Ascot Revival

Nearly Done

2009-03-27T23:40:00.001-07:00

The forks are rebuilt, tail section reinstalled, master cylinder installed, new pads on brakes... lots done. All that is left (I think) is to put the tank and body parts on, seat, double check everything and go for a ride!

Bleeding the brakes was a pain in the ass. I ended up buying a Mityvac bleeder (special tool for bleeding [getting all the air out] brakes) and it took five minutes.

Just remembered... need to lube the cables and hook up the clutch too.

Got my plates today. Its all registered and legal and ready to go. Oh oh... one more thing... have to work out something to mount the license plate. The original is bent and missing parts.

See why this stuff ends up taking so long?

IT'S ALIVE!!! IT'S ALIVE!!!

2009-03-17T22:33:00.000-07:00

After five months monkeying around and rebuilding the top end, painting, tweaking, checking and everything else... after two weeks of tinkering and playing trying to get it to startup tonight was magic time! It didn't want to start and as I fiddled trying to get it going my finger covered a small hole in the rear head... viola! Its the vacuum line that is supposed to connect to the fuel tank. I popped a screw in there and POW all at once.

Bare witness...

In the vid you can see my temporary fuel tank solution. The actual tank only works with vacuum supplied via the hole I plugged. I'm waiting on a fitting to connect the hose (I broke the original). Till then the temp tank is the setup de jour.

Now just need to do the fork seals, install my new-to-me clutch lever, new hand grips and all the odds and ends and she is ready for the road.

Another Prickley Pearch

2009-03-04T07:09:00.000-08:00

I was up till midnight again last night working on the beast. It started well. I got the hole tapped for the coil mount and got that all installed.

From Ascot

The problem came when I decided to put the new clutch lever on. I couldn't get it off the perch. The screw head is huge and my regular screwdriver kept slipping out. Oh and it's seized. I ended up pulling the whole perch/lever which necessatated my pulling the electrical box under the headlight and getting the left handlebar switches unhooked and removed from the bar. Oh that required unbolting the handle bar because there wasn't enough slack to slide electrical stuff off. CAN OF WORMS!!!

I present to you the carnage:

From Ascot

Then I spent a bunch (too much) time at the bench vise trying to convince the big screw it needed to come out... here is the big screw:

From Ascot

That didn't work so I flipped it over and cut off the remaining screw and tried to drill it out. (been doing that a lot lately) but the bit started to wander off the steel bolt and onto the aluminum parts (bad) so I stopped and here is where it rests:

From Ascot

I finally gave up and went inside to hit the Internet and see if I could just buy the part... NO! I's unique to the Ascot and not cheap new (if available) and I didn't find any used (ebay). Then it hit me this am... Its a screw that goes through the handle and has a bolt on the other side. I don't think it is "screwed" to the handle I'm trying to remove... I think it's pressed in. I should be able to hammer or press it back out. I'm going to put this to the Ascot Yahoo group to see what they wizards there say. Stay tuned...

As usual pics on the Picasa Page. (new ones start here)

Low work weekend

2009-03-03T07:28:00.000-08:00

I didn't get much done this weekend on the Ascot. Merry had a mom/daughter day Saturday, and we went out Saturday night. Sunday we watched a friend's kids and then they and another couple came over in the eventing. Basically nothing happened. Monday night was my first go at it this weekend.

I got the carbs on and installed the plugs (I had the old plugs in for the painting). I got a bolt at the hardware store to put in the newly tapped hole that supports the sub frame and right foot peg. It's getting pretty close. I'm planning on logging some hours this weekend. The last parts I have on order are packing that go in the exhaust. Two where the header pipes connect to the middle thing (like a big muffler) and one where the muffler connects to the middle thing. They should be in this week so if all goes well the Ascot should run this weekend.

Oh, I got my new brake and clutch levers in too. They are great looking! I'm really impressed. Only $21 including shipping on ebay! So once the motor is running I still have the fork seals and master cylinder to rebuild then get all the i's dotted and all the t's crossed. Then I can start looking into body paint.

While poking around at the bike I began to think the handle bars aren't stock. they are a little high angled and they kick out a bit. You can kind of see what I'm talking about in this shot. I obviously haven't ridden it yet so I don't know if they are uncomfortable but they don't look it.

They should look more like this. You can see these turn almost 90 degrees and then another 90 to where the grips and switches are. Looks like a more comfortable upright bar and that's what I like.

Grey...

2009-02-27T07:55:00.000-08:00

I guess someone had the same idea as me.

I like the look of this and it makes me lean (get it?)grey. I think it would be even nicer with my blacked out motor. Now if I can get a hold of a fairing from a VT500E I'll be in grey-t shape! (See what I did there?)

Cycle Gear

2009-02-25T22:43:00.000-08:00

I went to Cycle Gear yesterday to kill some time while I was waiting for Merry and the kids. I wasn't that impressed. I mean if you are looking to spend a bunch of money on apparal or you are crazy for motorcross it might be your thing. Not me. The only thing there of interest to me is the LED licence plate bolts. My stock plate mount is pretty shot so I'll probably have work something else up and these are pretty cool.

I'm also thinking about some flashing brake light accessory to be extra visible. Especially consisdering the fact that I was rear ended in my car a month ago. These are pretty cool but I'd like some thing that flashes 3 or 4 times the goes steady. I don't want it flashing the entire time I'm at a red light for example.

They have a little video too... it's kind a dorky but you get the idea.

Nothing new last night

2009-02-25T07:00:00.001-08:00

Well I didn't work on the Ascot last night. Only vegged in front of the TV. I thought about getting the carbs on but it was later than usual for me to start and I didn't get much sleep the night before so I decided to veg for a while then go to bed.

The only real new content I have to offer is the question of color. I don't think I'll be painting the tank and other parts for a while but I have still been thinking about paint. Of course there are the two standard colors for this bike; red and black. But since I have not been doing a restoration but rather a revival (read the title of this blog!) I have felt a little latitude in how things look in the end. This is why I blacked out the motor.

So in the vein of color I was tossing around two main contenders: Atomic Orange and a deep grey.

The grey would probably be easier and cheaper since I would use a thick grey paint with no metalic or anything. Jut a shiny grey to contrast all the black on the bike. Here is a non-artists rendering of what this might look like.

The orange I am thinking of on the other hand is a deep burnt orange that is best summed up by the Corvette color Atomic Orange as seen here.

The reason I included the shot of the vette is clear once you look at my non-artists rendering of the Ascot in orange... you have to imagine all the tangerine parts as the vette color above.

So the Atomic Orange would probably be harder to paint but is more unique and makes hte bike stand out a little better (read safety). However the grey is more subdued and would probably be cheaper (non metallic) and easier (non-metallic).

Since I probably won't do any paint work (prep yes paint hell no!) till the summer (read my posts about the paint booth, garage, smell etc) I have put up a poll open till the fourth of July asking what color it should be. Let me know. And I may (or not) use your advice.

Yes More!

2009-02-23T23:33:00.001-08:00

I'm not going to blather on about it. Its late and I need to go to bed. I uploaded more pics to the picasa page starting here. In a nutshell I installed the radiator and worked on a broken off bolt in the frame (yes another). Only this time I was unsuccessful in my effort. I may just tap it as it sits and get a bolt to fit.

The nice thing about working in the garage when its in the 40s? Your beer stays cold no matter how slow you drink it!

Also since I have very little documentation on the interwebs as to who I am I decided to take a little something of me in my "attire"!

"I disappear for a couple days and you guys get all weepy?"

2009-02-23T09:17:00.000-08:00

"Kara, you've been gone for over two months!" (Battlestar Galactica reference designed for 50% of my readership! And, approximate quote.)

I just posted my painting post when I looked back and realized how long its been since I last posted. Previous last post was November 24, 2008 and this latest post was February 23, 2009. Almost exactly three months. So I thought I would post again ( I know! I know!) about what happened in that two months.

Dec 08: Not much... got the motor torn down and discovered all the parts needed. Ordered them online. Then decided to tear down the rear head on the recomendation of the head shop guy (hehe) and added parts (for the rear) to my order. Snopocolyps 2008 happened and shot all my shipping to hell.

Jan 09: Finally got my parts mid January. I took small, infrequent opportunities to work on the motor. First step was get all the necassary parts for the head work (hehe) and get it all to the head shop (hehe). When I first talked with the guy he said he could probably do it in a day. When I finally got it to him his #2 shop guy (him being #1) had gone back to Mexico on vacation to see family. So he was backedup. It ended up being two weeks to get it done but he is a swell guy and did great work and was very helpful. As such I recomend him M&B Cylinder Heads. Not to mention the price was great. Originally quoted about $100 I went ahead and had him surface the heads for $40 extra. great work.

Feb 09: Putting it all back together. I took my time and again did an hour this day and an hour that. Finally got it all sealed up and decided to paint it. I painted the heads too, just blacked it out. Nice and glossy. I still haven't made up my mind on orange or deep grey for the tank and plastics but either way having two colors instead of three (black motor, polished heads, body color) it will just be black and color. Then I started the work on the frame. Most of that info is in the previous post.

That about sums it up. After assembly of what's torn down now all that remains is:
Required for road worthiness:
1. Fork Seals
2. Front brake pads
4. Replace brake and clutch levers (ordered)
5. Rebuild and install new(tome) master cylinder
6. Rebuilt license plate mount and lighting

Optional/Future:
1. Paint the tank and plastics
2. New/redone seat
3. Flashing brake light/additional brake lighting
4. Paint rear brake housing and rear springs

OMG - A NEW POST

2009-02-23T07:44:00.000-08:00

Update: Well I don't know what I last posted but here is where it is... The motor is finished and I decided to paint it to look clean and new. As such I decided to go all black (the valve covers were polished grey) since I'm planning on painting the tank grey. I didn't want grey tank over grey-ish valve covers over black motor. A little too striped sounding. After painting the motor (which came out awesome) the frame was looking pretty beaten and battered.... soooooooo.... frame painting time!

I removed a bunch more stuff from the bike: tail cowl, rear fender, battery box, voltage regulator. All that remained was the airbox, coolant overflow tank, most cables and hoses, and the wiring harness. I pulled most of it up to the top of the frame and wrapped and taped the whole top section (see pics at picasa below). I decided it wasn't necessary to paint the upper parts of the frame since they were ing good shape and it's covered and out of site. Also because I didn't want to pull what remained.

At this point I decided to paint all the metal parts I removed. This included the kick-stand, center-stand, passenger peg supports, battery box parts and the foot peg parts. This would keep the bike looking more uniform when done. I set up a ridiculous paint booth up in the garage to try and minimize the over-spray on other stuff in the garage. I had planned on shooting it with the door open but by the time I was ready to do it (prep takes WAY longer than you think) the temp had dropped and was too cold to paint. So I reconfigured the setup for "garage door closed" operation. My little space heater could maintain the plastic box at about 65 degrees so it was good enough. The downside? ZERO VENTILATION! I had to run up to the store to get more paint (and a respirator) at 11:15 and was the last customer to leave the store. :-) When I got home Merry informed me that the entire house smelled like paint... BAD! I quickly shot the 3rd coat on and opened the garage door high enough to put a box fan exhausting out the front. (I showered and cleaned up for bed and then ran out and killed the fan and closed the door in my skivvies!).

Sunday was a nice day too so while the weather held off (it was supposed to rain) i pulled a big section of my paper floor in the driveway and prepped and painted the exhaust. I think I'm gonna like the way it looks! It's got scrapes and war wounds but they're painted scrapes and war wounds. So they look good-ish!

I shutdown for lunch and then when the kids were napping I did the impossible: I got the motor back in without a hernia OR scraping the newly painted frame and motor. That was a pretty impressive feat. When I removed the motor I commented that the manual was kind of over doing it with their suggested two people, recommended 3 for removal. I think they had installation in mind. Like any tinkerer knows, its a LOT easier to take something apart than to put it back together! What made me successful in my effort was something I normally don't do. I used patience and didn't start wailing on anything with a hammer! That's where I left till after bedtime to have some daddy time.

After the kids were in bed I went back out to the garage (through in my coveralls this time so I A: was warmer and B: felt like a guy that knew what he was doing. That last part was helpful since the procedure for the evening was: Surgery! One of the threaded frame mount points was broken off. So I ground it down and drilled it out. I then measured the tread count and size of the other bolts and tapped it to accept a M8 1.25TC (8mm diameter and 1.25 thread count [per mm i guess] YAY METRIC SYSTEM!) bolt. You'll get the idea in the pics and I'll post finished photos later. Needless to say it's important because this is the back side of the removable frame piece but they also function as the mount bolts for the right foot peg. Two times important! (Weak Flushed Away reference there)

After that I just got all the motor mount bolts in and tightened up the frame mounts then I moved over and re-installed the battery box. The little threaded shaft that holds it together (its two peices that wrap around the battery. Pivot on one side and bolt on the other holding the battery secure and to the frame.) was stripped and someone though it was good enough to drill a small hole in the stripped shaft and put a cotter pin in there. I wanted something a little more secure. I carefully cut off the stripped shaft and filed it flat. I then drilled a whole through it and tapped it to fit a spare small alen head bolt I had laying around. Its from a pre-drilled mount on a bike frame for a water bottle holder or pump. It was the perfect size and works well. This was the last act of the night.

Finally I just dropped all my tools and went inside. It was 11:30 or so. My hands are shot from working, getting dirty and washing once with Goop then with regular soap time and time again throughout the weekend. Okay that's all for now, I need some more lotion! (what a pansy). The pics will be up at Picasweb soon in the Ascot album. You'll just have to browse toward the end. I think they are time stamped so you can look for the pics from this weekend.

Update: Link to where new pics start-The Ascot Picasa Album

One Step Further

2008-11-24T22:30:00.001-08:00

Well after talking to the guy at the M+B machine shop I decided to pull the rear head too. First to ensure that everything is fine back there but also to have the whole system running optimally. The front head will have new seats and will be tight. For balance it makes sense to the same in the rear.

After removing the rear head everything looks fine. The piston has a small amount of carbon but not too bad. The valves and related gear look good. I had a personal/financial delema however in this process. I realized as soon as I pulled the rear head I'd just incurred some extra costs (head gasket) but there is the feeling of doing a job right and, for me in this case, that feeling was worth the extra $17 for a rear head gasket. But the decission was harder around whether to replace all the valve guide seals. They look fine and even the head guy at M+B seemed to think leaving them was okay... BUT! When's the next time I'm going to be inside this motor if ever? After staring at my cart in checkout for WAY TOO LONG I decided to do it right even though it's another $40. I'll feel better when its all done.

All told I have another $100 order for parts. The only saving grace on this one is that I may be able to combine it with my order from the weekend to save on shipping. It hasn't been processed yet... I don't think they open till Tuesday. Yay for saving $10.

This baby should purr like a kitten when she's all back together. I can't wait... I have a lot of ideas about phase 2 (basically cosmetic) but I'm trying to stay focused on where I am now.

Total Tear Down!!!

2008-11-23T22:17:00.000-08:00

Well I posted all my findings about loose valves and missing spring retainer parts and the consensus in the Ascot Yahoo group was to pull the head and take a look... pulling the head requires pulling the MOTOR!!! Saturday I set out on this adventure and it was a task. The main issue I figured I'd have is physically getting it out and in a workable position without dropping it or banging it around too much. The Clymer manual recommends 3 people but says 2 is doable. I lifted the engine fine by myself so I guess I'm as strong as 3 men? Sweet!

As expected the one unrestrained intake valve was hanging into the cylinder a bit. I'm going to take the head into a machine shop and have it redone. I'll probably have to replace the hanging valve. Also of note was the next suprise... there were some "nicks" or "dents" in the piston. See...

I don't think they are a major problem but I have no idea what got down in there. I'm going to clean them away from the cylinder walls and hope for the best. (there are many more close up shots in the rest of my picasa album.

One additional note... there is a reason people do motorcycle projects as "winter projects" or "summer projects"... it's because it takes so damn long to get parts. You never really know what you need till you start tearing things apart. When I bought this bike I figured a couple weeks of adjustments and clean up and she'd be good to go. Nope I have the motor out and apart... I'm going to be waiting two weeks for parts. I have no idea why it takes so long. Then I have to start putting it back together. In the mean time I'll get the fork seals done and the master cylinder that I bought of ebay installed.

Valves are not fun...

2008-11-19T22:18:00.000-08:00

After going back and fourth from the Ascot Yahoo Group and my bike for several days trying to figure out why it won't run on two cyclinders I have it running.... but it makes a hell of a lot of noise... too much noise if you know what I mean.

What follows is from my post at the Ascot Yahoo Group

Well after much tinkering, pondering and bugging of Neil (thank you) I think the ignition is working fine. I got her to fire up tonight and both pipes got hot so she was firing on all two. Still making a lot of racket though. So, per Neil's advice I decided to make sure the valves were adjusted right. I pulled the little covers off the number one valve cover and noticed that there were little dings in the cover.... weird. Then I noticed there was no lock nut on one of the intake valves... And so here we go... pull stuff off to make room... pull off the valve cover and start to look around and I find the nut... then the metal ring that goes on top of the spring but I couldn't find the stay (little part that holds it all together on the valve stem). I hit the Clymer manual and it looks like I have to pull the head to get that all back together. This raises a couple questions.

1. Is there a way to get this all back together without pulling the head?
2. Does that passage that the cam chain comes up go all the way to the bottom of the crank case? I'm guessing the stay might have made the journey!
3. Is there any other damage I should be looking for resulting from the parts floating around? FWIW: The nut and ring were pretty nicely stashed out of the way. No scratches or dings to speak of.

One other interesting note. Not only did the idiot that last adjusted these not tighten the nut enough, the other cearances are ZERO!!! I couldn't cram my smallest feeler in them let alone 0.1mm. I pulled the covers on the rear and all the hardware is in place there. I'm hoping once I get all the valves corrected this baby should purr...

Pretty stupid of the previous owner. He probably had no manual and no idea what he was doing. I'm feeling pretty good that I'll have her up and running shortly though.

Here is the money shot:

More Pics as usual at my picasa page.

Keeping Track of Costs

2008-11-10T19:56:00.001-08:00

Well I have had the bike for a little over three weeks now. I've spent some money on blinkers and ordered parts for fixing up the carbs and fuel delivery (arived today by the way). So I figured it was time to add up the costs and see where we're at:

Bike purchase	$480
Ordered Parts (carbs)	$100
Lights/Signals	$50
Title/Tax	$80
Fork Seals	$50
Total so Far	$760

Thats not too bad but considering I haven't done much yet and it's not running I'm getting a bit concerned that I'm not going to meet my goal of $1000 up and running. Even worse I keep "finding" things I would like to get for it.

Nothing New

2008-11-09T08:17:00.001-08:00

Most of the parts I need should be in tomorrow so I'll be working on getting everything installed in the next week or so. Got lots of time this week since I only work one day this week! The only change since last post is that I bought at new flasher at NAPA Auto Parts. Generic, three contact unit that will have to be modded to work.

More next time.

Blinkers Blink

2008-11-03T10:15:00.001-08:00

Well the blinkers are up and running. I had to fabricate a longer stem for the new (smaller) front blinkers but it looks pretty good. It's not a stock look but I'm beginning to give up on the stock stuff. I've never been a restoration purist but I wanted a pretty stock machine. That was until I went out look for / buying replacement parts. The two pack of blinkers I bought were $25. The stock look blinkers (which were chrome instead of black) were $25 EACH SIDE. I'm cool with keeping costs down... and so is my wife!

Getting it all back together was a pretty interesting fight. I had repaired the speedometer but not yet installed it. So I had the blinkers, headlight and speedo to install. I first put the speedo back in place but it covers the mount bolts for the little metal brackets that hold the blinkers and headlight. So I had to pull it back off. This kind of thing went round and round for a while juggling parts. Finally got the headlight in and noticed it was crooked. Turns out a small tang that supports the previously mentioned "little metal brackets" was bent down slightly. Had to mess around with it very slowly and very carefully for a while to get it back in alignment. Once I did I started the parts installation dance again and eventually got everything back in a hooked up. When I tested everything.... no blink. I got it to blink after beating on the flasher relay a few times but it later stopped again. Looks like I'll have to replace that too.

Pics to come later.

The Signal For Good News

2008-10-29T09:39:00.000-07:00

Well I think I have got my turn signals figured out. I looked into some options ranging from bold on LED signals, LED bulbs, aftermarket flashers you name it. All were expensive. I went to the motorcycle wrecker here and while they didn't have any used lights for me to dig through I did find a new pair of K&N Aluminum blinkers in a two pack for $25. The stock replacements were $25 per side and while these are smaller they are very bright. They don't have the stock mount but I've already started working something up using some aluminum tubing. I may change them out at some point but for now they will work well. The best part is they are three wire so I'll still have my front running lights and blinkers.

The best news is what I discovered in the back. It seems the rears were replaced (prior to my ownership) with the ones that I saw at the wrecker ($25 ea.) but they are the 3 wire version. So all I have to do to get rear running lights is run the wires from the front headlight bucket to the back. That's great. I'll get some pictures of my front signal mod when it's complete and post. I don't know if it will look cool but it will work.

Also while messing around I realized the the tail/brake light is pretty lack luster. I might add some brake light power. Not sure how right now but it's in my brain.

Speedo Fix Is Done

2008-10-29T09:11:00.001-07:00

Well I got the speedo fixed up pretty nice. It's not like new but it will work and be much better off than it was. The first step was dis assembly which can be seen in the previous post. I got some good epoxy in the little double tube dispenser and it seems to be a pretty good bond. I also added a small amount of silicone caulk to both sides of the instrument display gasket since it was in pretty bad shape. I have a seal that I thing will be strong but still removable. Basically what remains of the original seal is serving as a template to hold the silicone in place.

The only glitch I had was that the speedometer needle broke while I was messing around with the back. Just a bit off the tip. I tried in vein to glue the little tip back on and gave up. I did have to bend the little metal pole the needed rests on at zero back a bit so the needle didn't go below zero. I'll still be able to tell how fast I'm going.

The epoxy fix to the cracked housing went better than I expected. The stud for the mount is glued on very well and I doubled up another layer of epoxy over it after the first layer dried. As I said I sealed up the front fascia and all seems well. I put the cover back on after cleaning up the pieces a bit and it looks pretty good... not new but pretty good. The yellow part you see is a small piece of craft foam (stolen from my daughter, sorry Aley) to fill the gap and the epoxy is double layered over it.

More pics can be found at my picasa page.

NOTE: if you notice a slight green tinge to the silicone its because I was using a previously painted popsicle stick to push it around the inside of the gasket. :-)

Mild Update

2008-10-26T20:17:00.000-07:00

I didn't do and substantive work today but took pictures of several things that need work. I'll post some here but the rest will be in my Picasa Page.

First we see the extent of the damage to the speedometer. The housing is cracked all the way around and the spot where the mounting bolt goes is totally ripped out. I'm going to try to epoxy it all back together in a way that doesn't look too crappy.

When it comes time to reasemble all the speedo parts I'm going to have to come up with a new way to seal it all up. The gasket that seals the front facia (with the windows for the guages) to the house is shot. Creativity will have to reign as I'm postive there isn't a replacement part for this.

Also interesting is the blinker situation. I posted before about getting the lighting situation working properly. I will have to replace the front two signals however. I may replace all the way around with LED though. Either way it's interesting that one front signal was two wire (Just blinks when turning) and the other was three wire (running light and blinker).

Lastly the tank has been kreemed or similar. I'm still not totally up on the tank treatments but it's obvious something has been done here. I'll need a mirror to inspect more closely but so far I'm not sure if this is a good or bad thing.

There are some more shots at the picasa page.

Day One of Digging In

2008-10-24T23:33:00.000-07:00

Well tonight was my first night getting in and digging around. Seeing what works and what doesn't. This evening is a good news bad news story. First the good news...

I knew the front two turn signals were broken so I was kind of ready to replace them. I though I'd be able to rig them to last a little while but they are toast. Also only one (front left) lit up. No blinking no running lights... It's good news because after messing around with my test light for a while I got the blinkers working and figured out all the lighting issues. My main issue was the fuse box. Corrosion had built up between the fuse seats and the fuses. I just cleaned them all up with some mild sand paper and everything started working. The flasher relay was a little hesitant to work at first but after switching back and fourth for a while it started working fine. Been sitting a while.

The bad news. I had to pull the front headlight to get at the wiring and mounts for the turn signals. One of the first things I noticed when sitting on the bike is that the instruments seemed crooked and they moved a bit more than I thought they should. Since the back was exposed I decided to poke around. I found the problem... the back side of the speedometer is cracked... BAD! Everything seems to be working but that will have to be fixed. I began to disassemble as I went trying to get the instrument cluster off the bike. Once I did I removed the face glass and it pulled and stretched a very nasty gasket that was ready to fall to pieces. The plan will be to try to glue the crack and get everything back in working order. The hardest part will be getting it sealed up again since the gasket is toast.

Also pulled the tank and drained all the old gas. Looks like the tank has been coated/sealed inside and it looks like a home kit. :-) I removed the petcock and will clean it out later. I had to mangle the inlet screen because it was jammed in the hole due to the fact that the sealer had reduced the ID of the tube everything mounts too.

Upcoming Costs Confirmed:
New Petcock inlet screen and seal.
Two new front turn signal assemblies.
Epoxy!

Potential Costs:
New speedo/instrument cluster
New flasher
New petcock or rebuild kit

Everything is on the Internets

2008-10-22T11:25:00.000-07:00

I found this link via the good folks in the AscotVT500Enthusiasts group on yahoo.com. It's a great run down on how to do the job with great pictures.

Maybe this weekend I'll get some time to start working on it.

I think I'll do the forks first. I have the seals in hand though I was going to return them because I realized the most expensive way is to buy at the dealer. It was true in this case to. They are online for $16 each side (genuine Honda) instead of the $26 I paid for each. But when you through in shipping and the restocking fee the dealer will hit me with (plus gas, inconvenience etc) it will be about the same cost. So in the future I'll buys stuff online. I already have a wish list up at cyclepartswarehouse.com. Nice way to track down everything you need in once place and have an overview to total cost etc. Also they have all the exploded views of the entire bike. NICE!

Run down of the "To Do" list

2008-10-21T12:21:00.000-07:00

There is plenty of work needed to get this bike up and running. In my mind it's all to be broken out into a priority list. I'm kind of using this post as my own notes so it's not going to be compelling reading.

Priority 1-ASAP: What needs to happen to get her on the road.

Old fuel drained from the system

Petcock cleaned/rebuilt

Carburetors cleaned/rebuilt

Fork Seals replaced

Front brake pads replaced (oily from failed fork seals)

Standard tune up stuff (plugs, oil/filter, coolant, rear end, air cleaner, etc)

Turn signals need some troubleshooting (no work-y) Probably start as duct tape solution

Maybe battery - I charged it up and it seemed to hold but cranks pretty slow

Priority 2-After 1: Comfort/Ride-ability/Tuning

Check out suspension in rear (assume front will be okay)

Look into seat replacement/repair/recover/something

More permanent turn signal solution (replacement/mod)

Look at instrument situation (they are kinda tweaked a bit)

Lube stuff: kickstand, center stand, cables etc.

Replace broken (not too bad) clutch lever

Priority 3-Over time/when available: Cosmetic/Preferential Mods

Take a stab at getting the rhino coating off panels and tank and repaint. (replace?)

Touch up paint in areas

Polish stuff that should shine

Add a rack or trunk

Windshield

I know this seems like a lot but I'm actually looking forward to this as a project. I just have to fit it in to my schedule at home. I don't want to take too much time away from the fam. After all one of the justifications for this motorcycle in the first place is to have MORE time with the fam.

Why this bike

2008-10-19T21:14:00.000-07:00

I figured I would post a quickie about my selection and how this evolved.

The first aspect that led to this is that I switched my schedule to 4/10s (four, ten hour days). The afternoon commute was taking about an hour to go 17 miles. Leaving at 4:30 puts me home at 5:30. Dinner, baths... not a lot of time with the kids. Plus gas and the DREAD of traffic. Motorcycle = carpool lane, efficiency and fun. I estimate my commute will be a half an hour or so.

There are a lot of different style bikes. What I wanted was a cheap, efficient, neutral ergonomics (not a crotch rocket, not at cruiser), nimble and decent looking motorcycle that had just enough cool that I could live with it. Maintenance comes into the issue to. I didn't want to go to old and have a bike that needs adjustments and manual lubing all the time.

When this bike first showed up on craigslist I passed it by a couple times because it didn't resonate with me. Then I started getting a bit frustrated with what was available in the $500 range. Way old bikes, bikes missing parts bikes needing lots of work etc. I ended up back at this bike and googled it. Good gas mileage, shaft drive (very low maintenance), V twin motor (lower RPM running), 6 speed tranny (mileage), small package etc etc. The more I looked into this sort of odd bike the more it seemed ideal to my needs.

I finally got in touch with the guy and he agreed to show it to me on Satruday. I ended up taking the kids and Merry and I realized I'd have to trailer it home... oh and it was longer than my trailer. SOooooo I rigged up a little extention for my trailer to hold the bike. And with only one stop on the route to check straps we got it home.

The asking price was $500 but I drive a pretty hard bargain and whittled him down to $480. He didn't know what hit him. I'd like to ride as soon as possible but the truth is the bike doesn't run and needs some TLC to be road worthy. I'll cover the work ahead in the next post.

First Post

2008-10-19T08:55:00.000-07:00

Well here it is... another blog for the guy that... uh... n-e-v-e-r blogs. I'm really gonna try this time:-)

Okay so this one is different. This blog will focus on a new motorcycle I just bought. A 1984 Honda VT500FT Ascot. The bike has sat for a while and is not running. It's also been a little beat up, and in my opinion, mistreated over the years. This will be a slow process to renew this bike back to a solid, stock-like bike. I don't have a budget to just go blow a bunch of cash on it in a whirlwind project. If I did I would have simply bought a better one. Instead this will be a prioritized project of baby steps that will lead to a functioning motorcycle first then slowly improve the bike over time. I'll try to document it all here for fun and posterity. Should be fun.

Without further ado here is the beast:

Current status is a non-functioning attempted rat bike conversion. First order of business will be to fix the "non-functioning" part. I guess the real first step is cleaning out the garage to get it in there. More on that next time.