Wrench'n Ride'n

My very creative wife, Jan from Affective Impression FaceBook page   put my flying piston artwork onto my helmet. I love how this has turned out. The "Bonneville" Bell 500 Custom helmet was the perfect canvas for this. My very talented wife and the finished helmet. 

Converting the original seat to a Brat seat. Scots are known for being spend thrift. I have Scottish blood in me. When I saw the price of some of the Cafe/Brat style seats for sale my Scottish blood boiled. So I made my own. You might have read earlier how I started to restore the seat base?  CL450BB... Spending me RDO fighting old glue... I now took to taking the foam out and lowing the seat as it where. Took about 2 inches out of it. Peeling the foam back. No mice had set up home in it.  Filled in the indents with foam from the base.  Yoga mat helps cushion my tender behind.  Done. The vinyl at the front of the seat is hard and brittle. How long that will last I have no idea. I will make a small plate to go on the back of the seat that has "W'nR'n" engraved into it.  So far this seat has cost me nothing. Blood has stopped boiling. How comfy will it be? I really don't care. 

Did my first plug change on the 1200 Bandit today. The plug spanner that comes in the bikes tool kit really works. I have had them in previous bikes where they did not fit the spark plug.  First 2 plugs I took out where finger type. WTF. Whoever did the last service must have had a 2 year old change the plugs. I have the receipt for who did the work for the previous owner. I do not want to look and see who it was.  If they where scared of stripping a plug thread in the head they need to learn what the squash washer on the plug is for. Bastards.

The engine is out of the frame I stink of old engine oil as I type this. Old oil with water. That's what has come out of the engine.  My wife and I got the engine out of the frame this morning.  We got it up on to the work bench and I took to it with the spanners. So how bad is that seizure? I will let the photos tell you. Will say though that the crank spins freely. I cant feel any grinding or sideways movement in the crank. I will be splitting the cases to clean out all the oil/water mix and check the bearings etc. My universal block of wood and a hammer got the head first then the barrels off. So it was just rust in the bores stopping the engine from being kicked over.  I think a trip to an engineers shop and get the bores measured is called for. I am hoping all it needs is a re-bore and next size up pistons and rings.  That bloody sump plug.  I found my 8mm span...

The plan today was to drain the oil from the engine  Then in a few days time take the engine out of the frame. Then open it up and see what adventures of seizure await. That was the plan. hahahahahahaha!!!! Sump plug is stuck. Looks like I will need to get some spray that freezes metal so it shrinks. This should get the plug out. hahahahahahaha!!!! Laid the bike on its side so I could get more leverage on the sump plug. Bear in mind that the carbs are off the engine as well. Jan comes down to see what i am doing. "Is that oil on the ground?" she says to me. Is that oil alright. Its pouring out of the left carb trumpet. hahahahahahaha!!!! Seems that the left piston and rings has no intention of holding back oil. I wonder if the piston has a head left on it? Lay the bike on the right side. Guess what? Oil does not pour out. That's the side that the electrode from the spark plug is missing. Worse comes to worse and I can't...

Way back in the dark mists of my riding history, 1979, I had a Bell Helmet. It was my first helmet. It was yellow. Yellow makes you safer as it is easier to see. This is what my parents told me when I went to pick a helmet. HAHAHAHAHAHA. See how awesome I looked back then on that power house of a 125. Today I got my second Bell helmet. It ain't yellow. It's a very awesome 500 Custom "Bonneville" Skratch inspired black open face.  The lining is way better than more expensive helmets I have seen.  I have a weird shaped head and find that some helmets do not sit well on my melon. This one is so comfy.   Top marks Bell. 

Seeing as I am a cheap bastard, I am trying to reclaiming the seat off the Honda. The base has a far amount of surface rust. A can of rust inhibiting paint has been applied to the seat base. To get that Bratstyle seat look I will cut down the foam of the seat and then reuse the seat cover. Yes the seat cover that has so much old glue of some sort smeared over it.  Thankfully vinyl and glue do not like each other. The glue has not really bitten into the vinyl. Most none water based glues work on the principal of heat. The chemicals in the glue make heat which in turns melts what the glue is touching thus causing the bond.       So sitting in the lovely autumn sun I am using WD40 wiped over the glue and a curved hobby blade to slowly scrape and lever this old glue off. Ok several hours have gone by and the seat cover is all cleaned up... So it was off up the road, 3 houses and across the road to Six Strin...

A digital Prometheus. Victor Frankenstein may not agree. Take the internet.Pick images of parts to buy. Then whack them into a graphics program. Spin myself around 6 times and start pushing the pixels. This is rough as, but its where I would like this build to go to.  The rear guard will be chopped back further than in the picture. The speedo will be a tiny one mounted away from the head stem. Headlamp I am still thinking about what size and where to mount it. Seats, tank and exhaust I am liking. Tyres will be nice fat Firestones. Handlebars will be some really cool high Zed type.   The most critical part of this whole shemozzle is getting that seized engine running. 

Started to take bits off. Stuff that will not be needed. Like tool box etc. The frame has way more rust on it than I first thought. The engine will have to come out of the frame for its rebuild. So then the frame can be stripped and repainted. I did want to keep the patina. Ha! Its rust. Any engine cover that has oil behind it has multiple layers of gasket applied to the mating surfaces. AAARRRGGGHH!! I would not be surprised if some had not made its way into the engine and blocked some of the oil ways. I had to use a drift and hammer on one rocker cover to break the gasket goo seal. Speaking of oil. WD40 on the engine oil filler cap over night. The cap came undone this morning. There is oil on the dip stick. Surprises keep happening with this bike.

Good on ya Ken for driving all the way up here with the bike mate. Thank you. So the CL450 is here. The patina so cool. So much rust and oxidation. I don't know how you move the bike around your place Ken as I had to break the chain to get the back wheel to turn. Some of the links had rusted together. :-) After a photo session it was wheeled around the back. WD40 sprayed on all the engine bolts. They will all be replaced with hex head bolts. I can see my impact driver will be getting a workout to get these bolts out. So now to officially rename the bike the "CL450 BastardBrat" or "CL45BB" for short. Looking at the VIN it would seem that the bike is in fact a 1971 model not a 72.

Thank you to the kool person who bought some badges from my Zazzle shop . These will show ya like to ride.....

The shopping list of parts is getting bigger. The deciding what to get harder. I LOVE THIS.  Tossing up between these in stainless  Or these... From this guy...   http://zombieperformance.bigcartel.com/

Yep decided to do a Bastard Brat build on this. So a BB450 it shall be called. Plan is straight pipes as per what the original set up is. No mufflers. Small peanut tank. From Lowbrow Customs. SULLY'S CUSTOMS SPORTY 2-UP - HORIZONTAL PLEATED seat again from Lowbrow. Would like a solo saddle but wills ee if I can get one of these to look good as well as fit.  Lowbrow triangle headlight. Seems I have their website open as I type this. You bet I do. The headlight might get mounted in a really kool fashion. We will see.