{"id":1418,"date":"2011-10-23T18:18:02","date_gmt":"2011-10-23T22:18:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/192.168.50.23\/wordpress\/blog\/?p=1418"},"modified":"2018-04-07T17:20:45","modified_gmt":"2018-04-07T21:20:45","slug":"tear-down-complete","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forths.com\/index.php\/2011\/10\/23\/tear-down-complete\/","title":{"rendered":"Tear-down Complete"},"content":{"rendered":"

I completed the tear-down of the 1965 Honda today, reducing the motorcycle to a rusty steel frame. \u00a0I power washed all the body parts, eating away at the decades-old mud and crud under the fenders and inside the frame cavity. \u00a0I was pleased to find the wiring harness to be mostly complete, minus the two wires that fell victim to mouse teeth. \u00a0I’ll repair and re-solder those connections later.<\/p>\n

The sole gauge on this bike is a speedometer, but it appeared to be in pretty rough shape. \u00a0There was lots of aluminum oxide corrosion on the face plate, so I feared that I’d need to get a reproduction plate. \u00a0I disassembled the speedometer and found the worm drive mechanism<\/a> to be frozen. \u00a0Perhaps that’s why the original speedometer cable was broken, and it certainly would have broke any new cable. \u00a0After some lubrication, I was able to get the gears to move freely. \u00a0Fortunately, the paint on the face plate was not pitted, and the corrosion cleaned off rather easily. \u00a0Over the decades, the speedometer needle had faded to a pale orange, so I used a red Sharpie Paint Marker<\/a> to give the needle back its color. \u00a0I’m pleased with the results.<\/p>\n

The project will slow down a bit now as I turn my attention to rebuilding the engine and transmission. \u00a0Over the Winter months, I’ll gather a few parts each week until I have what I need. \u00a0In the Spring, the frame and most black parts will be sand blasted, primed and painted.<\/p>\n