[Joe Shovel FXR]

Yesterday and today were good days to spend in the garage. Wife at work, and rain/drizzle all day. Now that the transmission is done, I'm going to start a restoration thread. I'm going to try to make it as original as I can, using as many original or OEM parts as practical. Maybe even get it AMCA judged, if I don't have too many mistakes along the way.

First off, get the frame ready for the transmission, then work towards making a rolling chassis. It took all day but I cleaned off the old paint and rust. First disassemble the swing arm, I have some NOS -79 rubber mounts to reinstall:



Before and After:







There was this manufacturer's stamp on the underside. I'm sure someone knows what it represents:

 

[Joe Shovel FXR]

The frame was a lot more work, but it's all clean too. Before stripping it, I measured the position of the sticker:




Then peeled it off with a hair dryer and putty knife. I started with a heat gun, but that actually melted the sticker, even on low ! I see there are reproductions on ebay, but I'm not sure how to stamp the VIN and date of manufacture on it.



I thought the frame was painted what the car people call Chassis Black, it wasn't very shiny, but under the sticker the original paint was quite glossy.




I'm going to use etching primer and experiment with different blacks to see what works best. I've got a few suggestions from people who do this for a living, but still open for more.

 

[Joe Shovel FXR]

There seemed to be a thin layer of surface rust under the paint, but a wire wheel made short work of stripping it.




This mark was near the kickstand mount:




The muffler mount wore some nasty holes in the frame, either because the rubber mount sagged, or the aftermarket pipes were not aligned.




I welded them up, and after a little grinding, filing and sanding, they are gone:

 

[Joe Shovel FXR]

The kickstand flopped around really badly, and this is why:




I welded up the two stops, but I'm not sure if the holes for the pin were worn that badly, or it's the wrong size pin and side stand, so I did nothing for now. The pin is 3/8" diameter, but the holes are 7/16". Anybody know what's right?




A couple of beauty shots for now:

 

[compressor#v]

Nice work.

 

[Joe Shovel FXR]

Thanks! It didn't take much thinking to realize the hole was worn, who would install the wrong side stand? So, back to welding and fitting:



A step drill (unibit) was perfect for the uneven welded hole.



I finished it with a normal 3/8" bit, and the easy side was done:



The slot on the other hand was a bit more challenging. I started with the unibit, but it would bounce around too much, so I had to buy a rotary file to shape it:

 

[Joe Shovel FXR]

It took over an hour, but it turned out nice:



I still have to get a new pin, but the side stand fits a lot better now:



Because I had to build up the stop, I'm not sure of the correct angle when the stand is raised. Does this look right? I could file the stop to raise it if I have to.




EDIT: I just realized the two rivet holes are for the side stand bumper, so it should line up between them! duh

 

[Joe Shovel FXR]

There are many choices of gloss black paint for the frame. Two that are most often recommended are VHT Epoxy and Majic Tractor, Truck and Implement Spray. Yesterday, I started to find out which would be best for restoring the FXR. Since these bikes weren't powder coated originally, I will stick to paint.

I sanded and cleaned a piece of flat bar for this test, and heated the cans in hot water so the paint would be warm through and through.

After shaking for two minutes (using a timer) I gave them one medium coat. Coverage was about the same for each, but the Majic was shinier. The VHT dried a lot faster and leveled better.

I gave it a second coat after about 15 minutes, and was not happy with how the Majic paint orange peeled. It was definitely blacker and shinier than the VHT paint, though. The directions on the Majic can say waiting 24 hours between coats would give a better finish. I didn’t have patience for that, and paid the price.

Comparing to the original frame paint, Majic is the clear winner. The VHT may be closer for older frames? It did match the faded paint on my frame, for what that’s worth.

 

[Joe Shovel FXR]

Today I was pleasantly surprised to find the Majic paint leveled itself overnight, and looks pretty good. Waiting 24 hours between coats would have given a really nice finish.

I wondered if the VHT would benefit from a third coat, and it does look thicker, but still not as black as the Majic.

In conclusion I am going to use the Majic Tractor paint, but will buy a quart and the hardener. I will be able to adjust the air pressure and get it to lay down smoother. I will also wait 24 hours before spraying the second coat.

 

[Joe Shovel FXR]

The weather finally got to where I could paint the frame, almost 70 today. First thing I had to do was a quick repair on the swing arm, I didn't notice this until the other day.




This will help keep the back wheel where it belongs, and the ugliness can't be seen when the wheel is on.




I spent a few hours sanding the entire frame and swing arm, getting into the nooks and crannies the wire wheel couldn't reach, and giving the metal some 'tooth' for the paint to stick to. The directions on the reducer say no primer, so the metal prep is very important.




Last picture for today is the spray booth. The local hardware store sells LED bulbs subsidized by a state program, and yesterday they got 4-foot shop lights for $5, so I bought six so there will be plenty of light.




The paint sprayed out very nice, one wet coat flowed out beautifully. Tomorrow when I get home from an AMCA ride I will take pictures of the results.

 

[Joe Shovel FXR]

What's behind curtain #1, Monty?

 

[compressor#v]

This is what I had Fab Kevin do to my arm, a lot less expensive than the high dollar alloy ones, and only 2lbs heavier.

 

[Thermodyne]

You going to replace those cleave blocks in the swing arm?

 

[Joe Shovel FXR]

You going to replace those cleave blocks in the swing arm?

No, they seem in good shape, maybe too hard, and you can't get new ones anyway. I'm not interested in converting to bearings.

Spring means doing a lot of things that kept me from the bike, not all of them bad. Put the pontoon boat in and spent a lot of time on it.

FWIW, I could smell paint in the garage for a week after spraying, so the paint takes a long time to fully cure. Good that I wasn't anxious to handle it for a while.

The next step before assembly is clean up a set of shocks I bought a few months ago. They are 12-1/2" eye to eye, which is the same as the originals on my first 82 FXR, but longer than the ones the previous owner had on this bike:




A guy on youtube had a tool to compress shock springs with a hydraulic press, so I copied it using scraps I had under my workbench:




This way is a lot easier than using 4-speed clutch disks and all-thread would have been. I didn't want to put my fingers in there, so long needle nose did the trick:




Some people say FXRSs had longer shocks than FXRs, but this seems to contradict that theory.



Notice how grungy the shocks are. I spent all afternoon cleaning them up.

 

[Joe Shovel FXR]

Old timer trick is to use aluminum foil and chrome polish. The foil makes doesn't scratch the chrome, but makes a good scrubbing tool that can be formed to get into nooks and crannys.




They still have some wear and scratches, but look pretty good now.




The springs were the most tedious to clean, but came out good.




It was time consuming to do all the little parts, but worth it.




Now I can start putting the bike together! I'll have to buy some new top bolt covers, one is pretty rusty.

 

[Thermodyne]

No, they seem in good shape, maybe too hard, and you can't get new ones anyway. I'm not interested in converting to bearings.

Last time I needed a set of cleve kits, Drag was still selling them. Looked to be just like oem, only you didn't have to buy them buy the piece.

 

[Joe Shovel FXR]

Must have been a while ago? Nothing but the tolerance rings any more.

Rainy weekend gave me time to clean up some parts, getting ready to paint them later this week when it's warmer and drier.

These will get a coat of clear to preserve the finish:

These will get painted black like the frame:

The muffler mount was worn like the frame was, so I fixed that. Interesting that it is power coated. Maybe the factory was transitioning to powder, but not doing frames yet?

This is why the mount hit the frame. I'll have to get a new one and do a better job aligning the pipes.

 

[Scotty_No1]

Drag still sell the cleve blocks and they come with the tolerance rings and they have stock! I don't know what you were looking at but they are still available.

 

[Joe Shovel FXR]

I tried searching the Drag online catalog - got a part number?

 

[Scotty_No1]

I tried searching the Drag online catalog - got a part number?

cleve blocks drag specialties