1st bike, 1st build CB650

Loaded the car up with engine parts and went for a little drive to http://www.ctc-powder-coating.co.uk/aquablasting.htm



They said it would be a couple of weeks which is spot on, I should have the frame ready by then.

Started to think about the seat a while back. This is something I'd like to tackle myself so I had a look around on the internet.

Found these on youtube and they are pretty good, very informative. Well worth a watch.

https://www.youtube.com/younggunsfab

So I ordered some scrim foam and some leatherette. Managed this effort, still waiting for my grease pencils do be delivered so I can mark some guide lines....the effort below is clearly free hand! Will probably go for grey thread when I do the final cover to tie in with the stripes I plan to put on the tank.

Hell Dan, you're really going for the 'build from scratch' approach, looking good bud

Cheers mate, the bit I like most about doing this is the many new skills I'm picking up along the way!.....there's nothing better than getting things done yourself.

dangreen wrote:

Cheers mate, the bit I like most about doing this is the many new skills I'm picking up along the way!.....there's nothing better than getting things done yourself.

Yeah, if you're owt like me you pick up many skills in the workshop, first aid being one of them!

haha literally blood sweat and tears going into this bike!

looking good

Shiny Shiny!!

WOW i said WOW

Let the fun begin.

shiny is gooood, shiny is niiiice.

out of curiosity what did they charge you to blast that lot

lol well just got to make sure I've thoroughly washed and cleaned all the media away now!!

I'm going over it first with the air compressor to get rid of most of it, then I'll get some hot water on it finish with a few blasts of the pressure washer.....hopefully that should do it!

A quick question, I've left the connecting rods attached to the crankshaft. should I take these off and replace the bearing inserts?.....don't know how much they are but I have check the robs and there doesn't seem to be any play in them.

Also looking at the clymers manual I've got to get some molybdenum disulphide grease that's a mouthful!! Is this pretty generic stuff, can I just grab any of the stuff that pops up in a google search or are there different grades? If so any recommendations?

Cheers!!

Pud wrote:

out of curiosity what did they charge you to blast that lot

Hey, because it was painted he said he couldn't be sure how long it would take. Depends how easily the paint come off so he worked on £56 per hour, total bill including VAT was £162. It's a fair slap of money but I thought pretty fair. I was never going to get it looking like that no matter how many tins of nitromors I threw on it!

that was a good price very impressed

Being a bit of a southern fairy it's far too cold in the shed at the moment so I thought I'd stay in the warm and turn my attention to the seat.

Started with a foam blank, it's pretty dense foam and feels pretty comfortable. I cut it to shape using my fibre glass hump to check it as I go.





Then spray adhesive on the scrim foam, I purchased 3mm scrim foam but when I ran a line of stitches through it didn't create the effect I was after so I glued two pieces together then glued the leatherette on top. the extra thickness allowed the leatherette to be pulled into the foam more and got the look I was aiming for. I used a grease pencil to mark a centre line and then lines across for guide lines.



This is where I've got to, I need to work out the next few bits so I packed everything away while I give my brain a chance to kick into gear!





So far so good, pleased with it but getting the side panels right and then joining it all together underneath will be a little trickier. Plus I need to decide what I'm going to do with the bump stop portion.

well impressed with that.

trimming's one thing i leave to other people.

Dan - this build is coming along beautifully... Top work.

Would you mind sharing a bit more info on how you changed the petrol cap?

Also, would you mind taking a picture of the tank outlet (the bit the petrol tap attaches to). I've got a CB650 tank, but it looks like someone may have welded an extension to the outlet part, however I've got no other reference tank to look at.

Thanks, and good looking build.

Hi Dan,
Probably already know this but if you are wanting to smooth down or shape the foam on the seat, the best tool is an angle grinder (no really!) used gently, works a treat. Makes a lot of dust but gets a smooth finish on just about any foam.
Andrew

westers wrote:

Would you mind sharing a bit more info on how you changed the petrol cap?

Also, would you mind taking a picture of the tank outlet (the bit the petrol tap attaches to). I've got a CB650 tank, but it looks like someone may have welded an extension to the outlet part, however I've got no other reference tank to look at.

Thanks, and good looking build.

Hi mate,

For the petrol cap I basically made a tube form out of plastic and put that in the existing hole. Then used some metal filler (which is supposed to be petrol and oil resistant.....I'm sure I'll find out over time if that's the case!) and built the area up. I don't have the welding skills to do this properly but I don't see any reason why this won't be ok.....the plastic came out again obviously it doesn't stay in there! Anyway these pictures will explain better.

I don't have a picture of the underside of the tank but I will get one for you tomorrow night. Mine just has a small pipe with thread on the end probably 2 or 3 cm long from memory?

jetset wrote:

Hi Dan,
Probably already know this but if you are wanting to smooth down or shape the foam on the seat, the best tool is an angle grinder (no really!) used gently, works a treat. Makes a lot of dust but gets a smooth finish on just about any foam.
Andrew

I didn't know that at all!! Excellent thanks for that, I will give that a go to get the final shaping on the foam. I've put the sewing machine away for a while as I was getting fed up with it, I'm going to wait for the interest to build again before I tackle finishing the seat off!

So what have I been doing.

Had a small windfall a few weeks back only a few hundred but nice all the same. Now there are many sensible things I could have done with this money but instead I bought myself one of these!!



It's a Draper 230V 2.2kw Belt-Driven Air Compressor 03238 100L and I'm very pleased with it. However I love buying tools and gadgets and now I have a world full of air powered goodies to buy!!

First is this

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/sb4-sandblast-kit-pick-up-hose

I was a bit sceptical but I thought for £18 it could save me a lot of time but if it's crap nothing much lost. Here's some before and afters!

Before


After


Before
https://2img.net/h/i1214.photobucket.com/albums/cc485/dan_green1/DSC_0141.jpg

After




This was only using Kiln dried sand but I'm really pleased with the results. It was pretty quick as well, talking 10 minutes to get those two pieces how they are in the after photos. It was making one hell of a mess, I'm going to have to knock up a box to do this in so I stopped before I finished. This will save a lot of time prepping parts for painting.

Just read that back to myself and in summary I've been doing nothing constructive I've been buying toys and playing! hang on no I have started the battery tray, you can see the cardboard template in the four photo's above, and for the keen eyed the steel I've cut it from

Nice one Dan, that tank mod looks really good.

I think my outlet pipe must have been butchered by the sounds of it, but if you can do a pic of yours that would be great.

Cheers

Yeah no problem will grab one for you tomorrow.....although I have no idea if mines "original" or not! lol