Sinfull's classic project and garage blues!

**sinfull** · 19th August 2009, 11:32

Well It's a wednesday morning and i'm sipping on a coffee bored out of my nutt ! Can't do SFA due to a few broken ribs i copped last round of the VMCC winter series, Near 4 weeks and still aint right grrrrr !
So I thought i'd start a little thread to document my next project !
Picked this little beauty up off a mate (with sponsorship of a mate, on ya mate, i'll pay it off as soon as possible)(after i've spent a fortune doing it up and another fortune racing it) so yeah i owe ya !

Slideshow Here of all pics up till the last post.

As some of ya who may have been to visit will know, i haven't really been using my garage other than for storage due to an old car taking up space, so the house has been my garage for bikes !
But due to the acquisition of a noisy tune thing for H to sit at thumping away on, things are getting tight in the bike park !

SO i gots to make room in the garage Doh !
What a mess lol, dragged the car out and started shuffling shit around, stacking tyres up, boxes repacked and restacked to make more room and get the floor clean, so as to be able to set up a bench in the middle, hang some fluros above it and get the Norton up off the floor ready for the tear down !
Got an hour or so into it and the body started to let me know it wasn't enjoying it !
Hence my being here tip tapping on the keyboard while the painkillers kick in !

The Bike has been completely submerged in a flood, so when i say tear down i mean complete tear down !
The engine is siezed (it was drained and oil poured down the plugs) but you know it's still siezed !
Wheels go round but you know, there still going round slowly !
It was rebuit around 17 years ago and in the previous owners words, thrashed for ten years then drowned, then left for the last 7 while he was overseas !
Few goodies on it, like a belt drive primary, alloy rims and stainless spokes, new Isolastics !
The way the previous owner was talking it may have gearbox issues, as he reconed i should go for a Quafe gearbox ! But for the price of a commando gearbox compared to a quafe, i might see how i go with a stock box and look at it if i start blowing too many .

I will try to keep this thread updated throughout the rebuild untill the bike reaches the track !!
Yes !!! For all those out there that might scream blue murder bwahahahaha
It will be run in on the track !!
Not sure how it will look when it's finished, but you will find me lurking around any classic race meets for the next few months !!!

**dogsnbikes** · 19th August 2009, 11:40

will be keeping track of this one good luck and get better

oh there's plenty of fluro lighting and bench space in my shed

**short-circuit** · 19th August 2009, 11:44

Thanks for sharing. Cool project

**Owl** · 19th August 2009, 12:23

I don't think I'll moan about my garage space ever again.

Good luck Bill and get well soon!

**allycatz** · 19th August 2009, 13:37

Sucker for punishment comes to mind.....

**chanceyy** · 19th August 2009, 14:34

the garage was looking decidely roomy when I called around the other day

painkillers huh !!!!!

is smiley there again??

be good keeping up with this one Sinny, will call in for coffee & watch the progress

**Paul in NZ** · 19th August 2009, 19:56

A commando with gearbox issues? Wow?

No - seriously, they can have major issues, pull it out and check the main bearing housing, they crack....

**gatch** · 19th August 2009, 20:46

Nice one man, always good fun making slow bikes go fast, do you think you may have it ready by nov 1st ? Classics are on at manfield, Ill be out there on Chris Starrs 500 dommie racer,my first race

goinna be bad ass..

**Gareth51** · 19th August 2009, 20:49

If ya put the bed in the garage you would more room in the bedroom for the bikes

**ynot slow** · 19th August 2009, 20:59

Apparently docs reccomend huge quantities of bourbon as pain relief,until as per Mr Billy Conolly ya feet get pissed.

Ribs hurt,mine weren't broken just widened to get surgeons hand into lung,so understand the pain of broken ones.Dad had cracked ribs a few years ago,they were ok,then one day he leant on a gate and they cracked again,cracked ones don't heal as well apparently as broke ones.

**sinfull** · 19th August 2009, 22:36

Cheers guys, never made it ... noo thats a lie i did get out there a few times today ! I didn't clean up any more, but there is however a few more cans and bottles stacked around the bike !
Heard about the bearing housing issues Paul and the hanger kit that fixes it !!

Originally Posted by gatch

Nice one man, always good fun making slow bikes go fast, do you think you may have it ready by nov 1st ? Classics are on at manfield, Ill be out there on Chris Starrs 500 dommie racer,my first race

goinna be bad ass..

Unfortunately no i don't think it will be anywhere near done by then, will be in with the bears at the posties meet on the 31st oct and then round 1 of the BRM summer series at Taupo that weekend !
Gonna be a toss up between getting food on the table, making it to all the meets i can during summer and doing this rebuild as it is ! Well food is over rated and i need to diet, so that just leaves two haha
Will be out at manfield for the next two weekends though, making a nuisance of myself !

**sinfull** · 3rd September 2009, 10:59

Well it's been sitting in the shed gathering dust (apart from giving it a CRC shower) due to the body being good for sweet farrk all, other than sitting round feeling sorry for myself awww and a bit of drinking !

But she's finally where i want her for the teardown stage (literally had to build a stage lol)

Slideshow Here of all the pics Up till the last post !

Still cant lift much more than a 12 oz glass, so had to grab a mates endless chain to hoist her up onto the bench and after a bit of construction i had her supported on the frame, so i can strip it completely !

Have come up with an idea for a name for the beast, since it was dug out of 3 ft of mud after the Paekok floods a few years back, perhaps even a paint job (will have to check out a few album covers) So one day soon we'll be smashing an (empty) bottle of bourbon and Christening her Muddy Waters !!

Can see i'm going to end up with a whole new set of (old) tools by the end of this project !!!
Wish i'd been more on to it when the old man passed away and ransacked his garage, instead of standing back thinking, look at them scavangers go, when the Step familly went in for what they could !!!
But hey, half the fun is gonna be cruising the second hand shops, old mens garage sales, trade me etc etc

To be continued !

**Tony.OK** · 3rd September 2009, 11:13

Now that looks like fun mate, can't wait to see ya belting that around the track.

**sinfull** · 3rd September 2009, 19:01

It's been a while since i done any spannering on an old bike and ya just got to love the smell haha its almost like a fix !!!
Hope it don't take too long for the old oil and grease to absorb into the skin !!!

They say it's the little things that count and to find little original catches like this one, does make ya feel warm fuzzies and stuff !

Spent 3 or 4 hours stripping bits off today and didn't find too much evidence of it's time spent in "muddy Waters" ! The brake drum was one place were it showed, But the oil tank seemed (at first glance) to be clear of any dirt or rust Just a bit of dirty oil !
The cush drive rubbers look as if they could do with replacing, like the Iso dust covers (brittle would bwe an understatement !

Wiring loom was a mess lol, as you would expect, so i labled it as best i could so one day when i put it back on the road i might make head or tail out of it !

Had a few pledges made already, one mate has a new set of pistons if it turns out i need em another has a race cam and a set of Jap coils (yeah yeah whatever, you can have ya lucas coils haha)

2 boxes starting to happen ! What goes back on and what goes into storage lol

Only bad i've found so far are the fork rods (which i've mentioned, $200 aprox). An obvious quick fix in the primary case and a weld where the frame has cracked and been welded at some stage (fairly recent) They recon stress cracks come in twos so will be looking for the other !!

Getting close to the stage where i'm gonna be hunting tools, so if anyone who knows what i'm on about, knows of any that someone might like to pass on to a desperate man, please let me know !!!
Or Ya might find me ripping the back seats out at a vintage car grave yard !!!

TBC.