can do as I like.

David.

[Kiwi Canuck]

Yup, here I am, working both in a tiny corner of an underground parking space, and a former village butchery. Having a lathe and mill, and a place for them, is one my dreams. Thanks for linking where you've got your machines from!

roeme, thanks for responding to my thread, I'm always impressed by what some people can do with very limited resources and space.

Glad you liked the Lathe & Mill info from Quality Machine Tool, there are a few guys in Europe who have purchased from them, top notch guys to deal with.

a) What sooke said and b) This thread is both entertaining and useful, since you not just document what you've done, but also how you did it. And furthermore, there is real work to be done, not just brushing off dusted pieces.

Keep it coming!

Ha ha yes there is real work, I sometimes wonder why I get so passionate about these old bikes, but I love the process almost more than the results, even if I find myself in overwhelm on almost every project I've taken on.

David.

[Sam 78 GS750]

Greg, thanks for the support, I do these reports to keep me motivated and on task, (as well as having a record of what I've done) but lately I've been a bit distracted and a bit overwhelmed so I was wondering if anyone was actually following along and was I just wasting my time by keeping the thread up

I check the forums pretty much every day. There's a few rebuild threads that I look forward to seeing updates on, even if I don't really have anything to say. This thread is one of the ones that I get excited about seeing progress in.

I have a feeling there are a lot of people like me following along.

[Charlie G]

I'm here watching with interest. I'm a "Six Fiddy" guy..... Thankful the carbs I just did, didn't look like yours.

[Kiwi Canuck]

I check the forums pretty much every day. There's a few rebuild threads that I look forward to seeing updates on, even if I don't really have anything to say. This thread is one of the ones that I get excited about seeing progress in.

I have a feeling there are a lot of people like me following along.

Sam thanks for commenting, it's nice to know you are following along and find what I post interesting.

I should have a bit more of a substantial update to my rebuild shortly if I can get some parts here.

Cheers,

David

[Kiwi Canuck]

I'm here watching with interest. I'm a "Six Fiddy" guy..... Thankful the carbs I just did, didn't look like yours.

Thanks Charlie, I have 2 carbs done and working on the 3rd one, thank god these were not the first ones I tried to rebuild, it would have put me off for life.

David.

[Kiwi Canuck]

Here's a few pictures of the carbs as I clean them up.

One of the carbs before cleaning,


[IMG][/IMG]

The tools I use for disassembly, I use mostly new screw drivers just for the carbs, as they need to fit perfectly to avoid the driver caming out when removing the jets and causing more issues.

I needed to use heat on the needle valve seats to loosen them as the rubber o-ring had glued itself together into kryptonite.

[IMG][/IMG]

The ultra sonic 3l capacity.

[IMG][/IMG]

A couple of carbs, one on the right is complete, the one on the left still needs another cycle through the Ultra Sonic bath.

[IMG][/IMG]

[Kiwi Canuck]

One other piece of good news was I got a used turn signal from my local Suzuki dealer for $15.00, not sure what it was from, but saw it in a used bin when I was picking up some for oil for the forks.

I was able to switch out the short stubby extension for the longer ones used on the GS650E, and the piece I needed was in great shape, I reused the original lens as well as it fit better and the colour was same as the others.

No pictures of the turn signal but here's the oil I got, 15W as recommended in the manual.

A bit rich on the price but I like to support my local guys when I can and thankfully I didn't have to pay full retail for it.