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Alright I said forever ago I'd post these pics up and I kept forgetting. But I'm about to do some more work on this thing so I guess I better make a build thread so the new pics have a place to go.
A little back story: I bought this bike in 2011 (I think) and life happened and I couldn't afford to mess with it so it went away in the garage. I wish I had the original pics when I got it. It was terrible. It didn't run and the guy I bought it from literally gave up on it. Carbs were off and needed tanked something fierce, no battery, rust and hazed chrome galore. But I wanted a project and that's what I had.
When I bought it this is what it looked like except throw this in a dirty barn for a decade.
So in the spring of 2013 I said this is gonna be the year I finally pull that hunk of shit out of the back of the garage and make it something. I had a couple ideas of where I wanted to go. Not too cafe but not too modern either. A cafe/street fighter brat in my opinion.
So here are the start of the pics I do have.
This is the most torn down pic I have. From here I also removed the rear suspension to paint the rusty swing arm.
Here's some hideous parts that came off of her. Take note of that seat bc the biggest headache of my life comes later with it.
The wheels were roached but they had the original markings on them from Japan and I thought it was neat to salvage them so I went for that.
I wanted to reuse the original gauges but just update them so I tore them apart and rebuilt them. New faces and white led bulbs inside.
If you notice the odometer changes. I checked my title and it said 27,000 so while I had it apart I made them match. It saved confusing later when I titled it and since it was getting a complete rebuild someday I didn't care.
I thought the '78 tank was gross so I went with a '76 tank. It's more narrow and has the old style filler instead of the hidden filler under the flip up door which I *****.
Swing arm was rusted so it was sandblasted and painted.
All put back together with fresh Bridgestone Battlax tires and a new gold chain. It needed bling somewhere.
Exhaust systems are expensive as hell for these old bikes and I was trying to see how low I could keep overall cost. When I bought the bike it had a Mac exhaust on it which I heard good things about but the tip was just hideous. So I removed the tip, sanded all the rust off, hit it with flat black exhaust paint and heat wrapped it with black (charcoal in my opinion) to sport it up a bit.
I brought it out in the sunshine to clean some grime off it.
So all the wiring is kept in a rats nest in the headlight in these. I spend a while sorting it all out to replace. That part sucked.
The stock master cylinder sucked. It was worn out and too big for the drag bars. So after looking at one of my other bikes (cbr 600) an idea was born. I ordered a master cylinder from a cbr and ran my own wiring.
You can see in this pic the stock location for turn signals is down on the forks. I didn't like that at all. They stuck out like a sore thumb. So I ordered a smoked set and relocated them to hold the headlight. This is another idea I stole from the earlier cb bikes. Why they put them on the forks in the later years I'll never understand.
So what to do with the old stalks? Sawzall that shit. I'll be making plugs later.
Something else I didn't like about the '78 was how the frame stuck out back here. If you have a 70s wife with a large rear in denim jeans I guess you need the room. I don't. So it was shortened. Once again plugs will come later.
So back to those old carbs. Here they are. I removed the float bowls and found sand and gunk so I knew a full rebuild was gonna have to happen. And since I needed to jet it a bit due to the exhaust that was fine.
Yea those slides were so bad haha but they cleaned up really well.
So remember that tank? Well I didn't have everything to paint it myself so I gave it to my pal Brain Cain at Mworks. You've probably drooled over his lsx m3 build on here. Dude is a craftsman and the only person I know as picky about details as I am so I knew it was in good hands. And since we're BMW guys what better color than Alpine white.
My boy lurkin in the back!
Before and after of the foot pegs I painted.
I also went ahead and painted that chrome clutch lever.
Did a Kreem tank liner kit
Now you're probably wondering why I left those old rusty rear shocks on. Don't worry she got adjustable coilovers. After all this is Stanceworks
Kickstand was nasty too.
I decided I wanted to relocate the plate, brake light and turn signals all to one place out of the way.
So I built this bracket for it all.
So back to that hideous seat. I never found a seat I liked so I decided to make my own. It came out ok but I'm still not happy with it. But it was a learning experience. I learned I have NO business messing with upholstery! But the overall idea was there and it got my through last summer and I plan on redoing the seat again more to my liking.
From shortening the frame and seat it was too wide and didn't come together correctly so some cutting and welding was in order.
Shaped, welded, blasted, and repainted.
I ordered a sheet of vinyl online and for like $9 this came. Super good deal.
The bike had a Dyna ignition which I was excited about until I got the bike running and learned it was junk. I guess a production run they had went bad and half would fire and the other half wouldn't. And since I was trying to save cash and didn't need fancy ignition I went back to the old Honda points. Worked like a charm after I timed it with an old turn signal bc I didn't have a timing light!
I ordered a carb sync tool since I plan on building more bikes. I was surprised how close I bench synced them.
Welded in the back of the frame where it was shortened and painted it. Factory look like it was never there if you ask me
My cap was pitted chrome but it worked so to save money I painted that thing!
And here's what I ended up with so far. I rode her like this last summer and she ran like a champ. Not bad for my first bike build.
She's loud. She's different. And I saved her from barn death. It was a fun trip. And there's about to be even more to come! This spring my immediate plans are to powder coat the lower portion of the forks, triple tree and I have an idea for the wheels that you'll have to wait and see. Also, the seat is going to be redone. Same style just stitched professionally so it looks not so homemade. Then next winter engine work and paint
A little back story: I bought this bike in 2011 (I think) and life happened and I couldn't afford to mess with it so it went away in the garage. I wish I had the original pics when I got it. It was terrible. It didn't run and the guy I bought it from literally gave up on it. Carbs were off and needed tanked something fierce, no battery, rust and hazed chrome galore. But I wanted a project and that's what I had.
When I bought it this is what it looked like except throw this in a dirty barn for a decade.
So in the spring of 2013 I said this is gonna be the year I finally pull that hunk of shit out of the back of the garage and make it something. I had a couple ideas of where I wanted to go. Not too cafe but not too modern either. A cafe/street fighter brat in my opinion.
So here are the start of the pics I do have.
This is the most torn down pic I have. From here I also removed the rear suspension to paint the rusty swing arm.
Here's some hideous parts that came off of her. Take note of that seat bc the biggest headache of my life comes later with it.
The wheels were roached but they had the original markings on them from Japan and I thought it was neat to salvage them so I went for that.
I wanted to reuse the original gauges but just update them so I tore them apart and rebuilt them. New faces and white led bulbs inside.
If you notice the odometer changes. I checked my title and it said 27,000 so while I had it apart I made them match. It saved confusing later when I titled it and since it was getting a complete rebuild someday I didn't care.
I thought the '78 tank was gross so I went with a '76 tank. It's more narrow and has the old style filler instead of the hidden filler under the flip up door which I *****.
Swing arm was rusted so it was sandblasted and painted.
All put back together with fresh Bridgestone Battlax tires and a new gold chain. It needed bling somewhere.
Exhaust systems are expensive as hell for these old bikes and I was trying to see how low I could keep overall cost. When I bought the bike it had a Mac exhaust on it which I heard good things about but the tip was just hideous. So I removed the tip, sanded all the rust off, hit it with flat black exhaust paint and heat wrapped it with black (charcoal in my opinion) to sport it up a bit.
I brought it out in the sunshine to clean some grime off it.
So all the wiring is kept in a rats nest in the headlight in these. I spend a while sorting it all out to replace. That part sucked.
The stock master cylinder sucked. It was worn out and too big for the drag bars. So after looking at one of my other bikes (cbr 600) an idea was born. I ordered a master cylinder from a cbr and ran my own wiring.
You can see in this pic the stock location for turn signals is down on the forks. I didn't like that at all. They stuck out like a sore thumb. So I ordered a smoked set and relocated them to hold the headlight. This is another idea I stole from the earlier cb bikes. Why they put them on the forks in the later years I'll never understand.
So what to do with the old stalks? Sawzall that shit. I'll be making plugs later.
Something else I didn't like about the '78 was how the frame stuck out back here. If you have a 70s wife with a large rear in denim jeans I guess you need the room. I don't. So it was shortened. Once again plugs will come later.
So back to those old carbs. Here they are. I removed the float bowls and found sand and gunk so I knew a full rebuild was gonna have to happen. And since I needed to jet it a bit due to the exhaust that was fine.
Yea those slides were so bad haha but they cleaned up really well.
So remember that tank? Well I didn't have everything to paint it myself so I gave it to my pal Brain Cain at Mworks. You've probably drooled over his lsx m3 build on here. Dude is a craftsman and the only person I know as picky about details as I am so I knew it was in good hands. And since we're BMW guys what better color than Alpine white.
My boy lurkin in the back!
Before and after of the foot pegs I painted.
I also went ahead and painted that chrome clutch lever.
Did a Kreem tank liner kit
Now you're probably wondering why I left those old rusty rear shocks on. Don't worry she got adjustable coilovers. After all this is Stanceworks
Kickstand was nasty too.
I decided I wanted to relocate the plate, brake light and turn signals all to one place out of the way.
So I built this bracket for it all.
So back to that hideous seat. I never found a seat I liked so I decided to make my own. It came out ok but I'm still not happy with it. But it was a learning experience. I learned I have NO business messing with upholstery! But the overall idea was there and it got my through last summer and I plan on redoing the seat again more to my liking.
From shortening the frame and seat it was too wide and didn't come together correctly so some cutting and welding was in order.
Shaped, welded, blasted, and repainted.
I ordered a sheet of vinyl online and for like $9 this came. Super good deal.
The bike had a Dyna ignition which I was excited about until I got the bike running and learned it was junk. I guess a production run they had went bad and half would fire and the other half wouldn't. And since I was trying to save cash and didn't need fancy ignition I went back to the old Honda points. Worked like a charm after I timed it with an old turn signal bc I didn't have a timing light!
I ordered a carb sync tool since I plan on building more bikes. I was surprised how close I bench synced them.
Welded in the back of the frame where it was shortened and painted it. Factory look like it was never there if you ask me
My cap was pitted chrome but it worked so to save money I painted that thing!
And here's what I ended up with so far. I rode her like this last summer and she ran like a champ. Not bad for my first bike build.
She's loud. She's different. And I saved her from barn death. It was a fun trip. And there's about to be even more to come! This spring my immediate plans are to powder coat the lower portion of the forks, triple tree and I have an idea for the wheels that you'll have to wait and see. Also, the seat is going to be redone. Same style just stitched professionally so it looks not so homemade. Then next winter engine work and paint
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