My 1965 CL77 restoration project

[joeweir1]

How did you blast clean the engine?Put the whole thing in a cabinet?Thanks

[ggray]

No, I Plugged all of the vent tubes. I also cut .125 thick aluminum discs, drilled and tapped them to use removal bolts and then calked them into the exhaust openings.....where the copper gaskets go. I duct taped the side covers and intake ports making sure no sand got into the interior of the engine.

I used a portable siphon blast unit and did it outside.

Gary

[gltrench]

What kind of abrasive are you using? I have tried Walnut shell, aluminum oxide, and glass bead with varying, not so impressive results. Thanks.
-Gabe

[ggray]

I used aluminum oxide........about a 60-80 grit.

Gary

[4shorts]

Some great looking work there. Looks like it's coming together nicely. Also noticed some very nice tooling around your shop. I bet you could turn out some cool stuff with all of that and allot of know-how! Great pics. Enjoyed looking and reading it all. Paul

[ggray]

Thanks Paul,,
After seeing your fantastic restorations, That means alot.
I'll be posting some overdue pics this week on various project for this bike.
Hope you like them as well.

Gary

[ggray]

After posting this originally as a new post, I talked with Michael Stoic and decided to post it as a reply in the original restoration posting.

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It's been a while since I've posted any updates on the CL77 resto/customization, so I thought, and at the urging of 4shorts, I'd show some pics of what I've been up to since the last posting.

To begin with, my original tank was rusted through from sitting for 18 years, so a new tank was in order. After purchasing two tanks, one without brackets and a junk tank that had good brackets, I've almost managed to make one complete tank.

Before I show you any pics, I must issue the following word of caution:

[size=18][b]DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, EVER WELD ON A FUEL TANK UNLESS YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY SURE THERE IS NO CHANCE OF AN EXPLOSION!!!!! [/b][/size]

I do not want the following examples to be the cause of anyone's injury.

I went through a set of specific steps with this tank to insure there were no residual fumes in the tank but I say again,

[[size=18]b]DO NOT ATTEPT TO WELD ON A TANK UNLESS YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY SURE!!! [/b][/size]
With that said, I cut the knee pad brackets off the junk tank and stripped the good tank. Several dents were repaired and the good tank sprayed with primer. I layed the rubber knee pads on each side of the tank and traced them with a lead pencil and then aligned the brackets to where they were centered with the pencil outlines. I MIG welded the brackets to the tank using the holes in the brackets where the spotweld cutter was used. I had to fabricate badge brackets and plug welded them also.

I also found that the crossover tube for the reserve side was completely clogged up. This proved to be a blessing as I was concerned that the still to be applied tank sealant would clog the tube up anyway. I cut the elbow off the tank and welded a 1/8" NPT half coupling to the tank where the tube used to be.

Now I have a straight hole in the tank that I can plug while it's being sealed and I will eventually use a 90° brass fitting to replace the original elbow. (Total cost: $6.00) Photos below show the tank with the brackets welded and the half coupling welded to the bottom.

Two items I needed to either obtain or replace were a chain guard and a good dyno cover. My original chain guard was missing from the bike when I purchased it in 1972 and the original dyno cover had been welded several times and would never clean up to my satisfaction.

Being a tool maker and machinist by trade, I decided to make both. The dyno cover is machined from billet 6061-T6 aluminum and EDMed for the brass inserts you can see in the below photos.

The chain guard has been lasered out of .045 thick 304 stainless sheet and then formed and welded. The non welded, tacked and welded stages can be seen below. I now need to fabricate the mounting brackets and glass bead for a satin finish. The script was also EDMed into the guard.

I got the handle bars, rear grab bar, kickstart lever and rear brake pedal back from rechrome and have installed the handle bars, lever and the grab bar. Included are a few photos of the bike as she sits now.

I've ordered a new seat from Loud Mouse and hope to get the tank, fender and side covers painted in the newxt couple of weeks.

I'll post more pics as things progress.