Capguncowboy's 1970 Rupp Roadster - JFF
I got the shocks painted today and wanted to get them assembled before I clear coat them, so they wouldn't get scratched. Too bad, the one on the right got scratched. Son of a B@#$%!
Oh well, I guess I can touch them up before taping and clear coating :/
Oh well, I guess I can touch them up before taping and clear coating :/
Woohoo! Thanks again. Your check's in the mail! I will be boxing up the frame, swingarm, footpegs and fork uppers later this week to ship to the powder coater. There doesn't seem to be anyone locally that can A) answer their phone or invoke confidence B) give me a reasonable price, so TXPowderCoater (Tim) will be doing this one for me (Thanks Tim!).
Once I have the frame back, hopefully, it will be warm enough to start painting the engine, fender/license bracket, tank, and clear coat a few parts I've already managed to paint.
Once I have the frame back, hopefully, it will be warm enough to start painting the engine, fender/license bracket, tank, and clear coat a few parts I've already managed to paint.
Today was 65ºf and sunny -- for the first time since the end of January. I called in and took the day off and managed to find a few hours to spend on the Rupp
I tried a chemical paint remover, but it didn't seem to do anything. It made it easier to scrape off with a paint scraper, but the effort wasn't worth the result. I resorted to the tried and true method -- the sander.
I sanded about 90% of the frame down to bare metal and ground down a few rough spots on the outer edges of the engine plate. For as badly rusted as the wheels were, I can't believe how good the frame cleaned up. The original swingarm was so rusted that I couldn't use it, even after patching the rough spots, I didn't feel like it would be safe to use, so I had to pick up an NOS one on Ebay. Despite this, the frame itself is in almost perfect condition under all that flaking paint. Very little rust. I guess Rupp used a higher grade steel on the frames than the swingarms. I'll see if I can get the rest of the paint (corners, under the seat pan and engine plate) with a wire wheel, or the sand blaster if necessary. I'm going to try to get it done before Monday so I can get it shipped to TXPowderCoater next week (stupid weather).
I also finally got around to taking a closer look at the engine shroud I got from Markus (thanks again Mark!). It's slightly pitted around the bolts for the recoil, and a little more on the bottom, but it should fill in just fine. I'll see about getting to that tomorrow afternoon (hoping the weather is nice again).
After spending a few hours filling, sanding and painting the gas tank, then doing it again a few days later, it looks miles better than it did, but I'm still not happy with it. There is one dent in the side that was much larger than it originally looked and with the contour of the tank, I don't think I'll ever get it right. I've got another tank I picked up off of Ray, so I'll start working on it tomorrow too.
After looking for over a month, I finally found someone that had the driver I needed for the TC-1 drive (Thanks again DavidWulf!). It arrived in the mail yesterday and looks great.
Now if I could just find a huge pile of money! I am really starting to feel like I have spent thousands of hours and more money than I want to admit, that I'm still about where I started :shrug: I keep telling myself that if it's like the last bike I did, once the frame is powdered, everything else will go back together in about a day or two. All the hard parts are done (locating parts, rebuilding the engine, clearing the frame, etc).
More to come!
I tried a chemical paint remover, but it didn't seem to do anything. It made it easier to scrape off with a paint scraper, but the effort wasn't worth the result. I resorted to the tried and true method -- the sander.
I sanded about 90% of the frame down to bare metal and ground down a few rough spots on the outer edges of the engine plate. For as badly rusted as the wheels were, I can't believe how good the frame cleaned up. The original swingarm was so rusted that I couldn't use it, even after patching the rough spots, I didn't feel like it would be safe to use, so I had to pick up an NOS one on Ebay. Despite this, the frame itself is in almost perfect condition under all that flaking paint. Very little rust. I guess Rupp used a higher grade steel on the frames than the swingarms. I'll see if I can get the rest of the paint (corners, under the seat pan and engine plate) with a wire wheel, or the sand blaster if necessary. I'm going to try to get it done before Monday so I can get it shipped to TXPowderCoater next week (stupid weather).
I also finally got around to taking a closer look at the engine shroud I got from Markus (thanks again Mark!). It's slightly pitted around the bolts for the recoil, and a little more on the bottom, but it should fill in just fine. I'll see about getting to that tomorrow afternoon (hoping the weather is nice again).
After spending a few hours filling, sanding and painting the gas tank, then doing it again a few days later, it looks miles better than it did, but I'm still not happy with it. There is one dent in the side that was much larger than it originally looked and with the contour of the tank, I don't think I'll ever get it right. I've got another tank I picked up off of Ray, so I'll start working on it tomorrow too.
After looking for over a month, I finally found someone that had the driver I needed for the TC-1 drive (Thanks again DavidWulf!). It arrived in the mail yesterday and looks great.
Now if I could just find a huge pile of money! I am really starting to feel like I have spent thousands of hours and more money than I want to admit, that I'm still about where I started :shrug: I keep telling myself that if it's like the last bike I did, once the frame is powdered, everything else will go back together in about a day or two. All the hard parts are done (locating parts, rebuilding the engine, clearing the frame, etc).
More to come!
Wow, it's been that long since I last posted? I'm lazy!
Okay, so after remodeling the livingroom, replacing the window, putting up wainscoting, landscaping the yard, freshening up the flowerbeds, mowing the lawn, and doing some spring cleaning, I finally got back to my bike today.
I stripped the rear fender mount/license bracket and clutch guard bracket and sprayed them with some black enamel.
I couldn't seem to get the old jackshaft apart from the frame on either side. The nut was rounded off, and the roll pin was stuck on the other side. I ended up grinding the sprocket off and cutting the nut in half. Even after that, I still couldn't get the roll pin out of the hole. I ended up getting a repopped jackshaft from Mark G (thanks Mark), and got it put together with the new sprocket and roll pin from BWMS. Some new bearings were popped in and it looks great. Should be ready to pop onto the bike frame when it gets back from powder (if I ever send it out :laugh
.
Next, I took the shroud that I got from Markus and cleared the old paint. It had some pitting around the recoil studs, so I patched them up with some bondo and sanded them smooth. It ended up taking three rounds before I was satisfied with the result. Honestly, I still wasn't happy with it, but I was aggravated and didn't feel like doing it anymore!
Once I got it cleared and patched up, I redid the gas tank again. I sanded it down and patched a few little spots that I missed the first time. Then, I sprayed both the shroud, gas tank and an NOS air cleaner I picked up on Ebay with silver engine enamel. It's original Rupp, but it's pretty darn close.
Once those were done, I went ahead and sprayed the engine. It's been done since the first of March, but the weather has been too spotty to paint, so it had gotten shoved to the side.
I'm still not happy with how the block turned out. Tecumseh must have used a bad cast to make the block and crank case cover. They have little hairline cracks on the outside (they're superficial), and they look terrible. It also had some little bumps in the casting, which make the paint look like crap :doah: Oh well, moving right along.
Once the paint on the block dried, I got it all put back together. I'm going to coat the engine and gas tank with Eastwood 2K clearcoat this week if the weather holds up. I'd hate to see it get ruined by a little bit of gas.
I picked up an NOS diaphragm carb on Ebay a while back. I opted not to paint it, even though the original was painted silver like the engine. I think it looks good as-is.
I am hoping I can get some time to get the frame, swingarm, fork mids and footpegs out this week for powder. I've been dragging my feet, but I've gotta kick into high gear if I want to meet the deadline.
More to come!
Okay, so after remodeling the livingroom, replacing the window, putting up wainscoting, landscaping the yard, freshening up the flowerbeds, mowing the lawn, and doing some spring cleaning, I finally got back to my bike today.
I stripped the rear fender mount/license bracket and clutch guard bracket and sprayed them with some black enamel.
I couldn't seem to get the old jackshaft apart from the frame on either side. The nut was rounded off, and the roll pin was stuck on the other side. I ended up grinding the sprocket off and cutting the nut in half. Even after that, I still couldn't get the roll pin out of the hole. I ended up getting a repopped jackshaft from Mark G (thanks Mark), and got it put together with the new sprocket and roll pin from BWMS. Some new bearings were popped in and it looks great. Should be ready to pop onto the bike frame when it gets back from powder (if I ever send it out :laugh
.
Next, I took the shroud that I got from Markus and cleared the old paint. It had some pitting around the recoil studs, so I patched them up with some bondo and sanded them smooth. It ended up taking three rounds before I was satisfied with the result. Honestly, I still wasn't happy with it, but I was aggravated and didn't feel like doing it anymore!
Once I got it cleared and patched up, I redid the gas tank again. I sanded it down and patched a few little spots that I missed the first time. Then, I sprayed both the shroud, gas tank and an NOS air cleaner I picked up on Ebay with silver engine enamel. It's original Rupp, but it's pretty darn close.
Once those were done, I went ahead and sprayed the engine. It's been done since the first of March, but the weather has been too spotty to paint, so it had gotten shoved to the side.
I'm still not happy with how the block turned out. Tecumseh must have used a bad cast to make the block and crank case cover. They have little hairline cracks on the outside (they're superficial), and they look terrible. It also had some little bumps in the casting, which make the paint look like crap :doah: Oh well, moving right along.
Once the paint on the block dried, I got it all put back together. I'm going to coat the engine and gas tank with Eastwood 2K clearcoat this week if the weather holds up. I'd hate to see it get ruined by a little bit of gas.
I picked up an NOS diaphragm carb on Ebay a while back. I opted not to paint it, even though the original was painted silver like the engine. I think it looks good as-is.
I am hoping I can get some time to get the frame, swingarm, fork mids and footpegs out this week for powder. I've been dragging my feet, but I've gotta kick into high gear if I want to meet the deadline.
More to come!
I got a message from TXPowderCoater today. The frame was media blasted today and in the final stages of prep work for powder. I'm getting really excited now. I've started gathering up the trim pieces and hardware and cleaning it up. It looks like I'll be able to use a lot of it since it's cleaning up really well, but some of it's a little too far gone. I'll post some pics after the weekend is over