Clocks (Part 1)

The VFR750F is a touring bike and it's got the design to prove it. The dash is built like a brick. The RC30 on the other hand had a very different layout looking more like a cluster of individual gauges. Even though the dash had been removed from the bike when I bought it, after rummaging through some boxes in the garage the previous owner pulled it out and asked me if it was part of the bike. So I've got it, the casing was a little smashed up but the internals all seem to be intact. I have no idea how long the thing's been off so the 33k miles that it shows doesn't amount to much, but it will be nice to be able to keep track from here on out.

This is the beast...

...in exploded form

Is omittion of the truth really a lie?

Yes!

It's a little daunting at first glance, but each of these copper lines will just have to be replaced with a wire

I need to buy myself a new wiring harness to harvest the printed wires so that everything can match in the end.

I snipped the wires off and kept them in place so that I can trace colors later when I have to rebuild the thing.

This is what I'm going for

And this is where I'm at right now

The PCB for that stupid clock is ridiculously huge, I'd love to just leave it out, but I've ridden bikes without them, and they are super nice to have. It will stay... where exactly it will go I can't be sure yet.

The Ducati blew up!

Not like BANG, more like a balloon.

I painted my old Monster when I sold it to a girl in Dallas:

She was thrilled with it when I delivered it to her, but a couple of months later I got a call from her that there was a problem with the paint. So I headed back down there to see what I could do for her.

What a nightmare. I've never had anything like this happen, but I suspect I was trying to push the process too much. There're three coats in this job, a base, a candy, and a clear. I think I didn't give enough cure time to the candy.

The tank was the only place that it happened, so I took the bike back, stripped it back down to the plastic, and started over.

This time I gave the candy a week total to dry before laying down the clear.

So far so good

SixtyNines' seat

I've been working with a friend to get the fairing for SixtyNine worked out...

...and I managed to come up with a seat that I like

This last few days I've been working on the mold for it

With this MDF base I will hopefully be able to make a nice clean mold.

But it will take a lot of primer to get it all nice and smooth.

more primer

Filling in the holes to help with the molding process. I could've machined a new one without the underside detail, but that would've been a waste of materials.

New breather gasket

When I pulled the old breather off the top of the rear valve cover of the VFR I tore the gasket up, I cant get a new one because they're back ordered through Honda. I'm sure I could buy one if I really put some effort into tracking one down, but instead I'll just make one.

These are the tools that I'll need. What's left of the old gasket, some new gasket material, razor blade, and some cheap guide coat I had in the cabinet... also some hole punches and a hammer.

I had some trouble getting the gasket material to lay flat so I put some double stick tape down and stuck it to it.

Additional tools used

I just had to make the rest of it up as I went using the original part and a little logic. This thing's far from critical one way or another so I wasn't too worried about it.

Changes

At the risk of losing my one follower I'm going to change the format of this blog. I'd like this to be a place that I can keep tabs on what I'm working on and where I am on my projects, and since I'm always working on something, but tend to jump from one project to another I'm going to broaden the focus here. So instead of just posting about Cinder every couple of weeks I can hopefully post about all my motorcycle projects a couple of times a week.

Over the last few weeks I've painted my van, stripped my VFRs wheels, made a mold base and sealed the buck for SixtyNines' seat, primed my scale fairing mockup... and almost traded my truck for a DOHC CB750.

Making a mess

I managed to track down a new rear wheel for the bike. Not the coveted eight spoke, but actually just a direct replacement for the original, just a lot less bent.

By the end, they'll be white, so I've got to get all the black powder off first. I pulled the front wheel last night:

By the end of this they'll all be white so I've got to get all the black off before getting started, aircraft stripper works its magic

Next, I'll be cleaning the garage, I've been working on the van a lot and everything's gone to chaos in my haste.