My guide to restoration, part 2

Following on from the guide to restoration part 1 blog post here I have broken down each section of the bike and listed if I used a new, second hand or refurbished parts for my restoration. Being honest, there are a lot of NOS parts which in reality probably didn't need changing, but a lot were cheap ebay buys and I collected a lot over the years.

Frame
Main frame: stripped and powder coated black. ID plate re-riveted. New head race bearings.
Side stand: Stripped and powder coated.
Swing arm: Stripped powder coated. New bearings, New decals.

Suspension
Front, lower fork legs cleaned and polished with wire wool. NOS stanchions. New seals. Triple clamps re-painted.
Rear, NOS rear shock complete. Pro Link Linkages painted. New swing arm bearings.

Wheels & tyres
Cleaned, hubs painted, wheel spacers re-plated, axles zinc re-plated
New Metzler ME22 tyres

Brakes
Front: New OEM style brake lines, master cylinder piston, master cylinder inspection window, brake lever, brake light switch, caliper pistons, seals, pads, caliper bolts and pins
Rear: NOS pedal, spring, brake light switch, re-plated actuator rod, new rocker arm, new wear indicator, new wear indicator felt, painted drum.

Engine
Engine re-bored, new piston, all new bearings, new seals, new clutch, new kickstarter mechanism, new gear shifter pedal and rubber, new carb, engine painted. NOS exhaust. New Carburettor (original broken) 
Cooling system: NOS radiator, NOS hoses & clips, radiator mounts painted, expansion reservoir cleaned.
Lubricating system: NOS 2 stroke oil reservoir.
Final drive: New chain and sprockets. NOS chain guard. Tyre pressure decal

Electrical
Wiring look cleaned and re-wrapped in places. NOS indicators, mounting bolts and rubbers. Indicator brackets repaired and painted. New horn. Cleaned and painted rear light assembly. NOS head light. New battery. Battery box cleaned and bracket painted.

Bodywork
NOS fuel tank, NOS Fuel cap, new fuel tap and hose, fuel tank warning decal. NOS fairing, NOS belly pan, NOS rad cover, Liquid cooled decal, NOS seat, re-painted front mudguard, side panels and tail unit with decals applied.

Cockpit
NOS upper and lower clock cases. New case screws. NOS LH switch unit and clutch lever. NOS throttle housing. NOS grips. New cable tidies, New mirrors. NOS faring mounting frame. NOS handlebar. 

MISC
New speedo cable, tacho cable, clutch cable .
Re-plated nuts and bolts + various NOS bolts and washers
NOS foot rest rubbers. New rear foot pegs on painted brackets
Stripped and powder coated rear carrier rack.
High quality used rear mudguard with NOS shock guard
Painted front mudguard brace.
Custom number plate.

Read about the part 1 of this series here

Follow the complete restoration here

My guide to restoration, part 1

I often get asked the question ‘how much did it cost you’ or ‘how much would it cost to restore another bike’?

It’s a difficult question to answer as prices for parts and bikes vary so much as parts bikes get harder to find and there is not an indefinite supply. Over the next few posts I will try a break it down to give you a realistic guide depending on how deep you want to go and what finish you want to achieve.

Bike

Prices are varying wildly right now but the days of the £300-400 project bike are long gone. Budget anywhere between £1000 and £2000 for a good usable bike, but again I would also consider what you want to end up with. If you are thinking about a factory fresh bike a £2000 bike will cost similar to a £1000 bike to fully restore, but a £2000 bike will need minimal spend to get it into decent usable condition.

Engine

I would always recommend re-building the engine, this way cases can be painted when apart so it looks so much better when its put together. If you are paying someone to do this factor in £400-£500 depending on the parts used, but if its coming apart fit new bearings, seals and gaskets.

Painting

Powder coating is easy but don’t be tempted in taking this short cut and get everything done as again this wont match the factory finish in a lot of places. Spray painting gives a ‘thinner’ finish so is more applicable to a lot of brackets, yokes, handlebar etc. You can get a good finish with a rattle can for not a lot of money. Be carful with mixing OEM painted panels with freshly painted panels as the OEM will most likely be faded by now and they won’t match. If you are painting everything, budget anywhere between £300-£1000 depending on finish and who is doing it?

Graphics

There are some genuinely good graphic kits out there now that are inexpensive (£50) and give great results. Be very careful with tank graphics placement, poor placement kills the whole visual look of the bike.

Bolts

I went down the path of re-zincing all my original bolts, however if the bolt is chewed up or rusty all you will end up with is a clean looking corroded bolt. Bath zinc plating is actually pretty cheap, so is good value and keeps an original part. Lots of replacement bolts are available from Honda and I used this as the next level replacement. Lastly you can easily and cheaply replace any bolt with alloy or stainless replacements, this for me is the last option. Zinc plating from around £30.

Shiny parts

The bike didn’t really have anything polished as standard, don’t be tempted to over polish fork legs as they should have a satin style finish. The fuel filler cap is chrome and the advice I had (and will pass on) was to only fit a genuine Honda item as aftermarket caps leak and can damage the paint on the fuel tank.

Rubber parts

Nothing makes a bike look new more than by fitting fresh rubber. Consider new handlebar grips, foot peg rubbers and tyres.

Plastic parts

A really good level of finish can be achieved using plastic trim creams and polishes. New parts can still be found, or a good quality second hand part? For example my original rear mudguard was cut down, so I used a good second hand part cleaned with a plastic polish.

Details

It’s the small things that make a difference such as warning decals, cable tidies, washers and springs. Make an effort here to lift the overall project.

No longer available parts

You will encounter some road blocks along the way where you will find that some parts are no longer available so will require either specialist restoration, for example the front brake or replacement with a good quality used option.

The end result

My personal bike required a lot of replacement parts in the end to achieve the level of finish I wanted. I could of achieved a quality non-original finished bike for less money, but that was not what I was aiming for. 

In the next post I will share the break down of all the re-finished and replacement parts I used to complete my restoration.