Well, my bike has 25k miles on it and was absolutely filthy dirty. I had been wanting to do this since 2 seasons ago after seeing a couple others on here do the same, but I have had busy winters.

I started tearing my bike down just about a week ago and quickly got to the frame. I am hoping to have it all clean and "rebuilt" by the first 60 degree spring day. I intend to do any service I run into that NEEDS it. I am on tight money, and will basically only get things I truly need, which should be nothing other than a few odds and ends. I am only checking valve clearance and maybe crank bearings while my engine is out. My main goal is to get the 25+ pounds of gunk out of my bike and have it looking new again. I really should have taken pictures before I started any cleaning- but what you see here is after about 36 hours of cleaning. My engine could have been painted neon pink for all I knew and I still would have thought it was black. The exhaust side was the hardest to get looking decent. I still have a lot left to clean.

 

And here's the frame. I am going to leave the forks on because they were just serviced last winter, and my fasteners are very prone to getting stripped. I don't want to risk it. Some things that have me concerned/annoyed. I cannot loosen my "chain guide" (the black rubber, the chain rides on), and my left side handlebar end is stripped and stuck on.

Oh, and I tried to get a close up of these little tiny "bubbles" on my frame. They seem to only be in or around corners, but I am just wondering if this is normal? Or maybe it's from the past owner paining over some grime or something?

Oh, and the swing arm will be off once I get some help loosening it or get a breaker bar.

After cleaning my engine and frame thoroughly, I will either start sanding down my headers or clean and service my brakes and left and right handlebar controls. More pictures to come.

I still have to decide if I want to streetfighter it or keep my fairings... And decide on colors for frame and engine. I am thinking a dark gunmetal for the frame, black/gunmetal for the engine, then copperish accents in areas.

 

very nice i'm interested in the paint!

 

Looks to me like your bubbles are just weld splatter from when the frame was originally welded together and then not cleaned up properly, maybe Quality were having a bad day at the Honda factory. I wouldnt worry.

 

Ok, I really wanted to start painting the frame today, but I am not happy with it yet. It still needs some last minute cleaning, scroughing up, then i'll douse it in rubbing alcohol. It's back down to 28 degrees from the previous 50 and I have other things to clean anyways, so painting will wait. I did a couple color samples though.

Things I still have to do.
-disassemble, reassemble brakes
-finish cleaning the engine
-clean up hand controls
-clean up wiring harness
-sand headers
-paint

As of now, it's not going to be a streetfighter. The only way I want to do a streetfighter, is to take apart the dash and use stock meters and the stock headlight in a smaller compact area. And MAYBE a new rear section. Our seats are so comfy, though.

pic 1: motor mount and accent color. Turned out more orange than I thought.

pic 2: on the bottom of my swingarm, I tested the frame color. Dark gunmetalish.

pic 3: frame, almost all cleaned up.

pic 4: "we cudda dun thees with tire ironz"

Sorry for the bad quality, i'll try and borrow a digital camera if the end product is worthy.

Also, does anyone have any footpegs they want to get rid of? I need passenger and driver pegs. Thanks.

 

Honestly, Not tring to be rude, But if your going to halfass it, then y bother?

Take off the swingarm, triples, and chain. Buy a cheap can of paint striper ( $6) SOme brillo pads ( $5), and take it down to bare steal, scuff it really good, and primer it ( $10). Then take it to a painter, Since all the hard work is done they will do it cheap. ( having mine done for $80). Its worth it in the end.

You have it 95% taken apart, Y not spend the extra little bit and do it right the first time?

 

GO BIG OR GO HOME

good job so far but don't half *** it cause when you rush it's gonna only look good for a fraction fo the time

 

cool thread... keep us posted

 

Sorry, I forgot about this thread lol. My mind was more on getting my bike back together so I can friggin ride. I just rode it for the first time today after the full disassembly. Only for a few minutes though due to a coolant leak at the water pump... And my expired plates.

I am definitely going to keep my plastics for now. I'm not planning on street fighting it until I drop it and ruin my plastics. But now that i've had my bike fully torn down, I have so many ideas for when I do make the conversion.

Until then, I just want to maintain it as properly as possible, and use my semi beat up plastics. Through my tear down, I inspected EVERYTHING other than the transmission. I couldn't believe how well everything held up. The guy I bought it from personally told me this was the bike he rode hard, or when he wasn't sure about the weather (because he owned a beautiful overpriced harley as well). I have had the bike for 3.5 years now and constantly get caught in the rain/ snow every season. I put 9k miles on in the time i've had it. The ONLY thing I had to replace was the prolink suspension bearings. Oh, and my stator plug as well. My calipers and/or master cylinder will probably need a rebuild soon, but both front and rear brakes are still very firm after a bleed. Overall, these things are fcking tanks and I love them.

I was also having a running hot issue last summer before tear down. It had slowly developed through my ownership. I suspected it was just lean due to the amount of backfiring. I wasn't sure if it was my fuel screw or my clip position. So during my inspection of everything, I figured i'd start with richening the fuel screws a quarter turn. Holy hell, was my bike running flat. I can't believe how much better it pulls, and with absolutely no backfiring (well, havent taken it above 10k yet but we'll see). These engines rip so hard for their age.

So here's a few pictures. No plastics yet. Once I fix my leaking waterpump, i'll put the plastics on and take a couple more pics with them all cleaned. I think i'm gonna have to rethread one of my water pump holes

 

I got a waterpump on ebay in very new conidition for $17 SHIPPED.
Cause I too needed to rethread....dont. EBAY.