After 18 years of setting idle, I've decided to rebuild my 1965 CL77. I've been taking some pics along the way and will attempt to keep doing so as the project progresses. If you have any comments or suggestions as this evolves, feel free to post here.
I have started with the front end and will continue to work my way to the rear. First pic here is the speedometer which was a mess. The needle was broken in half, from fatigue I susspect. As the chrome bezel was rolled onto the case, I didn't want to ruin it so I cut the case with a cutoff wheel in order to lift the mechanism out intact, including the face and needle. (See first pic) Luckily, the thin tip of the needle was still in the case and having retrieved it, I made a jig and soldered the tip to the rest of the needle. (See second photo)
After cleaning and regreasing the gearing, remaking the highbeam red lense and light shield (I used heat shrink tubing) I'm now ready to weld the case back together. To avoid heat damage, I'm going to tack in 4-6 places along the cut and seal the rest of the cut when the new gasket (Had to make that too) is reglued to the case and mounting ring.
The last photo of this post is of the needle and face reattached to the gear mechanism sitting in the lower half of the case. Unfortunately, The face has faded and appears green but I'm going to leave this as is, saving the natural aged patina....
I'll send a completed pic when the entire unit is together.
More later on another restoration feature.
Gary
My 1965 CL77 restoration projectMy 1965 CL77 restoration project
'65 CL77 Owner
Cleaning the frame and front endThought I'd post a couple more photos as the stripping and cleaning process continues.
Pic one is the frame after blast cleaning and masking all the threaded holes with heat proof plugs. I spent some extra tme cleaning all the "Dingle Berries" off the welds this time. The GMAW weld techniques were fast and furious in the mid 60's and not much time was spent at the factory to do this. I only found one cracked weld which was fixed. Amazing after 40+ years since assembly. Second pic is the front wheel showing the rusty condition of the spokes. Pic three is one of a rusty spoke after being removed and one that has been cleaned prior to sending off for Electroless Nickel Plate (ENP). I'll show a folow up pic once they're back from the ENP process. One tidbit of info you might keep in mind when having spokes refinished, especially chrome, is that the electro plating process, especially chrome, tends to cause brittleness in the spokes due to "Hydrogen Embrittlement" which is trapped microscopic bubbles of hydrogen under the chrome layer. This effect can be greatly reduced by a post plating bake at 375°-400°, referred to as Hydrogen Embrittlement Relief. This applies to ANY electro plating process but more pronounced in chrome. The electroless nickel plate process reduces this embrittlement by as much as 95%. I had considered getting the spokes replated with zinc, which I believe was the original finsh, but due to the hydrogen embrittlement aspect and the fact that zinc has never been a very durable finish, I have decided on the ENP process due to it's durability and low embrittlement qualities. I'll post more pics in a few days of the rebuilt speedo and headlite assy. Gary
'65 CL77 Owner
The restoration continuesFinally got a chance to take some new pics of what I've had done to the scrambler in the recent weeks.
Included are pics of the frame and associated parts after powder coating along with the engine before and after blast cleaning. More to follow...... Gary '65 CL77 Owner
CL77 restoWell, it's taken a while but I finally have a couple of new photos of the bike.
After ordering and ordering and ordering plus half a dozen trips to the bolt store, I finally got the engine ready to drop back into the frame this week. Stainless and chrome bolts have replaced all the original zinc plated hardware and several polished aluminum pieces later this is how it looks at this time. Slower going than I had originally anticipated, It's finally coming together. I now have to block it up higher to finish assembling the bottom of the frame. More pics as progress warrents. Gary
'65 CL77 Owner
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