New XR75 K1 1974 Project

[alexbrown64]

So... been battling the mighty XR again.  Had a few wins and a few losses.

New spokes with correct bend are apparently coming next month.

The motor is at Pipe Kings (Richards) place.  He is rebuilding a peg mount, building up the threads on all 4 peg mounts, making a template to align the holes and retapping them all. Should be a proper repair and strong when he is done with it.

I applied the vinyl decals to the side covers... and the 2k clear ate into the graphics and created wrinkles... as well as i didn't apply them correctly and i got heaps of air bubbles in there.. tried pulling the graphics off, ruined the decals and paint..... then i decided to read the instructions... do not apply for 1 week after painting.... apply wet using squeegee...

Back to square 1.  I ordered 2 more sets of side cover decals.  I repainted the side cover.  I re-read the instructions and now i will wait a few weeks to do the tank the sidecovers.  I did however sand back the front and rear guards, and apply a metal decal to the rear guard, then shoot 2k clear over the lot.  Came out really well.

I also cleaned, primed, painted and clear coated a whole heap of doo dads including swingarm, airfilter cover, brackets etc.  I now have everything painted either by powder coating or by 2k system. All in gloss black.  I did the swingarm myself as i didnt want to remove the rubber bushings which can be an expensive and hard exercise. 

First pick below of the parts now painted.  The rear guard is the only panel which is not original. It is from Re-Mx.  The tyre pressure decal is in the correct location on the back of the rear guard.  Lot of folk get this wrong and put it on the chain guard. This was true for later models, but for 74 it was on the rear guard.



Next pic is of the seat and frame.  The seat base is steel and was pretty corroded.  I got that blasted and powder coated.  It has a new seat foam and cover period correct. The frame was powder coated and the metal decals re-applied.  You can still buy genuine frame decals from Honda.



The last pic here is of the frame steering stem. The powder coaters did a top notch job.  The XR was basically on the border of being a basket case with its snapped peg mounts and just beaten up appearance.  The frame however was in surprisingly good condition.  They blasted, zinc primed and gloss black powder coated the frame, airbox (not airbox cover), pegs, peg mounts, bash plate, seat base and some other brackets.  The decal is genuine Honda for this model.



I pick up the engine on Tuesday.. but start work again on Wednesday.  Looks like i will be slowly assembling the entire bike over the Christmas break.  Most of the hard work is done, and soon it will be time to just clean, check, grease and assemble components.

Cheers,

[Big Scotty]

Gray Alex
I replaced my head stock bearings with a all balls tapered roller bearing kit,came with seals and fitted perfect,no modification needed,disregard this comment if you have did it already,looking good?

[alexbrown64]

Hey Scotty,

No, i have not done that mod but it sounds like a good one.  When i took the XR for a test blat, the steering was fine.  I disassembled everything and it was clean and OK.  All i have done is order anther 10 ball bearings (i think there are 42) just in case some went rolling off or are knackered.  Clean her up, plenty of grease and she should be good to steer for another few years...

Cheers,

[alexbrown64]

I am working away at the moment, but picked up the engine from Richard at Pipe Kings before I left.
He did a good job of repairing the broken engine footpeg mount. The left mount in the pic was completely snapped in half.
The other repair with all the meat on it was there when we got the bike.  We couldn't repair that one, for fear of creating a leak from the gasket. (it doesn't leak oil at the moment believe it or not)
For now we are just getting the bike up and running properly.  In a few years when I tear the bike and engine down, we will repair the "repaired" weld to take it back to original.



I should get the spokes soon and a few other small parts.. then its a bit of paint, cleaning, greasing and start the assembly process which will be fun.

Cheers,

[alexbrown64]

Been a while since i updated the build.  Have been busy with an XJ Cherokee project.  Anyway, it was time to get back onto the motorcycles...

I have most of the parts, so it was time to reassemble the motor with some new gaskets and seals, and a new shift shaft. I used new Honda nuts, bolts and washers and fitted the engine back up to the frame.  I assembled the powder coated pegs, mounts etc to the engine and it all fitted up well.  Hopefully, the tig welded and machined mounting points for the pegs will hold up well.







Cheers,

[skypig]

Looking good.
Just a little bit jealous

[alexbrown64]

Thanks Skypig... yes, she is coming along nicely.

I found a bit of time today to tinker, so i played with the XR and got the suspension on.
The front forks were rebuilt with new seals, oil, sand, buff, polish etc..
The rear shocks are Re-Mx replicas.  I even have the OEM style decals to put on the inside bottom of each shock.
The steering was cleaned, bearings replaced (42) and greased/adjusted.

Seat cover is the correct 1974 style. The cover and seat sponge are new Re-Mx items.  The base was blasted and powder coated.
 
Nearly everything so far has been put back together with all new genuine Honda XR75 hardware.



Cheers,

[alexbrown64]

Having a bit of a push on the XR at the moment. 
I had previously polished the hubs up.  Now i decided to lace up the new rims and spokes.  Spoking wheels has me scratching my head sometimes when i dont quite get it right, and have to try again.  But in the end it all comes up well.
These XR wheel sets are now ready for truing and then fit up of tyres.

Before...



After...



Cheers,

[80-85 husky]

nice work as always... shiny bright things...

[alexbrown64]

Thanks Husky, i am like a Bower bird.. seems to be attracted to bright and shiny things.
Going to get myself a decent wheel truing machine.. i have a lot of wheels to true, and also i cant find the one i made out of wood... 

Had a bit of spare time again before i go back to work in a few days.  Got stuck in and it was actually pretty good fun ripping open Honda packets and taking out shiny new nuts, bolts and washers.

Got the airbox back together and even have a new sponge filter oiled and fitted.
Buffed the bars and refitted those.  Did the old school trick of whittling down some broom handle and packing it in the ends of the bars for bar stops... mum used to go nuts when i was a kid.

Refitted the levers and added the rubber end doodads..
Cleaned and refitted the ignition coil making sure i buffed off some powder coat so i got a good earth.
The new front number plate and cable guide was fitted.  Perfect match thanks to Re-Mx.
Also added the silver decal to the swingarm and bolted the chain guard back on. All new Honda nuts, bolts and washers in the correct lengths.
After market carb was refitted and a new boot band added. I have run the bike with the new carb, coil, points and condensor and she purrs...





Still have to finish putting decals on the tank and side covers and then shooting some 2-pack clear over the top.
This old girl may be running in a month or two!!

Cheers,

[PERM250]

LOVE WATCHING THE LITTLE XR 75 COME BACK TO LIFE GREAT JOB ALEX

[alexbrown64]

Thanks Perm,  its fun working on it.  Especially now that its all clean and you can just spend time tinkering and slowly bolting it back together.
Wont be able to do any more for a few weeks due to work commitments, but got the decals on today.
Bit of a learning curve doing these.  The first time i tried it, the decals blistered due to the fact i had not let the paint dry for the recommended 1-2 weeks.  They also bubbled as i put them on dry.

This time i read the instructions first...

So, get a squeegee, sticky tape, measuring tape, spray bottle of water with a drop of detergent, your measurements and some towels.

I had previously scoured the clear coat so that the decals have something to bite onto.
I measured everything up and used tape to locate the decals.  That way, you just peel the backing off and apply them and you have already done the hard work of getting them in the correct position. So peel your backing off the decal, spray water around the area and gently apply while using the squeegee to remove bubbles.  Once done, you can remove the top decal layer and you are just left with the decal.  Give everything a bit of a rub and then stand back and admire the job.



Pic below of all the panel decals on.  I used measurements from my original tank.  Decals are from Re-Mx, Fastguystuff and genuine Honda from Partzilla.



In a few weeks, i will give everything a light clean and scour, and then apply a dust coat of 2K clear followed by some wet coats.  That should protect the decals and provide fuel spill protection for the tank.

Cheers,

[alexbrown64]

This bit of kit came in the mail the other day.  Box was ripped open, so i guess i am lucky no parts fell out.
Anyway, i stuck the wheel on it, and it took about 15 minutes to get it all trued up both up and down and side to side.
Hopefully i will get many years of use out of it, as i have a few rims to do and probably save a heap on tackling this type of thing myself..



Cheers,

[alexbrown64]

I tried to fit the tyres up myself, but im hopeless at it. Have wrecked a few tyres before and scratched rims.
This time i popped the tube.
Packed it all up into the car and took it to my local bike shop.  They fitted new tubes and rim tapes and gave the wheels back to me in pristine condition.

I cleaned up all the spacers, backing plates and everything else, then greased the axles and slapped everything back together.

She is now a roller....



Cheers,

[alexbrown64]

Bit of a push to get the old girl up and running...
I re-fitted the side stand and front brake cable. Everything adjusted up nicely.
I cleaned up the brake rods and arms ready for installation.

Was time to fit the power pipe up.  Fits up nicely and with a new exhaust gasket. I had it running with the pipe on before i tore it all down and it sounded mint.  Still gotta get the panels cleared in 2K, but the weather has been shit.
Also, the kick start will need a major look at, as it is sloppy as hell.   I think a little bit of tig welding on it and some grinding should get it back into a serviceable state.  I do have a new kickstart rubber for it :-)

Cheers,