Restoration of Sandcast #97

[Steve Swan]

IF i recall correctly, the date stamp is in FRONT of the bracket on the top surface of the tank.  IF i recall correctly.......

If it were me, i would use all the parts i can from 97, assuming they can be salvaged, repaired, reconditioned, etc, what have you.  This way, when you are done, you KNOW all the parts which came with 97, remained with 97.  You'll already be replacing enough parts on 97 that were damaged beyond repair or missing.  

You can test the integrity of the oil tank by taking a 14mm combination wrench or a hard plastic head hammer and tapping tank surfaces to see if there are any more soft spots.  If there are too many rotten areas, then you can decide to salvage tank, or not.

I ALWAYS try to use all the parts which came with the bike, unless they cannot be salvaged back to serviceable condition.

Just my 2 cents worth.  

Looks to me the two halves of 97's tank are hand welded together and the two halves of 1553's tank are "stamp press welded" together.........  I don't see the exact area where you suggest there is a weld repair.......?  are you referring to the seam or another part of the tank ?

[Wayne]

Mark
My original tank from 576 has smooth edges as well. Ditto for the near perfect tank I purchased. I can't find date stamps on either. The tank I took off of 576 is a very solid tank. Someone just punched a hole and brazed in a temp sensor. It could easily be repaired by welding in a patch and smoothing it out. It's here if you want it.

[markb]

Steve,
The hand welding is on the left side (from the back) of 97 only.  The right side of 97 and both sides of 1553 have smooth seams.  I'll look again for the date stamp.

Wayne,
Thanks for the offer.  Depending on what I do I just might take you up on that.

[Steve Swan]

Is the factory original paint intact..........?  Any visible sign the the oil tank ever been repainted or touched up.... ?   Is the welded seam under the paint or is there burn marks on the original paint where the seam would be "on top" of the original paint...... ?  Seems unusual there would be a weld repair after leaving the factory, unless the tank became defective, leaking oil after leaving the factory,  requiring a weld repair........?  I guess if there is NO trace of repainting and original APPEARING paint covers the weld, seems kind of difficult to defend the idea the weld is not original........ ?

[hondasan]

Must confess, that weld at front edge does look rather non-factory to me, but would be interested in your observations. Oil tank date on that from #302 is on rear side of upper rear mounting tab.
a picture is attached, hope you can make it out as I had real trouble getting a good image of it and had to play with the contrast, etc. "Date" is 4 - 15, ie, 15th April.

Cheers - Chris

[Steve Swan]

Just to be clear, i agree weld seems atypical of a factory weld. 

BUT, just to be as certain as possible, would want to ask all  the qustions and make all the observations possible before deciding the tank should not be salvaged because the weld is not what we are used to seeing in terms of a factory weld.

[markb]

Chris,
Thanks for the tip on the number location.  I can make it out OK on your pic.  I checked both tanks and no number is stamped on either.  I even looked in other areas to be sure.

Steve,
I tapped around on the tank and there is a couple of other spots that seem soft too, some just adjacent to the hole in the pic.  Looking inside it is pretty badly rusted.  When I picked the bike up the oil cap was missing.  My biggest concern for future contamination is the breather area.  Appears to be like a labyrinth maybe, from what I can tell from the diagrams.  Maybe with plenty of rinsing it would come clean but like I said, it concerns me.  I looked for signs of repainting and except for the paint kind of flaking right on the hand weld, I can't tell.  I'll see if I can get a little better photo.   

[markb]

I got the last two oil path plugs removed from the crank.  I ran drill bits through all the holes and then cleaned them out good with pipe cleaners.  I’m still planning on having it hot tanked and ultrasonically cleaned to make sure everything is as clean as it can be.  As I was working on the holes I found one that doesn’t appear to go through.  Am I just missing something or what does this hole do?  The one that I’m talking about is the one on the right in the pic?

[hondasan]

That hole feeds oil to the starter gear, and only exits one side of the journal. The gear itself sits has a brass bush inside it and is essentially stationary once the engine is running with the crank spinning inside it, but with no reciprocating loading, so I guess it needs less oil than the mains and big ends.

Cheers - Chris R.

[markb]

Of course, that makes sense.  But is this hole supposed to go through to the hole in the end of the crank?  If so, mine's plugged.  I'll try to get a look at it tonight.

[Bickle]

Be very careful....the hole that is to be there is very very small....smaller than my smallest number drill. Best to measure off another crank. A small guitar string barely fits through.
Steve

[markb]

Steve,
You were right, it is a very small hole.  I was able to get a #60 drill through.  Now I'm satisfied that all oil passages are clear.  I'm going to drop it off for ultrasonic cleaning tomorrow along with the cases and oil tank.
Mark

[Bickle]

Mark
I also used a #60 drill. It is bigger than the original opening of another crank that I have. A #60 wont go through the other hole. I was not sure if I was going to leave it and try it or put some epoxy with the proper size guitar string in it to make it back to original size. Not too sure how critical it is.
Just FYI.

Steve

[markb]

My frames are back from the welder.  He also straightened the gusset…


…and the horn bracket.


The rear fender mount turned out good too.


But the big one was the side stand bracket.  It looks very close to factory appearance now.  But the important thing is it in the right place?  I put my other motor in the frame and put on the #2 exhaust pipe to check it out.  Bull’s-eye!    It was about three hours of work that I could have been working on something else but it was worth it to know.


I don’t think it could be any closer.  Many thanks to Steve and Wayne for helping me catch this before everything was put together.


Here’s another view.  Now I can send it out for paint. 

[Wayne]

Nice Mark. I hope mine will hit that "bullseye". Pretty confident it will based on all the measurements you and the boys here gave me.