Classic Motorcycle Mechanics

Head scratching!

In my last scribblings about my icon of 70s motorcycle excess, I dismantled what has to be the most interesting sump I have come across and measured all six bores of the engine.

Realising that the barrels were glazed and had to be removed to be lightly honed, I decided that given how much of the engine was now spread out around my workshop I may just as well pull the remaining lump from the bike and repaint it, as the previous paint was now looking a tad less than pristine and while I am no collector of show ponies, I don’t like my bikes to look rough.

In an ideal world where I had inexhaustible resources and time, I would have stripped the whole powerplant down to its last nut and bolt and bead blasted each and every surface to be coated before applying a top industrial paint covering, but sadly time and boundless wealth are resources that are both in veryGood quality gaffer tape is good for masking up for glass bead blasting. The blasted finish makes a perfect key for paint. Once I had used compressed air to throw ground up glass at it, I removed the gaffer tape masking and used some IPA (Isopropyl Alcohol) to remove the glue residue. I then re-masked it all with masking tape, but only the bottom as I would be sitting it upside down on a piece of flat wood to spray it. I managed to get some genuine VHT engine paint, made in the US, via eBay.

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