Restoration of Sandcast #97

[markb]

With a little patience...
Have fun!

Steven, for me it will take a lot of patience.    And I wish it would be fun.  It's the kind of work I dislike the most.  But it is next to impossible to find someone who will do it and have it turn out the way you want it.

I picked up the last of my zinc plating (the stuff that had been accidently yellow zinc.  I’m getting closer to having all the parts ready to start reassembly.

[markb]

Not much to show for progress lately but I have managed to get things organized.  That took a while.  I had parts scattered all over: basement, garage, shed, a small storage locker, my truck, and my shop at work.  And a lot of it was in boxes so when I needed something it took me forever to find it.  So I rented a larger storage locker and now everything is there (including the bikes which I had to get out of the garage for the winter anyway) except for what I’m working on at the shop.  My wife is even pretty happy about it.  Plus I have a lot of it sorted into bins and the rest is in labeled boxes so parts are easy to find.  I found parts I didn’t even know I had.


I’m a little paranoid about making sure my monthly bill gets paid.  I wouldn’t want to see my stuff end up on an episode of Storage Wars!

[jkp2240]

Looks like Vic world shop!

[kp]

Hey Mark, When you finish #97, you can send her over here and I'll store it in my shed for free 

[markb]

Hey Mark, When you finish #97, you can send her over here and I'll store it in my shed for free 

You guys are too nice.   

[markb]

WARNING: Anal alert.

I forgot to post another thing I did to get organized.  I got all my zinc plating sorted out.  It took me about 8 hours to go through it all.  I found some nice compartment boxes for sorting out the smaller stuff.


I’ve got them labeled and sorted by size so hex heads are in one box, cap screws in one box and pins, nuts, washers, springs and other small bits are each in their own box.  Then there is miscellaneous stuff too like o-rings, seals, turn signal levers, gas cap latches, you name it.  Anything that will fit.


It’s amazing just how many different washers there are.  There are approximately 50 different kinds for a total of 350 (don’t ask me how I know this) on one sandcast including some that aren’t listed in the parts book like inside the handlebar controls.  Here’s just part of them.  My point is that it’s so much easier to find parts when they’re organized.


Eventually I’ll pull parts out of “inventory” and put them into groups like the parts book when I get ready to do some sub assemblies.

[UK Pete]

WOW , Mark i would love to be as organised as you,
Pete

[jkp2240]

Mark
Nice, I'll take one of those assortments!

[markb]

Ok now that I have things organized it’s time to get serious.  The first major thing I’d like to do is get all the aluminum polishing done.  Hard to believe I don’t have everything torn apart yet.  First I tackled the rear drive flange.  Notice the four peened areas spaced 90 degrees apart on the outside of the retainer.  It doesn’t look like it’s ever been removed.


You all probably know this but life is easier if you drill them out first.  I use the smallest drill that will remove the damaged threads and only drill as deep as I have to.  I’ve reused the retainers before but since they’re still available I think I’ll replace it.  Then when I screw in the new one I can re-peen at the same spots on the hub and it will almost look original.


I made a special tool for removing the retainer.  A little heat on the outside of the flange and the retainer came out without a fight.


After the retainer is out the bearing presses out easily from the opposite side.


I notice there are some deep gouges around the outside of the flange.  I hope I can clean that up.  I guess I’ve seen that before but I can’t quite picture what it would have been rubbing on.  I’ll have to take a look at an assembled bike.

[UK Pete]

I like the retainer removing tool, i made mine very similar, i drilled two holes in a bit of flat bar and hammered a masonary nail with point cut off into both holes, it works a treat

[hondasan]

The gouges round the outside of the flange are most likely from the chain guard - they sit real close, and often seem to become mis-shapen, possibly from being removed and re-fitted "twisted". If you have the original chainguard, quite likely it will have corresponding wear marks.

Cheers - Chris

[markb]

I checked and yes, the chain guard is what caused the wear on the drive flange.  Hard to believe that plastic could cause that much damage.

On to the wheel hubs.  The bearings in both had been replaced before and the retainers were chewed up pretty good so I just used the screwdriver and hammer method to remove the retainers and I’ll just replace them. 


It looks like the front hub had been polished at one time.


There was a pretty good burr around the spoke holes on the rear hub.


I carefully filed them with a fine file and now the hub should polish up nicely.


And the brake lining is a bit rusty.  I’ll have to clean it up as best as I can.  I don’t have any spare no-hole hubs lying around that I can use.

[UK Pete]

Mark , that has to be the rarest of rare a no hole hub, i suppose the indents where the spokes rubbed are to deep to totally remove but at least the new spokes will sit in the same place, my two hole hub has a big chunk missing from it and several large dings on it, i cleaned my one up in a blast cabinet to get the rust off the brake lining
Pete

[vnz00]

Hi Mark,
Another option is vapour blasting it inside n out.
This cleans up the lining nicely too. Restores the inner area
Between the spoke flanges to a nice factory finish too.

[markb]

In between other stuff I have spent some time on the alternator cover.  All part of trying to get all of my aluminum polished.  It’s very tedious work and not something I’m skilled at but I can’t find anyone who will do it for me.  It takes a lot of patience and I work on it until I get impatient then stop and do something else before I mess it up.  I think this is a repost but this is what it looked like after the welding.


I carefully filed it with a fine file.  Unfortunately when I got it flat there were some pinholes from the welding.


So I brought it to another welder that does micro welding to try to fill them in.  I was hoping to try to machine the recessed ring but from being dented it had too much variation in the height so I had to do it all by hand with special needle files.


Here is the before pic:


Here’s where I’m at now.  I probably have close to 10 hours into it.  I’d rub a little bit then look at it.  Then rub a little more then look at.  There are still plenty of imperfections that don’t show up well in the photo.  I’ve ordered some special die polishing sticks to finish the recessed ring and the area between the N and the J.  Besides the weld removal there are still plenty of scratches and dings all over this thing that I’m sanding out.  I’m using 400 grit now and will eventually get up to 1200.


I think it will be presentable enough to use.  At least it’s better than it was.  I guess I can always replace with a better one later if I can find a thin-lipped one.   I’m not too optimistic because I’ve sure looked.