Long story short, I was given this bike by my wife's aunt. It was in a shed for years. Motor wasn't locked up but it had some corrosion here and there, mainly the forks.
4 yrs ago I took it apart, sand blasted the frame, fenders, and tank and primed them. The frame I painted semi gloss black. That was it, the bike sat in my fathers shop for four years until the other day when I moved it into my shop at work to continue where I had left off.
Today I finally got around to pulling the top end off the motor to see what it looked like.
The valve seats and valves themselves were clean and almost no pitting at all, the exhaust valve guide however fell out on it's own.
The cylinder on the other hand had some vertical scoring, that my three armed honing tool couldn't get out, so it'll have to be bored out and a new piston.
You can still see the scoring after I tried honing it out.
Now the question is: Is it worth throwing any money at this thing? The frame, fenders, gas tank (has a couple of small pinholes but I can weld them no problem), oil tank are all solid. The forks are rusted beyond worthy repair, the wheels may be salvagable but I'd rather not take the chance.
I'm not talking about a full on show quality restoration, I'm talking a simple going over to make a decent rider out of it, maybe strip it down and make sort of a mini cafe racer out of it, or a mini bobber? I know a B44 engine will fit in that frame no problem, but I'd have to source one of them and go over it as well. Any thoughts?
4 yrs ago I took it apart, sand blasted the frame, fenders, and tank and primed them. The frame I painted semi gloss black. That was it, the bike sat in my fathers shop for four years until the other day when I moved it into my shop at work to continue where I had left off.
Today I finally got around to pulling the top end off the motor to see what it looked like.
The valve seats and valves themselves were clean and almost no pitting at all, the exhaust valve guide however fell out on it's own.
The cylinder on the other hand had some vertical scoring, that my three armed honing tool couldn't get out, so it'll have to be bored out and a new piston.
You can still see the scoring after I tried honing it out.
Now the question is: Is it worth throwing any money at this thing? The frame, fenders, gas tank (has a couple of small pinholes but I can weld them no problem), oil tank are all solid. The forks are rusted beyond worthy repair, the wheels may be salvagable but I'd rather not take the chance.
I'm not talking about a full on show quality restoration, I'm talking a simple going over to make a decent rider out of it, maybe strip it down and make sort of a mini cafe racer out of it, or a mini bobber? I know a B44 engine will fit in that frame no problem, but I'd have to source one of them and go over it as well. Any thoughts?