Ive got this real nasty rust on the front forks. Anyone have a suggestion how to tacckle this? Sand and paint and rechrome or buy something else to replace it with? Cheers for any advice. In the background you can see the water pipes also, braided hoses for replacements perhaps ? SIGH much to learn i tell ya!
I think you will find the 'water pipes' are the oil cooler hoses....: lol:....if they are not cracked or leaking I'd leave them....they are however 30 years old. if the rust does not enter the area where the fork seal rises to on compression...I'd just clean it up and give it the caliper treatment....you have to ask yourself..." how far do I want to go?" ....and self will probably say ...all the way....fight this and resist the urge to completely dismantle the bike as they can stay this way for a long time...
The oil lines will clean up with a wire brush and some more of your chrome bumper paint on the protective springs if you can get them off the rubber hoses intact The fork legs...hmmm... can't comment on that because I'm fussyer than most about my bikes Voltaire ....fight this and resist the urge to completely dismantle the bike as they can stay this way for a long time... Why's that Volty? makes them more 'stackable' in small pieces.
the forks look seriously rusted. if all of it is above the fork seal area (as volty said) than you can use de-rust treatment and wet sand them and polish them. won't be perfect and they will rust in time but it will look much better. stay away from re-chroming them as that costs nz$250-500 per fork... www.fastfromthepast.com sells oem replacements for much less
Awesome info there guys CHEERS! Way cool to get such good info i was REALLY wondering why my "waterhoses" didnt have an expansion bottle hawbbawhbawhbawhbha Gawds Its tough to be so dumb sometimes hie hie hie But ill learn as I go, Woulda been rather surprised to see oil pee out all over the show when i removed them 'waterhoses' hie hiehie Im going to do some homework and see what fork parts may be interchangle with other models there are some forks for sale of trademe for a couple of hundred bucks, maybe something there would be in better condition. The rust is really just at the top near the triple trees / clamps, the part at the bottom is pretty much clear, though it failed its WOF apprently because of a leaking fork seal, *PONDERS* may be worth it to chuck them out and get new ones, last thign i want is to come up a cropper if the forks give out. Psyguy at those prices im with you, ill stick to rattle can paints rather hie hie. I read somewhere you can chrome small parts yourself, but its maybe a bit over rated. THe rattle can paint looks close enough for government work and hey its $15 a can Dodgyiti I recon fussy is good hey, my problem is im fussier than my wallet can support hehehehehe
Had another look at the forks and i recon im @#@$%-ED I can see sanding marks all over them, and theres a nasty 'tear' in the finish JUST where they enter the bottom bit, recon thats whats stuffed the seal in the first place. CRUD another item to be replaced, this build budget is stuffed before I started hbawhahahaha
just get a scotch pad and rub then down, there should only be tiny spots left .....they crc and keep clean
ok...looked at photos again...some areas are bad...although you will be surprised how much will dissapear....worth a crack....jif and a scotch pad.....
scotch pads...won't the missus get suspicious seeing you in the kitchen..
kitchen...what is that?
It's next to the bike workshop, or dining room
More commonly known as the heat treatment centre and part washup ( dishwashers are superb for cleaning parts) . So long as Mrs I doesn't find out.
i use those steel wool pads, not the fluffy one but the quite dence squares of steel wool stuff.. brillo?? and that normally gets rid of the surface rust with out causing anymore damage, i would buy some fork boots, they may be ugly, but they'll stop any more corrosion and the wof tester can't fail your forks if he can't see them its all about minimising wallet damage with older bikes
alex, you can chrome small parts yourself but the equipment isn't that cheap and the results aren't that great. PLUS, the forks are hard-chromed, meaning no can do DIY
Here is a work plan in order of $$$$ 1: do nothing...excellent bang for your buck and money can be better spent on beer. 2: the brillo/scotch/crc method...may improve the looks and even fool the WOF guy.....slightly cuts into the beer fund. 3: #2 plus gaitors.....may spoil the cafe look but doesn't impact on the beer fund much and could still satisfy WOF guy. 4: find a better set on TM or find out what else fits.....anyting is good and it adds to the cafe theme of bitser.....looking at local beer now...no foreign stuff. 5: hard chroming....last time I did it was $300.00 and then I sold the bike soon after....now have to hang out at work to drink their beer....... Get Dodgy to tally up your wish list ( he likes lists)....I prefer to forget the costs.
