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1983 CX650 Eurosport restoration thread.

My present case guards are rashed on one side.
Unfortunate, because I think they are one of the most elegant ever designed, and I've only ever seen them once. On my bike.

That being said, Larry had these in his massive collection of CX parts.
OEM Hondaline.
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He has also compiled every single exterior engine bolt for plating, so that he can individually remove and immediately replace one bolt at a time, leaving the gaskets intact.
Somewhere around 115 bolts.
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Plus the radiator parts, brake banjo bolts and various brackets.
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The very definition of "ouch."

"I'm not even sure how to start this! This batch has been a lot more work than any of the others taking 4 days to complete. Total pieces turned out to be 154, partly due to adding extras just to be safe. If I've figured in everything needed for the bike, and I'm lucky, this should be the last of the zinc plating! But I'll leave the system up just in case.

Last month I ordered new zinc anodes because mine were getting thin. During this session I kept getting a dark coating on the parts. It all rinsed off in the sulfuric acid rinse before the chromate color, but it was annoying. I pulled the plates and they were totally black with a residue. I rinsed and cleaned the twice in the vapor blaster before I finally gave up and put 2 of my old anodes back in along with one of the new ones. I even filtered the solution through coffee filters twice to remove any black particles floating in it. The parts came out fine after that, and only the one new plate I put back in turned black. The 2 old ones stayed nice and clear. I'll be contacting Caswell next week. It's obvious the plates have something wrong mixed in with the zinc.

With all the issues of yesterdays process, I was up until 1am before I got to bed. I started at 8am, in total, it was a 17 Hr nonstop day. Needless to say, I'm dragging today. The 2 parts pictures were taken at 12:47 am!"

Tracking for the forks showed they were supposed to be here yesterday but never showed up. Tracking for the gauge cluster shows it's now in the NY distribution facility. I should get that by middle or end of next week.

FYI, I read your post. It was actually the banjo fitting on the ends of the brake hose that I re zinc plated black. The banjo bolts have already been done in earlier batches."
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Only to wake up to this:

"Well S***!!! The contaminated zinc has struck! I just checked on the parts and 90% of it is all blistered up! The zinc didn't stick to the metal due to the black coating getting on the metal at the start probably. I had this happen years ago when the solution got contaminated with the copper wire getting below the solution line. That was a mistake I made though.
Looks like I'll need to order another zinc solution kit and start over! Maybe Caswell has an answer and can tell me what's up with the plates I got.
The parts I did at the end with the old plates went fine, and that was all the black parts."
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The detail of the build is so amaze!!!! :hail.

I will have to see the bike in person one day.
 
I will make sure that you see her in the flesh, I owe you at least that much for the anniversary track day years ago.

On a different note, Larry and I are keeping our fingers crossed, we got some basic Marving muffler specs, it might be possible to modify the OEM muffler end cap to fit in the Marving.
The bracket design is nothing like original, but the overall appearance and silhouette of the mufflers should look relatively close OEM if it can be done.I
We'll know soon enough, I'll be ordering the mufflers in the next two weeks.
 
Finally got to take a break from plating!
The replacement dash panel is undergoing restoration.
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Since the restoration is going to be 100%, the clocks are going to be set to zero. I'm going to apply for a new Pink Slip anyway, since when I first registered the bike, they screwed up the VIN by adding an extra letter.
The new Pink will include, "Not actual mileage."
I'll keep copious notes on mileage, but the actual may have been lost to time since I converted the speedo/odo from kmh to mph for my ease of use early on on my ownership.
 
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Ack! Missed plating parts. (They were hiding under the engine badges)20241102_181300.jpg
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Several years after the engine rebuild (even with very few miles) the dirts builded up. She needed a bath.
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Muy bettero.
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Never seen a motor get a bath before. Really cool and it worked really well. :thumbup
 
They're hee-eeeere.
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With the dampers and springs already inside, so we know that they fit.

Fan parts plated. (Did I mention, "bolt by bolt"?
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You'll note the bolt on the extreme left.
That is the original oil pan drain bolt.
I won't be using it, because it's seriously boogered by years of abuse. I bought a modern stainless 14mm with magnet to replace it, but because it's the original 14mm (when they were superseded by a 12mm in later CX650 models), it was repaired as best possible, and plated.
 
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