The “project bike”
I was looking for something that would get me out from in front of the TV and the computer, so I thought it would be fun for the wife and I to buy a project bike that we could work on together and then sell it when we were done. I found a 1981 Honda CB650 Custom for a few hundred bucks, so we bought it and have begun the process. It will not currently run due to the carbs being plugged up. I ordered a shop manual, and once it arrives, I will have a go at taking the carbs off and cleaning them up.
The previous owner had spray painted much of the engine and exhaust with a hi-temp black paint. There is quite a bit of orange peel on it, so the worst part of this project will be getting all the old paint off and trying to restore some semblance of the original look to the bike. I don’t want to actually restore it to showroom looks, but to make it a good looking bike that will be fun to ride for someone.
Here is the bike as it looked when we bought it:
For example, here is what the muffler looked like with the bad paint job:
A liberal brushing of paint stripper, some sandpaper, and some elbow grease and it came out looking like this:
We did a lot more cleanup on the bike. I will post more about that later.