The book is divided into the following Chapters:
- Acknowledgements
- Forward
- Introduction
Chapter 1 – Restoration Fundamentals
- Assessing Your Skills
- Finding a Bike
- What to Look For When Buying
- Dissecting The Project
- Reasons to Avoid a Bike
- Collectable Classics
Chapter 2 – Your Workshop
- Tools
- Hand Tools
- The Workshop
- Cleaning Products and Tools
- Safety
- Chapter Summary
Chapter Summary –
- Quality tools are an investment; understanding how to use them and
having a well-equipped workshop will make a significant difference to your restoration project. - Tools come in many shapes and sizes. Some are for manual use only; others are driven by power or air.
- Often you need to fabricate a tool to make the disassembly process easier. Fabricating tools can be done economically by toolmakers and shared with other passionate owners.
- Safety is critical in the workshop; lack of care will result in injury.
- When using chemicals that require special handling, read the safety data sheets. Most chemicals will require a well-ventilated area.
Chapter 3 – Planning Your Project
- Project Stages
- Creating a Project Plan
- Chapter Summary
Chapter Summary –
- Take a good long look at the bike and visualize the parts and how they are assembled, what they are made of, and what finish they should have to correctly restore them. Failure to do so will cost you later.
- There are no fixed rules in planning or documenting a motorcycle restoration project;
documentation enables you to stay on track and keep the project flowing. - As changes occur in the restoration, write them down in your project plan and include parts needed, work to be done, and work completed.
Chapter 4 – Getting Organized
- Recording Details
- Parts Storage
- Dispatching Parts
- Other Items
- Chapter Summary
Chapter Summary –
- Being organized is critical to the success of your restoration and rebuild project.
- Standardizing containers and documenting the parts that go into them will make your project easier to complete as time draws on.
- Store bike parts together in a safe spot to avoid loss.
Chapter 5 – Material Preparation and Treatments
- Bead and Soda Blasting
- Water (Aqua) Blasting
- Metal Polishing
- Protecting Metals
- Powder Coating
- Chrome
- Hard Chrome
- Plating Plastic
- Anodizing
- Cleaning Metals
- Chapter Summary
Chapter Summary –
- It is vital to protect the metal surfaces of your motorcycle; otherwise, they will deteriorate in due course. Unprotected alloy surfaces will oxidize and steel surfaces will rust if left in a natural state.
- Chrome comes in two forms, decorative and hard. Each has a purpose on a motorcycle, but they are not interchangeable.
- Polishing metal will remove material from the surface and make it shiny, but it leaves the surface unprotected.
- Paint is both a protection coat and a decorative feature. Choose wisely.
- Generally, only billet alloy can be anodized with a consistent finish returned. Cast alloy parts are not usually suitable for anodizing.
Chapter 6 – Fasteners
- Fastener Quality
- Fastener Selection
- Sourcing Fasteners
- Titanium and Aluminum Fasteners
- Chapter Summary
Chapter Summary –
- Fasteners come in many sizes, shapes, and strengths, so the correct fastener must be used for the required application.
- For a concourse restoration, using the original fastener is ideal if the bike is to be graded at bike shows or sold after restoration.
- Some original fasteners were of metric-fine grade; if unavailable alternative parts can be
manufactured as needed. - Aluminum fasteners are only suitable for holding plastic body parts and not where high strength is required.
Chapter 7 – Disassembly
- Where to Start?
- Two-stroke Engines
- Fairings
- Front end Disassembly
- Rear End Disassembly
- Exhaust System
- Wiring
- Carburetor and Airbox Removal
- Rear Suspension
- Front Wheel and Suspension Removal
- Engine Removal
- Two-Stroke Engines
Chapter 8 – Inspection, Repair, and Renovation
- Frame
- Suspension
- Brakes
- Wheel
- Electrical
- Instruments and Controls
- Fuel Systems
- Engine
- Splitting The Engine Cases
- Engine Case Separation
- Driveshaft Motorcycles
- Closing Thoughts on Engine Design
- Bodywork
- Chapter Summary
Chapter Summary –
This chapter covered a lot of ground, including these
key points:
- The disassembly process gave us large component assemblies to work on.
- We need to repair and prepare these assemblies as completely as possible to reduce the chance of component loss and to aid reassembly.
- For factory concourse rebuilds, a lot of small items will be missing from years of neglect from previous owners; you need to source these parts as either new old stock or as reproduction parts.
- A lot of the factory fasteners will have deteriorated. While stainless bolts are a great replacement, you won’t achieve a concourse finish with them.
- Some period aftermarket items could still be reused on the bike, but then it’s not going to be totally factory original.
- Use new bearings in wheels, steering, and suspension.
- With the bike in pieces, decide what you really want to build. Some of the most awesome classic bikes look very different from what left the factory.
Chapter 9 – Reassembly
- Frame Reassembly
- Engine Assembly and Installation
- Four-Stroke Engine Assembly
- Two-Stroke Engine
- Assembly
- Remaining Body Parts
- Factory Paint Schemes
- Finish & Breaking In
- Chapter Summary
Chapter Summary –
This chapter has covered in a very generic way the reassembly of our rebuilt component assemblies to produce essentially a new bike.
- The process to reassemble the bike is very flexible in terms of rolling frame first or motor in frame first.
- Use new gaskets and oil seals and use assembly lube on engine components.
- Study the service manual so you know the engine assembly process in great detail, especially the camshaft timing.
- If you have kept the bike complete and only rebuilt and reassembled small components over time, then the final strip and rebuild can be turned over in a matter of a few days.
- Install body parts last to avoid damage and source original painted pieces to get matching exact.
- Your bike is new and will need a run-in period “just like a bought one.”
- If you use it frequently, it’s going to deteriorate. Avoid substituting poor-quality parts at all costs. Keeping it as original as possible will always pay off in the end.
- The motto of many: “Ridden not hidden.”
Appendices
Index
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