First Arrival

The first of the Ebay purchases made it through the post on Monday March 1st.  I was excited that the all important Clymer manual was one of those items.  The seat cover followed soon after.  The grips I bought at Burlington Cycle when I ordered the tires on Saturday.

Cleaning Scrubing Steal Wool and Oily Rags

I have put in three solid nights of cleaning with hot water and simple green. Great product that Simple Green. Things are starting to get exciting. I'm hoping the parts I have ordered will start to arrive soon.  I have ordered a set of Michelin Cross AC10 tires.  They arrived at Burlington Cycle yesterday.  I will have the new tires put on when the fork seals arrive as I will have those rebuilt by the shop too since I don't have a fork tool... However I'm starting to think I can make one out of a piece of copper or steal pipe.

I have cleaned a lot of the little things.  Cleaned the threads and polished off the rust.

Wrench Monkees

I was starting to consider painting the tank, fenders and frame so that the bike would look brand new. Then a client of mine showed me this awesome site called wrenchmonkees.com

They have lots of great photos. Including this one of an xt500 engine!  I didn't ask to use this photo.  Its not mine, you can tell because its not a shitty yellow colour.  This photo is the property of wernchmonkees.com

These guys are restoring and modifying bikes the way I originally planned to for the XT 500. The idea is to clean everything, replace all worn, missing, and broken parts with new OEM or better parts. Use steel wool and sandpaper to remove all rust, then buff. That way the patina and pits gained over time will stand out against the brand new parts. I think its going to look really cool.

Clean Carb Barrel

Just look at it.

Carb Cleaning

This might have been the most stubborn part so far. The carb roundslide was completely glued in with old fuel. It took a few hours of chemicals, hot water and gentle coaxing with a tooth brush handle to free the slide. Then every removable part was removed, cleaned and polished and oiled with synthetic motor oil. The barrel and roundslide now have a mirror finish. I ordered a complete rebuild kit that includes, air screw, needle, both jets, float needle and seat, and all gaskets. Good times. I'm excited for that kit to arrive.

Torn Down Frame

I think this is as far as I am going to take the tear down this year. After I get it clean It will be time to bolt on lots of new shiny parts. I have ordered a swing arm bearing rebuild kit. The steering bearings feel fine. Right now its time to scrub scrub scrub and paint in the rusty spots with some gloss black Tremclad.

Front Shocks

I got the fork tubes out of the triple. The tops of the tubes had some rust pits, I cleaned them off with some 00 steal wool. There are slight pits left behind and I am a bit worried they may wear the new seals out quickly. There was about an ounce of water mixed in the oil of each tube. I drained both of them. I don't think I am going to be able to free the hex bolt at the bottom without a fork tool.