By the way Graham seems to have spilt a little Brown Hermetite on his shirt
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73 Resto - "Now this is not the end. It is not even...
Moderators: KeithZ1R, chrisu, paul doran, Taffus
This weekend has been suspension rebuild.
Firstly, forks. The original tubes were sent to Philpotts for re-chroming. Yes, you can buy PMC items from Z-Power for far less but this resto is about keeping as much originalilty as possible so this was the way for me.
The sliders and top bolts have been polished, seals and dust shields renewed, cup studs removed and re-zinced together with original M8 nuts. I only bothered to keep the original nuts cus they're quite special - they only have the chamfer on one end face, the other is plain - presumably to get maximum contact surface?
The one big change I've made is to use damper assemblies from a 75 B model - the 75 version is on the left in the pic below. I chose to do this only because the 73 dampers can 'top out' giving an annoying clonking over even the smallest of bumps. Not all 73s do this - but mine did! The 75 items are better designed and do not suffer from the same fault. My 75 items were bought from the US and were in good shape.
A couple of pics show the genuine Kawa tool which allows you to hold the Damper body whilst tightening the Allen bolt. Fabulous bit of kit - but, if you can;t get hold of one of these, you can ram a sharpened broom handle down - that works too!
Next up were the rear shocks. Once again, you can buy repro stuff all ready to fit but that's WAY too easy. I dismantled my originals, had the springs and lower spring cups re-chromed, re-sprayed the top eyes (which are painted silver then lacquered ex-works) and replaced the top eye rubbers which had 'ovaled'.
The dampers work fine and are oil-tight with no pitting on the damper rods, so these did not need any remedial work.
All other items were just cleaned and polished being in generally good order. The chrome surfaces are scratched and pitted in places but, like I said, I'm after keeping as much originality as possible. The LH damper body even shows sign of damage from the chain jumping off the rear sprocket at some point during its life in the States but hell, shit happens!
For those who don't know, the genuine shocks can be identified by the pin in the upper eye which secures the damper rod into the upper eye, and by the reflectors which are STANLEY items.
As before, I used my home-made compressor for the re-assembly. The only tricky task is lining up the pin holes in the upper eye, I used a small drill bit to align the holes, the pin can then be eased in using a pair of adjustable pliers. This is more controllable than using a hammer or punch.
Firstly, forks. The original tubes were sent to Philpotts for re-chroming. Yes, you can buy PMC items from Z-Power for far less but this resto is about keeping as much originalilty as possible so this was the way for me.
The sliders and top bolts have been polished, seals and dust shields renewed, cup studs removed and re-zinced together with original M8 nuts. I only bothered to keep the original nuts cus they're quite special - they only have the chamfer on one end face, the other is plain - presumably to get maximum contact surface?
The one big change I've made is to use damper assemblies from a 75 B model - the 75 version is on the left in the pic below. I chose to do this only because the 73 dampers can 'top out' giving an annoying clonking over even the smallest of bumps. Not all 73s do this - but mine did! The 75 items are better designed and do not suffer from the same fault. My 75 items were bought from the US and were in good shape.
A couple of pics show the genuine Kawa tool which allows you to hold the Damper body whilst tightening the Allen bolt. Fabulous bit of kit - but, if you can;t get hold of one of these, you can ram a sharpened broom handle down - that works too!
Next up were the rear shocks. Once again, you can buy repro stuff all ready to fit but that's WAY too easy. I dismantled my originals, had the springs and lower spring cups re-chromed, re-sprayed the top eyes (which are painted silver then lacquered ex-works) and replaced the top eye rubbers which had 'ovaled'.
The dampers work fine and are oil-tight with no pitting on the damper rods, so these did not need any remedial work.
All other items were just cleaned and polished being in generally good order. The chrome surfaces are scratched and pitted in places but, like I said, I'm after keeping as much originality as possible. The LH damper body even shows sign of damage from the chain jumping off the rear sprocket at some point during its life in the States but hell, shit happens!
For those who don't know, the genuine shocks can be identified by the pin in the upper eye which secures the damper rod into the upper eye, and by the reflectors which are STANLEY items.
As before, I used my home-made compressor for the re-assembly. The only tricky task is lining up the pin holes in the upper eye, I used a small drill bit to align the holes, the pin can then be eased in using a pair of adjustable pliers. This is more controllable than using a hammer or punch.
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phil churchett
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You know you reach that stage where you reeeeally want it finished? Well I’m there. Been there 2 months now. But things are progressing.
Pics will do the talking, I’ll also pause over 2 specific jobs that might be of interest:
SEAT
Mentioned this in an earlier update, but the time had finally come for the recover. Foam was original and usable, Pan was solid and has been painted so no excuse not to give it a go. The cover is a good’un, made by Route 66 in the US and bought 2 years ago from a Z guy in Tazmania. All in all it came in rather pricey but the finish and fit is excellent.
You see it has the padded sections on the upper face - I've seen so many repro covers that are dead flat and that's not how they were ex-works. The old cover I took off showed exactly the same padding scheme, but this padding gets squashed and breaks up with years of use.
I offered the cover up, pushed and pulled as necessary and clamped into position before committing to fixing using the original pressed barbs in the pan lip. A little nerve-wracking but once I’d begun it seems to go fine. No glue was used in fitting the cover - the barbs were all intact and strong enough to hold the cover nice and taught.
Before recovering, it’s important to fit the edge bead to get a smooth lap over the pan, I used a little heat to pursuade the original age-hardened bead into place. The foam was glued but only at the margins – this is enough to hold it secure. DONâ€T go smearing contact adhesive all over and hope to get it right! Do small areas at a time and you’re more likely to get it sitting correctly.
CABLE CLAMPS
Evidence of OCD tendencies... or just fastidious attention to detail? You decide! Why take all the trouble to restore original cable clamps? Well cus it ain’t difficult, and secondly, the PMC replacements look like errrrr.... PMC replacements!
Clamps were stripped, resprayed, then new rubber liners were cut and glued in place. Bingo! Just a little detail that shows you care about originality. So what if no one notices -I'm doing this resto for me, and I notice!
Next up some general shots of progress up to 2 weeks ago. Things have moved on since to the point that I expect to roll her off the stand and go for fire-up this weekend.
You'll notice that some of the shots show pitting on some original chrome parts. Again this doesn't trouble me - I like to retain original finishes wherever I can - just means the bike retains a bit of patina and character.
Besides, flash photography is pretty unkind to anything less than perfect!
In fact, there are only a handful of small components which have been re-chromed - all the rest is original and once the newly finished parts have 'calmed down' a little with age, I'm hoping to end up with a bike that looks like a well tended 37 year old, not a perfect resto. Shame I don't look well tended - or 37 for that matter.
Will update with the final chapter and some more detail stuff soon.
Pics will do the talking, I’ll also pause over 2 specific jobs that might be of interest:
SEAT
Mentioned this in an earlier update, but the time had finally come for the recover. Foam was original and usable, Pan was solid and has been painted so no excuse not to give it a go. The cover is a good’un, made by Route 66 in the US and bought 2 years ago from a Z guy in Tazmania. All in all it came in rather pricey but the finish and fit is excellent.
You see it has the padded sections on the upper face - I've seen so many repro covers that are dead flat and that's not how they were ex-works. The old cover I took off showed exactly the same padding scheme, but this padding gets squashed and breaks up with years of use.
I offered the cover up, pushed and pulled as necessary and clamped into position before committing to fixing using the original pressed barbs in the pan lip. A little nerve-wracking but once I’d begun it seems to go fine. No glue was used in fitting the cover - the barbs were all intact and strong enough to hold the cover nice and taught.
Before recovering, it’s important to fit the edge bead to get a smooth lap over the pan, I used a little heat to pursuade the original age-hardened bead into place. The foam was glued but only at the margins – this is enough to hold it secure. DONâ€T go smearing contact adhesive all over and hope to get it right! Do small areas at a time and you’re more likely to get it sitting correctly.
CABLE CLAMPS
Evidence of OCD tendencies... or just fastidious attention to detail? You decide! Why take all the trouble to restore original cable clamps? Well cus it ain’t difficult, and secondly, the PMC replacements look like errrrr.... PMC replacements!
Clamps were stripped, resprayed, then new rubber liners were cut and glued in place. Bingo! Just a little detail that shows you care about originality. So what if no one notices -I'm doing this resto for me, and I notice!
Next up some general shots of progress up to 2 weeks ago. Things have moved on since to the point that I expect to roll her off the stand and go for fire-up this weekend.
You'll notice that some of the shots show pitting on some original chrome parts. Again this doesn't trouble me - I like to retain original finishes wherever I can - just means the bike retains a bit of patina and character.
Besides, flash photography is pretty unkind to anything less than perfect!
In fact, there are only a handful of small components which have been re-chromed - all the rest is original and once the newly finished parts have 'calmed down' a little with age, I'm hoping to end up with a bike that looks like a well tended 37 year old, not a perfect resto. Shame I don't look well tended - or 37 for that matter.
Will update with the final chapter and some more detail stuff soon.
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