Ventura Posted September 12, 2011 Posted September 12, 2011 Not sure how this will all pan out, nor how long it will take, but let this be the start of my latest little project. Im a newbie round here but Ive been lurking for a while and learning lots from the very knowledgeable guys on the forum here. Undoubtedly I'll be calling for advice on the hows, why's and wherefores as this proceeds, so let me thank you all well in advance!! So, the story begins............ As I mentioned in my intro I bought my first DT in 1979, brought it home in the crate and built it up myself. I kept that bike for a total of 26 years before regrettably part-ex'ing it for something which has long since been and gone! We learn by our mistakes! Anyway, after a while searching I brought this little baby home a few days ago.................. (sorry about pic quality. Bad light and iPhone!! I promise to improve!) A fairly tidy, all original (Im assured!) 1979 DT175MX. One previous owner and nothing much bent, dented or broken. My plan was to buy a bike and totally strip it down to restore it to its former '70's glory. (Something I wish I could do to myself too!! ) So, after giving it a few laps round the block to make sure it was a good runner, it was into the shed and on the ramp. A few hours later, and after owning the bike for less than one day, this is the story................... And yes, I do need a bigger shed!! As can be seen its all in bits now. No major issues found so far. The exhaust will need replacing as its been attacked to many times with a welding rod at the lower bend, the steering head bearings were goosed (and all the balls fell on the floor anyway!) and I had to cut off the chain tensioner as it had seized on the spindle/pivot bolt and no way would it come off. Only got as far as taking the head off the engine so far (couldnt resist). All looks fine, the bore is clean and rings intact. So spent yesterday (Day 3) preparing the frame and swing-arm for the powder coaters. Before taking it I'll need to repair the slight damage caused by the tensioner spindle turning in its securing plate, causing the hole to elongate somewhat. Almost ready to go................... So, first questions for the experts, and I'll keep them easy to start with!! Were the bars originally chrome or black on the '79 DT175? Mine are badly hand-painted black. Will I be able to buy a chain tensioner pivot bolt/spindle or will I need to make one? (I saw the photo of Pauls, with the nice grease nipple fitted!) Were the lower parts of the side-panels originally painted black? (These were, but it all came off with the power washer!) And will I need to invest in a Haynes manual to be able put it all back together again!! More to follow soon................
NEV Posted September 12, 2011 Posted September 12, 2011 Hi Ventura, hope you don't mind me chipping in, and giving my own tuppence worth, I can see you are going to get serious with this project, and good for you mate, if it's worth doing it's worth doing well, I say, you say you prepared the frame for powdercoating, but in the pics of the frame I don't see any wooden blanks over the headstock stem, to keep the powdercoating from getting inside, also if you can sacrifice some old bolts to go inside any exposed threaded holes, it's best to, or you'll be tapping your frame holes for England when you get it back from the powder coaters, same idea with the swingarm, also you say you need more room in your shed, I was the same with my garage, not having enough room to swing a cat in, so I went to Argos and bought a throw together greenhouse for £30 quid totally zippable uppable, and enough room inside to keep a fully stripped down DT inside, you can even use it as a spray booth if you so wish, I have some pics on my project thread if you want to have a butchers. Anyroad good luck with your project, and if I can be of any help gizza shout. Nev
Ventura Posted September 12, 2011 Author Posted September 12, 2011 Hi Nev, Many thanks for your positive and helpful comments. Since I took those photos of frame and swing-arm I've removed and numbered (how anal is that!) all the bolts, screws, spindles etc. So every one will go back to the place they came from. Regarding the prep for powder coating, I'm lucky in that the guy I'll take it to (John Heckle at Elite Engineering + Coatings, Aintree), will do all the blanking and covering. Comes as part of the service. All I have to do is degrease it! Excellent idea about the cheap plastic garden greenhouse! Why didnt I think of that! I'm off to Argos / Homebase right now!! I just got back from a quick visit to a fork re-chroming works. Never used them before but come highly recommended. Anyone any experience of them?............ Rockrome Engineering Ltd, Liverpool The forks are not that bad but the sections between the yolks are fairly pitted so they'll be going in the bath! Once I've got my greenhouse built, and the shed emptied a bit, think I'll have more of a look at the engine. Then make up another shopping list!! V.
Moderator Airhead Posted September 12, 2011 Moderator Posted September 12, 2011 V ...Good to see the start of your project, you seem to know your way around a bike and a restoration so apologies for pointing out things you already know Dont forget to remove the plastic swingarm bushes, to remove them easily just cut through one sideonly along its length, it will remove easily then...new ones are available but i re-used mine with said cut without issue for many many years now look after the little metal and rubber thrust washers from the bottom of the monoshock to arm mount...they are NLA ...Paul
NEV Posted September 12, 2011 Posted September 12, 2011 Hi Ventura, Good to hear you haven't got to spend ages sorting out with the blanking of holes on frame and swingarm, it is a pain in't arse, and you always miss a couple, I take it that by labelling all nuts and bolts you want to keep it as original as poss, I was going to suggest replacing with stainless bolts, and stainless nylock nuts, stainless washers etc, as these will come into its own maybe when you need to take things apart in the future, but I won't , lol But something I will suggest is that when taking apart stuff off the loom especially around the headlight area, relays, headlamps, etc, instead of masking tape and pen to label stuff, I got a couple of bundles of plastic cable ties, around 3" long, in two colours, black and white, so I could code what wire goes to what, ie, singular black to black, singular white to white, black,white, to black white,white, white, black to white white,black, the permutations are endless, and either keep them on or take off after all wiring back together, your call, There will be a lad coming in here and reading your project, called Philmountains, he like yourself is doing his own 175 mx project, and I'm sure he'll be interested in how you go on with your fork chroming, as he's in the same boat with his. Glad you're going with the greenhouse idea, but don't make the mistake I made with mine, when it came to putting it together, I got everything out of the box , failing to find any instructions whatsoever, decided I'd use the picture on the box, as reference, all went well about an hour, the framework was ready to put the plastic cover over it, unwrapped the plastic cover, guess what fell out, yup the chuffin instructions, ah well at least I won the bet with the missus that I could put together with out drawings lol. Good luck with the project, and like I say if I can be of help, just gizza shout. Nev
Moderator DirtyDT Posted September 12, 2011 Moderator Posted September 12, 2011 Good luck on the project. My advice; Take lots of photos with a high Megapixel camera. Find out what DT125 (or other parts are interchangable) Always have a slush fund becase the part you want will be on evilbay when money is tight. Budget for tools, lots of them. If in doubt, ask. Lots of DT owners here. triple s powdercoaters blank frames etc for you.
Ventura Posted September 12, 2011 Author Posted September 12, 2011 Thanks for the helpful hints chaps, its very much appreciated! Paul..... Your tip on removing the swing-arm bushes came just after I'd done my Dewhurst butchery best and whacked them out with a long screwdriver! Unfortunately they're now in the bin. The new swingarm kit is on its way, but to be honest, apart for my attack with the hammer there wasn't a lot wrong with how it was! Nev.... Good idea on the loom ID'ing. You can probably see from my shed photo that I've taken the tape/pen route initially but when it comes round to giving it some closer attention I'll likely go with your much better idea. The nuts/bolts/washer numbering is with a view to re-using as much of the original kit as I can. It seems such a shame to change them when everything down to the last original spring washer and split pin are still in place. If they're still servicable I'll try to re-use, but I've bags of shiny ss alternatives if they're not! DirtyDT..... Good advice! Ive taken lots of photos so far and am constantly uploading to Photobucket. Tools Im good for and I have a nice (now decreasing!) Paypal slush fund as I recently had an Ebay shed clearance of all the bits I'd removed from my other bikes. Its amazing just how much accumulates and will likely never be used again! OK, here's a Q for you guys....... Ive stripped the forks down and have the stanchions ready to go to the re-chromers. But inside the tube remains a loose washer which the damper rod rebound spring sits on. Is it possible to remove this? As I say it is loose in the bore of the tube but doesnt want to move either way? Its about here........... And can be just about seen in the bore here............. Any advice would be much appreciated. Nev..... I got the plastic greenhouse from Argos earlier. They were on sale for half price!! Excellent idea of yours thanks. Little job for the morning if this wind dies down! (And I'll be sure to look out for the instructions!! V.
NEV Posted September 12, 2011 Posted September 12, 2011 One of those spring loaded grabbers you can buy from the poundshop come in useful for things like that,, send it down through the washer, then press the spring doo dah at the top, so the 4 little tines open up at the bottom, past the washer, and bring back out, IN THEORY lol.
Ventura Posted September 25, 2011 Author Posted September 25, 2011 I haven't posted for a while, but the project still continues! Ive spent most of the recent time randomly cleaning, buffing, and polishing a lot of the bits and pieces which Ive removed as time has allowed. The fork legs have come up pretty well!!.............. My recollection is that they were never that shiny when new, but they are now!! The frame, swingarm and yoke are at the powder coaters, and Ive been rattle-canning a lot of the black bits and pieces. Ive made the assumption (I hope Im right) that the bars were originally black. I removed a layer of black, a layer of blue!, and another layer of black as I stripped them. They're nice smooth and shiny black again.............. While the polishing mops were out I had a quick go at the carb too, which is coming up well......... The wheeels are apart too. The hubs are in very good condition so all needed is a good clean up and a coat of the shiny stuff. The chrome on the rims is excellent and can only assume that they were well protected over the years...... The fork tubes are at the re-chromers, and the tank etc are at the paint shop. I tried doing something to clean up the mudguards and side panels, but everything I tried just made them worse! So have resorted to the paint shop for them too, as well as the side panels. So all that lot is to be picked up next week when I get back home again (I work away, for 2 weeks at a time, hence the stop/start nature of the work!) But it all seems to be progressing nicely. Any comments or suggestions from you guys would be greatly appreciated. Oh, and Nev, I was so pleased with the portable greenhouse you suggested that I went and bought another one!! Many thanks V.
Moderator Airhead Posted September 25, 2011 Moderator Posted September 25, 2011 hey v i missed your earlier postings, that thing in the bottom of your fork stacheon should come out easily, its aluminium about 40mm long and parallel at the botton...tapered at the top. it has to come out the top, if you bang the top of the leg on a wooden block it should drop out
Moderator Cynic Posted September 25, 2011 Moderator Posted September 25, 2011 Not fair i want your shed
Ventura Posted September 26, 2011 Author Posted September 26, 2011 Not fair i want your shed LOL Cynic! I built my shed last year from a big pile of wood. Its a custom job! The kids call it my man-cave, and it comes complete with beer fridge! But now, since starting on the DT, it isn't big enough any more!! I need to make an extension. hey v i missed your earlier postings, that thing in the bottom of your fork stacheon should come out easily, its aluminium about 40mm long and parallel at the botton...tapered at the top. it has to come out the top, if you bang the top of the leg on a wooden block it should drop out Cheers for the advice Paul. I ended up taking the stanchions in as they were, the chroming guy said that wasnt a problem as they plug the ends when they go in the dip-tank. Cant wait to see the end result!! V.
Ventura Posted October 13, 2011 Author Posted October 13, 2011 Well now, after a little time away, the rebuild has begun! The powder coating and the fork rechroming turned out great! So couldnt resist starting to put things back together a little. Swing-arm and yokes reconnected (with all new bushes and bearings) and very shiny forks loosely back in place...... Also managed to get the new cover on the seat....... And picking up the tank and plastics tomorrow. All good fun (so far! ) V.
weimieman Posted October 14, 2011 Posted October 14, 2011 That is looking mighty fine (and having a TARDIS as a shed must help!). I'm tackling my DT seat over the weekend and i hope it turns out half as good as yours. Had a trial run a while ago and bottled it!
NEV Posted October 14, 2011 Posted October 14, 2011 Weimi, if you need a proper stapler to bang the cover on, gizza shout, and I can send it up to you, but it does have "come back" written on it. Oh aye Ventura, you couldn't do us a big favour could you please, I've just bought a second hand Clarke Strong Arm, and need a smaller bike lift such as yours in the pic, could you take a couple of close ups of it please, as reckon I can knock one up in an afternoon, just need to see more detail. ta very muchly. Oh and has your platform/table got the front wheel vice with it? so I can see how thats made too please, I rang Clarkes up for a quote and they want £80 for one, and again I reckon half a day should be doable in knocking one up.
Ventura Posted October 14, 2011 Author Posted October 14, 2011 Weimieman, your quite right, having a tardis to work in helps greatly! Good luck with the upholstery job. It really does take a heavy duty stapler to drive those staples into the plastic pan. Sure it'll work out fine, especially if you take up Nevs kind offer! Nev, I'll pm you some photos Ive taken of the bike lift and also the front wheel clamp on the hyd platform. With access to welding, cutting and drilling gear I'm sure you can knock them up fine. Ive just picked up the tank and plastics this evening from the paint shop. What a fantasic job he's done. Better than new! Photo's to follow!! V.
Moderator Airhead Posted October 14, 2011 Moderator Posted October 14, 2011 Weimieman, your quite right, having a tardis to work in helps greatly! Good luck with the upholstery job. It really does take a heavy duty stapler to drive those staples into the plastic pan. Sure it'll work out fine, especially if you take up Nevs kind offer! I gave them seat spike things a go, I know staples are the usual way though, the spikes are really made for the metal pan seats
blackhat250 Posted October 14, 2011 Posted October 14, 2011 Great story boys" keep them piccy"s coming Ace" [ ventura] , esp when paintwork is on ,,,
Ventura Posted October 15, 2011 Author Posted October 15, 2011 I gave them seat spike things a go, I know staples are the usual way though, the spikes are really made for the metal pan seats I had a look at those spikey things. Did you use pop rivets to attach them? I was a bit worried that it'd crack the edge of the plastic pan when riveting them on. In the end it was the roughty-toughty staple gun sorted it! Great story boys" keep them piccy"s coming Ace" [ ventura] , esp when paintwork is on ,,, Only pics so far are here, taking pride of place on the dining room table!! But why not eh! .......... Whatcha' think?? V.
blackhat250 Posted October 15, 2011 Posted October 15, 2011 Superb " Old git gonna have a bit of compitition for best DT175 mx
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