1981 XC 430 Beginning rebuild

That's interesting. Guess they hold up better then a lot of the older bikes I have done. I am just used to seeing some wear in an engine that matches the frame wear.
Well I am looking forward to getting it together and riding it, hopefully by summer. Everyone seems to like the 430,so I figured I would give it a go for my first Husky.

My kick stand bracket is 1 5/16 " from bottom of swing arm to bottom of bracket and it is 4 3/8 " from center of swing arm pivot bolt to the front face of the bracket. I would bolt kick stand together and mark the swing arm and then place it where you think it is the best area when the bike is standing, If you have the bike apart now I would wait till it is sitting on its own with motor in then tack weld it in place and make sure it works best for you . Hope this helps.

Like I said the tank is a Clarke. Its a 3.3 gallon and is pretty much the right shape. The Plastic gas Cap in the Center is the easiest clue its not real. The Chrome sides are just decals, I got them of e-bay if I remember right and they came from Portland Oregon. He was making them for the Aluminum Tanks that needed repair work, so that You could use body filler and then just cover it up with the decal.
Yes the European bikes were made from the best materials, and if treated right will hold up for a long time with little wear. Are the Foot Pegs bent down from landing of cliffs? Are the Wheels square or round? Sure signs of wear and tear. It sure looks as though You have scored a great bike to restore so far.

I decided to do your plastic tank idea. I am still going to restore mine and just put it away in the event I decide to sell. I have already been thinking about that. I spend all the time and resources to redo mine and then go dent it first ride out, I would be sick. I have done that very thing before,rebuild a nice metal tank that you are all proud of,and then go cave it in.

I am in need of a front rim if anyone has a good one. After mine were sandblasted I found a nice crack in my front rim. Probably repairable ,but I would prefer to start out with a non repaired rim.

Almost all Nordisk rims on Husky's are cracked. It is not a problem other than appearance, and because of how hard it is to get all the anodization off, VERY hard to weld cleanly.

lets get big timmy he can weld anything lol

From what I have been told, its because its nearly impossible to get all the anodizing off that makes it hard to weld, not the actual welding. I do know that every single Nordisk rim I have on Huskys and KTMs are cracked, but not all the way across. I asked my buddy Craig Hayes, who has probably more hours racing Huskys than anyone about the cracks and he said if its not cracked all the way, its OK.

Really? Well here are some pictures. Everyone chime in with their opinion. I am not familiar with the Husky wheels. If it will hold I am willing to give it a try. Just hate to pay for powder coating and then have it break on me.

Yup, thats exactly what all mine look like. I was worried about them at first, but Craig said unless the crack runs over the top in the "crown" area where the spoke holes are, that its pretty much just a cosmetic issue.

seen lots of those cracks.....said the bishop to the barmaid....

So is the general consensus go for it and see what happens?

I'm not so sure I would of Blasted the Rim with what looks like a pretty coarse grit. But now that its done there certainly isn't any anodizing left now. Weld it up.

Yeah, the rim blasting didn't exactly go as I asked. But it's done now ,so i will just live with it.

Yes, this is my first post and sad to deliver news that a tree sapping got between my foot shifter and case, thereby ripping off the foot shifter out of the case. Ths happened last week during the Alligator Enduro. Where can I find a repo clutch cover case?

call Andy @ hva in the UK

DC Plastics is a distributor here in the USA for them.

Haven't had much of a chance to update lately. I decided to do powdercoat. Actually the first bike I have powder coated. I usually paint my frames.
Powdered the frame,swingarm,bars,triple clamp, hubs and backing plates. Also
going to powder the fork lowers.

After finding the rim crack ,I decided to replace the rims with Sun rims as I will be riding the bike fairly regularly,didn't want to worry about the rim. I am going to go with an 18" rear,just to make my tire choices a little better. So, stainless spokes. Turns out all the spoke polishing on the old ones I did was a waste of time, but oh well.

I have a few small misc. parts to get,steering bearings ect, and I will start getting the front end together.

I think you made a wise choice on the rims . If some one else wants to ride on cracked rims let them ( I dam sure not going to ) I would at least weld it back . I know polishing spokes is a waste of time anyways, here in the south where the humidity is so high they start rusting as soon as you put them back on the bike and the dam nipples are just as bad. I would also find out if the brand of nipples are stainless also (most are not) so be carefull when you wrench them down. hope this helps your build.