Hey guys, I really appreciate y’all making sure that I am going into this knowing what I may be getting myself into here, both financially and in man hours.  

That being said, I did not choose this bike, my fiancée did.  When she decides she wants something of hers to look a certain way, it is best to just nod and get it over with.  She is not like that with anything else, just things like how her vehicles look.

The rust issue on the frame is tiny spots, but at first she she wanted it pristine and repainted.  /sigh, fine.  She looked at it again after I first posted but before y’all replied, and told me that since it is hidden by seat, covers, etc., she doesn’t want the frame painted now.  I am going to hit the spots with rust neutralizer and be done with the frame.

The wheels have no rust on them.  What appears to be rust is grime, fork oil, dust and dirt.  The wheels are fine.

I was able to get a low mileage starter for $30 shipped, and it was taken off of a running bike.

I am going to pull the engine and replace the cam chain adjuster, $180 if it is shot, less if it is not.  I am going to check the starter gear also.  If good, awesome, if not, $50 to $70.

While the engine is out of the bike I will degrease it, clean it really well, and it will be painted.

Wiring harness will be removed and repaired using the wiring diagram from this site.  

The muffler is welded to the header well aft of the slip on point.  Easy fix to cut through the welded area and clean up the pipe.  Harley Sportster muffler will set me back another $40, shipped.  

New rear fender, $60.

I do my own body work, and most chrome will be stripped from the parts, and will be repainted.  All I will need for that is some sulphuric acid and my battery charger, and the chrome will be removed via electrolysis, say 5 to 10 minutes per chrome part.  Then they will be painted.  Paint will cost me about $40, matte clear coat will be about $60 to $80 (I have my own media blaster, HVLP setup, and paint booth that I can set up in the garage).  We both like matte better than gloss, and it is much easier to work with than gloss.

After that it is just a matter of getting the body panels, turn signal, and brake light.

Fork seal kit, $20 shipped.

Assuming I have an otherwise working engine, I will have to shell out, what, maybe $600 (added some extra to cover gaskets, misc bolts, etc.)?  Now, if the engine is bad, then I will either have to fix it or buy a new one, and that will add about $750 to the total cost.

Then I have to factor in that my fiancée want to work on the bike with me, so that will be time we get to spend together doing something we both enjoy.  Hard to put a value on that.

No disrespect intended, but if I do something, I make sure it looks good.  Here is a pic of what my 2011 Honda Fury looked like (before I dropped it twice and put two good sized dents in the tank, one on each side).



Dealership told me it would cost $2k to make it look new again, $1k to get it running.  It cost me $500 to get it running and looking like this, and I did all of the work myself:

Dave wrote on 04/25/19 at 02:45:05:


The modified tensioner was the one I planned to go with.  In fact, Suzuki should buy them from Verslagen and put them in all the new S-40’s that they make!  I did not know about the cam chain, thank you!

I have a number of parts as well.
Many for just the cost of shipping.
Just holler if interested.

You obviously do good work.
I see you are getting the support and offers for parts.
You're bringing it back from the grave, make it pretty
Name it
Zombie?

"Dealership told me it would cost $2k to make it look new again, $1k to get it running.  It cost me $500 to get it running and looking like this, and I did all of the work myself"

 That's good to hear.  People were pretty upset with me when I first posted here because I paid "too much" to have work done to one of my bikes.  I'm sure doing the work yourself will alleviate some of the complaints, and it most likely more fun for the both of you.  You should get a ton of good help here.

Sorry for the delay in replying, it was a long day at work, and then I needed to spend some time with the family.  My 7 year old son rode his little 50cc dirt bike for the first time today, and he didn’t drop it!  So proud of the little guy!!

I really appreciate the support from all of y’all, and thank you for the offer of parts.  Let me get together a list and I will get with y’all by email (or PM once I hit 10 posts).  I will need to wait till next week, payday, to be able to put out some cash.

I am planning on taking photos of the build progress, and posting them here as the build progresses.  My goal for this weekend is to remove the header and cut through the welded area to separate the muffler from it, and to clean up where the crappy flux core weld is left on the header.  Then I plan to pop the side covers and check the starter gear and the chain adjuster.  Finally I will pop the inspection ports to the cylinder and use my snake cam to look inside.  I will post the pics for y’all to see.  If I have time and am feeling froggy, I may remove the engine using the blanket in the grass method mentioned on these forums, and possibly the wiring harness so I can get a better idea of what I am working with.

As for the name of the bike, my fiancée wants to go with “Valkyrie”.  I know that is the name of a Honda bike, but later on down the road, when she is done with the dropsies, she plans to strip the clear coat from the tank, have me reshoot a coat of paint on it, then have someone paint Valkyrie wings on it, then have me reapply the matte clear coat.

I am in Victoria Texas, BTW, about 45 mins south of Shiner, where Shiner beer is brewed!

Ok, got to feeling froggy, and decided to pull the wiring harness while having a smoke in the garage.  The damage was not as bad as I had thought, only a few wires were cut, I believe that they were to the rear turn and brake signal lamps.

The wires that were worrying me were actually on the ignition key side of that sub assembly, and not actually on the wiring harness itself.

While removing the wiring harness from the frame I bumped the carb, and found that it was not fully attached to the engine.  Long story short, I ended up removing the exhaust system, carburetor, handlebars, most of the electrical system, and the battery box.

I still plan to pop the side covers and the inspection ports this weekend.  I will post photos in a bit.

justin_o_guy2 wrote on 04/26/19 at 17:04:04:


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Lol, Marlboro Special Select light shorts.  The decision was made while I was smoking, I ended up having like 5 of them!