Guest Maru-So Posted April 20, 2013 Share Posted April 20, 2013 Hi All, The back story goes like this, I found out through the family grape vine that my uncle had an "Old Honda" parked up behind his house. I asked about the bike and no one could remember the exact make and model only that it had been parked up with carb problems and was cruiser styled thing. As no one else had showed any interest in the bike in years i was told i could have the bike if was able to collect it from his house. One road trip from Christchurch to Cromwell in a rental van with bald tires later i had the bike in my garage. Me and the flat mates drained the old fuel out of the bike and filled it up with fresh gas. The old battery was dead so we just started the bike and to my surprise the bike fired up after a bit of cranking. I took the bike for a quick blat round the block but with fuel pissing out of the carb on the exhaust and super dry tires that was enough. The bike seem to pull well and i was pretty happy so the decision was made to spend some money and get the thing sorted. First things done to her before taking the bike on it's maiden ride: - New float bowl seals - Battery and - New front Tyre Full strip down and clean and polish. The bike ended up coming out like brand new! no rust pits in the chrome and after a polish the paint work came up nice and glossy. The bike had been parked up since 1998. Here's the bike on first ride at the Gebbies pass intersection. A few weeks past and i was doing my best to resist modifying the bike. I started taking the bike along to Thursday night bike nights at smash place, after seeing all the cool custom bikes that turn up there the standard NV just wasn't going to cut it anymore. So this weekend i started tearing the bike down with the plan to transform it into a low bar bobber. I picked up another rear fender from a 80's Suzuki and mocked that up. The fender may be shortened a bit then end up the same colour as the other tins. Rear double seat removed but original high handlebars still on: I want to try make the bike look a bit older as well so i picked up some Norton commando fork gaiters then slid the forks through the clamps 30mm to lower the front of the bike You can see above ive removed the mufflers (what was left of them) and the big ass balance pipe. Does anyone have suggestions on muffler set up to get this thing to have a nice rumble and not sound like a fart machine? Last thing for today was to see what the bike looks like with the headlight relocated lower Overall with lower headlight I brought these handlebars from trade me with the intention of running them cut as narrow as possible, hopefully the clamp length is enough. These should arrive early next week Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Maru-So Posted April 20, 2013 Share Posted April 20, 2013 Evening All, I started off tonight by picking up a spare front guard then a visit to Chris's to pick up a low rise bar to test fit. I used the original guard off the bike to trace out a profile on the second guard and then proceed to chop the fender then offer it up to the bike. Repeat! I've left the edges rough and ill clean those up at work later on this week. I'm pretty happy with the shape so the next step is to rough the surface up and paint the guard the same colour as the tank. Ill get spray store to make me up a aerosol can of the original colour. I fitted up the low rise bars and couldn't be happier with the look! These bars don't quite fit my clamps properly and i think they might be slightly bent, they help with visuals and identifying fitment issues early. I trimmed 70mm off the rear guard and offered it back up to the bike. It fits really well and it looks like its going to line up nicely with the line of the inner wheel splash guard between the wheel and the battery box. I mocked up a few ideas for mounting the tail light and indicators, i need to sleep on these though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Maru-So Posted April 20, 2013 Share Posted April 20, 2013 Exciting times tonight when i arrived home from work to find my new seat in the living room! It fits nicely and suits the look i want perfectly. I need to come up with a clever mount that incorporates the coil units that live underneath the pillion seat on the standard bike. In another stroke of family generosity i have been gifted some new mufflers. They are the standard mufflers that came on my fathers soft tail Harley. I'm really happy with the shape and size of the mufflers, they will fit right up to the standard pre-muffler system with a custom gasket seal. I'll bend up some flat bar for a single exhaust hanger on each side of the bike. The rear tyre on the bike is a Yokohama tour star, in an effort to make the bike look a little more 70's i twinked the writing on the sidewalls. YOKOHAMA STAR! This is as far as i'm going to go with mocking up the bike. I've started putting the bike back to standard so i can put it through the re-vin process. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Maru-So Posted April 20, 2013 Share Posted April 20, 2013 Righto back into it. Since the last post, I re-assembled the bike back to standard form and then tided up the issues that would prevent the bike from passing the re certification process. The micro switch that triggers the rear tail light to come on when you brake was faulty so i sourced a new item from ebay ($25NZD) and once it arrived fitted it up to the bike. The previous owner had modified the standard exhaust system. They cut out the baffles and cut the pipe tips back on an angle. With the modified standard system the bike is pretty loud, it backfires and generally sounds rather gash. I guessed the re vin inspector would have issues with the noise of the bike so i sourced some exhaust packing and made some baffles at work. I stuffed the standard pipes with fiber glass exhaust packing and riveted the baffles in. The baffles took a little of the harshness out of the exhaust note but it was still pretty loud. Fast foreward to the actual re-vin process, The costs are, Brake declaration for bike 92+ (I got this done anyway) approx $85 Re vin test $150 this includes a warrant New plates plus 6 months rego for 250cc+ $330 Noise test $194 ($40/re test) You book the bike in and away it goes. The bike failed on two things, sticking rear brake sensor and exhaust noise. It's a bit of a long story but i ended up getting noise test sorted by Wayne Martin of Vehicle certification services without it costing me the price listed above. Great guy Wayne! So this is how she looked on her final ride as a standard bike.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Maru-So Posted April 20, 2013 Share Posted April 20, 2013 Standard bike back in the garage Nothing to it but to do it! Original tail section removed A comparison between the original fender and the bob tail Frame rails cut off, just a rough cut at the moment but dam it feels good to do irreparable damage to your motorbike! In an awesome stroke of luck i happened to get sent a set of handle bars instead of grips. The supplied apologized and told me to keep the bars and he would send another set of grips out to me. Score Love this sticker Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Maru-So Posted April 20, 2013 Share Posted April 20, 2013 Next job cutting down the standard handle bar clamp Much better Here's a shot of the bars mounted up. 3/4 shot from behind Masking off and painting the wheels Don't paint anything without it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Maru-So Posted April 20, 2013 Share Posted April 20, 2013 The biggest issue with this bike is the wiring. It has so many electrical components hiding them all is going to be a major challenge with this build Wire by wire i will rebuild this loom Exhaust hangers (alloy is just a template) First blood shed of the build! File got me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Maru-So Posted April 20, 2013 Share Posted April 20, 2013 Old School CAD Design New School CAD Design Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Maru-So Posted April 20, 2013 Share Posted April 20, 2013 So i have worked on the bike every night for this week, the following pictures show some of the work Cleaning up the under seat area Removing some braketry I had a bit of an accident with the seat. I was grinding the studs on the bottom of the seat and a hot piece of steel rolled under the seat. I could smell the leather burning and my heart sank as soon as i flipped the seat over. Pretty bummed but its not the end of the world. Relocated ignition barrel Fits nice and is easy to reach when you're sitting on the seat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Maru-So Posted April 20, 2013 Share Posted April 20, 2013 The biggest issue with this bike is the numerous electrical boxes, relays, blinkers etc I have to modify the crap out of the standard loom and create an area to mount all the shit. Starting with some alloy that was lying around the house (sorry Jeff) Support brace I think i want to have all the electronics mounted in one box like below, then have a massive umbilical cord of wires going to the rest of the bike. I've decided to valcro all the electronic boxes to the alloy. the alloy parts are just rough prototypes at this stage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Maru-So Posted April 20, 2013 Share Posted April 20, 2013 Re located starter button This makes for sweet lean back starts (hopefully) Got my laser cutting back. $110 for the exhaust mounts and the dash parts, thats pretty steep but i like 0.1mm accuracy and not having to do any work. Dash mounted You can see where im going with the switches and Leds Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Maru-So Posted April 20, 2013 Share Posted April 20, 2013 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Maru-So Posted April 20, 2013 Share Posted April 20, 2013 More work tonight, Drilled the rivets and removed the seat cover. The seat comes with four threaded studs sticking out the bottom, these are suited to mounting the seat with a pivot at the front and springs at the rear. Given that i damaged the seat cover already i figure i might as well just cut the seat up and modify the seat pan for my needs and then just get it recovered. I've arranged for one of the master fabricators from work to come round at the end of the week and do some welding on the frame. I've cut the profiles ready to plug the ends of the frame rails. I've also cut out the rear tail light/number plate mount bracket. The air filters i ordered from ebay arrived today. Stupid cheap and just over a week shipping time. I'm a little worried about how the bike will run without the standard air box. I think i will just take it to a motorbike mechanic to get the carbs re jet'd and tuned propperly. The mirror arrived as well so i've mounted it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Maru-So Posted April 20, 2013 Share Posted April 20, 2013 The electronics box The components are valcro'd in place Some pictures to give you an idea of how i plan to spend my weekend Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Maru-So Posted April 21, 2013 Share Posted April 21, 2013 I have transferred the build from anything spoked. The story continues... After getting the bike together and a few test rides around the block i decided to ride the bike down the the Hororata swap meet. The trip to the swap meet went well, once we arrived i did a quick check around the bike and found the rear fender had come loose. I naively neglected to bring any tools and ended up getting the boys to scavenge the swap meet for metric allen keys. Someone managed to find the only old boy who had heard of metric tools and a 4mm allen key was purchased and the fender tightened up. I thought that would be the end of my issues. However the motorcycle gods had other ideas. Approximately halfway back to town the right side exhaust header pipe rattled off and graded down the road. Luckily for me i was travelling in convoy with QCR who had their slamlier in tow. We threw the header pipe in a near by stream to cool it off then strapped the bike onto the slamiler and continued back to town for some well deserved beers. I then went through the whole bike and vibration proofed it. This entailed lock tight-ing any fasteners that threaded into blind holes and replacing all plain nuts with nylocs. This solved the issue and i enjoyed a few summer weeks of rad riding on the bobber around the roads of canterbury 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Maru-So Posted April 21, 2013 Share Posted April 21, 2013 Anglia4, Hamish and I rode up to Kaikoura for seafest. I fabricated a 10mm stainless sissy bar to strap my tent and sleeping bag to. We had an awesome weekend and all the bikes went well. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Maru-So Posted April 21, 2013 Share Posted April 21, 2013 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Maru-So Posted April 21, 2013 Share Posted April 21, 2013 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest anglia4 Posted April 21, 2013 Share Posted April 21, 2013 Less than ideal! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bugship Posted April 7, 2014 Share Posted April 7, 2014 Looks great, I have just bought one the same but in black. Was wondering if you still have some of the standed parts you have taken off the bike? I am after all four indicators and the back half of the exhausts and maybe the front seat? Thanks Walt 0277554935 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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