'71 400 Cross resto

I picked up my wheels today, completely assembled with mitas tyres (trelleborg replica pattern) heavy duty tubes, new rim locks.

So far my only choice away form original is the spokes, stainless rather than plated but it made sense to me, new nipples and new akront mud catcher rims with powder coated hubs with fresh bearings and seals.

I picked up my reconditioned girlings and the work is top notch, the rattle can gloss black paint job however, not so good, so i stripped the paint with thinners and they will be satin 2pac black soon.

cheers
Paul.

nice choice on the mitas, i wish they were more readily available here. only a few are available here thru ebay.
the ss spokes are a no-brainer to me..

Sure looks nice to me. I would opt for stainless steel myself.

cheers guys, i've been decoking my exhaust and trying to decide whether to powder coat or just paint it. Satin black is correct yes?

SteveJ sent me a copy of his workshop manual and spares manual today, which will help me reassemble the pile of scrap in my shed!

What a top guy! thanks mate!!

Looks good guys!

So i'm on tender hooks at the moment, every single piece of hardware for my bike is at the zinc platers, from axles to exhaust rattle springs and everything in between, spoke to a mate and he said "oh i had them do mine, came out ok, but i didn't get everything back!" just great, hopefully i'll have better luck, we'll see......

All my metal parts that need to be silver are about to get painted, i have no idea what the real silver looks like as my bike was repainted, and wrong, the silver in the newsletter is acrylic and there's no conversion to 2-pack so i basically have to guess....

And i still cannot get my engine apart! Aaarrrgggghhhhh this is supposed to be fun!

So you still can't remove the cylinder ? And this is the same one you asked about on a different post , correct ? What have you been soaking it with ? The studs do move at the top of the cylinder ? The base gasket has been picked out , can you slide a thin piece of metal along the studs and see it where the base gasket was ? And are your studs in the center of the holes thru the cylinder ?

g,day mate,
yep, same one i asked about in the specific topic thread, soaked it with a 50/50 mix of acetone and ATF, the studs move freely and are centred at the top of the barrel, i can see the studs with a torch in the gasket gap and they look fine.

I do have other things to work on ( i can't get over how much work this simple bike actually is!) so i'm going to submerse it in diesel and leave it for as long as i can with the jacking plate in place applying tension between the barrel and cases.

I'm off to pick up my plated parts now so here's hoping they're all there......

And yes, it really is fun, i'm just nervous about the zinc bits and frustrated with the engine...

I had a 71 mh400 years ago but I didn't have any issues removing the cylinder back then . Here's what I'm thinking , only 2 places that can hold cylinder to the cases . First one being the studs and second one being where the liner fits into the cases . I saw a good picture of this style engine today , have you tried to loosen the case screws especially the ones next to the cylinder . Next idea I'll put out there for feedback is this , since studs are centered in the holes and are moving a bit , remove all case bolts and try a case splitter just enough to get a little movement and hopefully loosen the cylinder . I'm not saying to split cases with cylinder still on the studs , but to try to move the cases enough for the studs to move in the cylinder . If nothing moves with reasonable pressure ,STOP . Other option , lay engine on it's side holding cylinder with one hand and tapping on the studs carefully with a softer mallet as to not damage the studs . You could try to thread the head nuts on flush with the stud to give a bit more area to hit on or use a piece of wood to protect the threads .let's see what responces to these will be , maybe some one else has tried these .

all the case screws are out, there's separation at the back but none at the front around the crank so i'll try that. i've used a vibrating tool on the studs and got a fair bit of loose rubble out of the stud holes, the whole engine is completely submerged at the moment and i'm going to try heating the studs on the weekend. I'll also try a case splitter as there's a few mm to play with at least at the top of the barrel, as you said though, if there's no separation with reasonable pressure i'll stop.

I picked up my hardware from the platers and it all appears to be there, at least the obvious stuff is and none of the wire had empty holes so i'm guessing i got everything back, pretty happy about that!

You might try this also , grind down an old hacksaw blade this enough to slip in between the studs and the holes and use that as a pick to dig around the studs . You might be able to remove more crud . It should be strong enough and flexible enough to get thru any more corrosion . Good luck .

I've always had good lucky getting rusted Husky pieces apart using a torch. When heated the rust looses its bonding ability. Knowing how water gets into the stud area on these bikes I would say to apply heat to the studs first until they're hot to the touch not glowing red hot. Let them cool down and then see what happens. If that doesn't do it it wouldn't hurt to apply heat to the outside of the cylinder where the studs are. Won't take much heat to do the job. Now that you've soaked the engine there may be a fury of smoke when you do it but that's okay, just tell the neighbor your dinner burned on the barby.

Forgive me if I misunderstood the post but I think the news letter formula is a 2 part. In any event here are a couple of sources of H84 Grace Silver in spray cans if you don't want to mess with an automotive spray gun.

http://www.touchuppaints.com.au/ind...H84&nm=GRACE SILVER&tta=&ttan=&ttb=&ttbn=&p=0

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dodge-Spray-Paint-Grace-Silver-Metallic-H84-PA4-/201112938949

thanks for the links mate, the two places i went to said it was an acrylic formula, the paint supply house could make it and put it in aerosols for me but i want a professional 2 pack finish.
I've been given an original air cleaner off a later 125 but it will do to get a match from as they're all the same colour apparently.

I'll be using the torch on it this weekend, it's soaking in diesel as we speak so it will definitely smoke and smell, but i don't care for my neighbours anyway.....

I've finally finished the repair and polish of the guards, they were painted grey with filler to hide wrinkles and cracks in the rear one after it had obviously been over backwards, the front was twisted and creased and also painted and filled. once i paint stripped them down to the bare aluminium my mate roy repaired them and welded the excess holes and i have had them professionally polished to remove all the file marks and grinding marks etc, including a harsh wire on the underside to give an even finish to the inside of both guards. I've been hand polishing them to bring them up as nice as i can get them, to be fair you can see they're not 100% perfect, there's a few small deep marks that just can't be fixed, but they're original and i think i'd rather that than reproductions.

Nothing wrong with that. You're going to have a really nice bike when your finished. Keep up the good work.

cheers guys, waiting for my silver parts to be finished and i can assemble something!

well after 6 weeks soaking in diesel i decided today i was going to get the engine apart................... i failed.

I managed to cut the sprocket off and i welded nuts on two studs as double nutted they just spun when i tried to undo them, one stud broken, the other twisted so i stopped.

It's now soaking in molasses/water solution which i'm hoping will remove the rust in the barrel stud holes and it has the jack plate screwed tight down so in there it will stay for a while and i'm hoping the molasses and constant tension will encourage the barrel loose.

My metal parts are primered ready for top coat and my tank is in white, ready for the red.

here's my tank, it's ready for decals and clear coat, it was masked with the "chrome window"etched, primed and painted white, then the white 5mm pinstripe was masked out and painted red, once the decals are installed, the pinstripe mask will be removed and the whole thing clear coated. Then the mask will be removed to reveal the chrome.