1971 R5 repairs

[DaveHunter]

  I bought this last spring with the intent to restore over the next year or so. Things are going well. Much of the chrome pieces had to be sent out for replating . The rubber parts were in surprisingly good shape but lots of rust on anything metal. Gauges looked tired so they went off for refurbishment and came back looking good. Lots of parts had to be ordered as is usual for something this old.
 Step 1 for me is to do the wheels so it can be moved around. Sandblasted and clearcoated the hubs, laced Buchanan spokes to new rims and put on tires recommended on this forum.
Low tech truing stand made out of scrap wood
 Fitted new fork tubes into lowers, assembled hub
 That was all done earlier. This week the tin parts got sanded & dents fixed. There were some four or five dents to pull out & stripped to bare metal. Acid etch primer then a metalflake silver undercoat, Candy orange base and clearcoat top. All with spray cans. Everything except gas tank as I wanted to practice on the small items. Obligatory selfie with messy garage attached

[robrd]

Hi Dave, looking very good. How long have you been doing the project up to now? From what I can see you are doing a very good job, what is the price of chroming over there? here in the uk it is quite expensive. What condition is the motor? I am doing a YR5 too, I am not doing mine to the standard of yours as I want to keep some of the originality to show a bike that's nearly fifty years old. How long do you think it's going to take you to finish the build, are the parts easy to get over there? I see your tank badges have warped over time, are these available over there or is it the same as here, very few to be found and very expensive, dearer than a tank in some places. Looking forward to your next post, keep up the good work and thanks for saving your old bike.

[pidjones]

Beautiful and nicely thought-out garage, Dave. Messy just indicates in-use. Did you use Spraymax 2k clearcoat? It has been the best clearcoat that I have used. Keep at it, a little each day, and before you know it, test drive time!

[DaveHunter]

Paul’s Chrome in Evans PA did the chrome work, and yes very expensive but they are skilled.
 I took photos and they gave some estimates so I decided on some items and mailed them out. They took detailed photos with a number in each picture with price by item. At that time I could choose which to chrome and what to not have done. They had a 60 day backlog and in 60 days all was returned. Some pricing examples;
Handlebars $250
Front fender was very rusted and two dents that they fixed $450
Handlebar clamps $70 each
Cover for fork lock $20
Shipping $100
 Some things like turn signals would have been $150 each so it’s aftermarket ones for now
 The schedule has been order parts (from literally around the world ) in June. The paint is from a US company that supplys 2k products. Started work in September. I usually work pretty steady on projects.
 The engine will go to an experienced mechanic as I’m not comfortable doing that part. 14,000 miles on machine.
 I’m trying to learn the insert picture feature so here’s a photo of tracing paper over gas tank to copy the pattern
 

[DaveHunter]

The switches looked poorly and all the silver sleeves were cracked and stained. I do one at a time or I’d forget how the little pieces go together. .
 Cleaned and greased the contacts and sliding parts, glass bead-blast the aluminum houseings and paint the red H and L . The painting method was get a drop of red speedometer paint in the recess then push it around with a small piece of wire. Sometimes it was difficult to get the new sleeve over the wires & had to replace end connectors.
 I now wish the the ignition switch housing had been rechromed as it is looking drab next to the bright gauge housings.
 There was not quite enough orange paint to finish the petrol tank. I had (wasted ? ) some painting the insides of the tinwork with three coats or would of had enough. More is on the way

[DaveHunter]

[DaveHunter]

 I like to leave the motorcycle mostly intact and focus on repairing one area at a time. It would be overwhelming for me to have everything stripped and again having to remember how everything goes together. The frame gets painted with a spray can of flat black as each section of it is exposed.
 There are scrap metal tubes welded up to support motorcycle until both wheels are installed.

[5port]

Is it your actual bike from '70's?
Either way, you are showing dedication with work on the chroming! 
Frame paint was a single coat gloss black, although on most weathered original bikes it is now weathered dull Matt-like.
Rebuild Looks great! 

5port

[robrd]

You must have the patience of a saint spraying the frame like that but the outcome is what is important and yours is very good. I would agree with 5port though that the frame should be gloss, then again, if you are happy with matt, leave it, it's good in both finishes and being as the bike is for you, do it as you want it, not as it left the factory.

[DaveHunter]

Thanks to both of you for pointing out they were originally gloss black, it looked like flat paint. Picked up a can of glossy & perked things up quite a bit!
 I think it’s the same R5 from many years ago ...
 Lots of work cleaning and painting lately. Had to cut the center stand out / hinge pin was frozen in . Pressed New piece of steel into what was left of old pin, welded and turned down end, lots of fun

[DaveHunter]

Fiddling with the little switches. There is clear shrink wrap marketed for well drillers that I’ve been experimenting with to replace the original sleeves
 It takes a bit of trial and error but sometimes works, appeared though the players used originally to pinch the end on the wire had ridges and mine were smooth.

[DaveHunter]

Photo beforehand, it’s amazing how much this stuff can be shrunk & manipulated with a heat gun

[DaveHunter]

 More parts arrived in the mail this week. It’s always a little exciting to open up a package and see what you got.
 Replacement vin tag looks spot on to me, very pleased !
 There were a set of the gel type side badges already here but then a ebay vender in Indonesia advertised these reproductions so had ordered a set to try. It only took a couple weeks for them to get here.
 
 Side by side comparison
 There is a lot of cleaning/sanding/ paint of small items on these motorcycles. I waste quite a bit of time looking for things and figuring out how they go together due to poor organization.
 

[Gr8uncleal]

Did Anthony (aka The Enduro Doctor, aka DEET) do the tags for you?

[DaveHunter]

Good morning Al !
  Yes he supplied the tag.  Also credit goes to him for beautiful job of refurbishing the gauges and supplying the silver sleeve. It’s great how many people support this hobby.