What a concept - A Girl Bringing Back Her 1966 Super Hawk

sarals · Post by **sarals** » Wed Jun 19, 2013 4:56 pm

I have been trying to wirebrush and sand the frame. Trying is operative word. The paint is really tough, and then there is the surface rust and spidered rust in inaccessible areas. I don't want to paint over that stuff, it's got to be cleaned up. I really didn't want to paint the whole frame, either, but as I go over it more and more it's obvious I'm going to have to. So, I'm thinking the only answer here, to do it right, is to have the frame media blasted. Next week.

At work this coming week, I'm going to put the new tape, connectors, and shrink tubing on the wiring harness and alternator. That's nice "sit and wile away the hours" kind of work!

Vince Lupo · Post by **Vince Lupo** » Wed Jun 19, 2013 4:58 pm

Any place near you that can media blast it and then powder coat it?

malcolmgb · Post by **malcolmgb** » Wed Jun 19, 2013 5:38 pm

sarals wrote: At work this coming week, I'm going to put the new tape, connectors, and shrink tubing on the wiring harness and alternator. That's nice "sit and wile away the hours" kind of work!

Sara are you building a new wiring harness or tidying the old one?

G-Man · Post by **G-Man** » Thu Jun 20, 2013 12:54 am

sarals wrote:I have been trying to wirebrush and sand the frame. Trying is operative word. The paint is really tough, and then there is the surface rust and spidered rust in inaccessible areas. I don't want to paint over that stuff, it's got to be cleaned up. I really didn't want to paint the whole frame, either, but as I go over it more and more it's obvious I'm going to have to. So, I'm thinking the only answer here, to do it right, is to have the frame media blasted. Next week.

At work this coming week, I'm going to put the new tape, connectors, and shrink tubing on the wiring harness and alternator. That's nice "sit and wile away the hours" kind of work!

Blasting is best. I have my stuff bead blasted locally. Less aggressive than grit and it leaves a lovely sheen. If you want to work at home, a gas torch to soften the paint really works well and helps dry out the rust so it brushes off easier. When I do things this way I use a phosphoric acid rust killer when the part is still warm.

Parts from bead blasting by graham.curtis, on Flickr

Interested to see your wiring harness work....

G

sarals · Post by **sarals** » Sat Jun 22, 2013 7:18 am

There are places locally that will media blast. However, I like G's idea of heating to soften and then brushing. It's worth a try!

I watched an American Restoration show yesterday at work where a customer brought them a CL77 to restore. They did a nice job (except they didn't tuck away the clutch cable)! It made me hungry to get the Old Girl done. I had a target of the Moto GP at Laguna Seca this year. Well, that's about three weeks away. Maybe next year?

sarals · Post by **sarals** » Sat Jun 22, 2013 7:20 am

The wiring harness will be pretty simple. I bought some shrink tubing and the gray tape. All I plan to do is cut off the damaged tubing and replace it, and retape it in places that need it. Only a few connectors need replacing. No, it's not a total job, just a repair (and the harness is really in good shape as is). The alternator loom is worse. The tubing on that is totally perished, but it will be easy to replace. The wires themselves are in good condition. I'll put up pictures when I get it done!

sarals · Post by **sarals** » Mon Jun 24, 2013 2:06 pm

Okay, I've done the needed work on the main wiring loom. I still need to repair the shroud on the rear brake light switch and the wiring loom coming up from the alternator. Also, two of the screws on the rectifier are frozen, so it's still attached to the main harness. I'll get to them in a bit.

Here is a sequence of photos on how I did the repair on the main loom. It was in great condition. I started off by cleaning it, cleaning the bullet connectors, and the individual wires where they were exposed. I checked all of the exposed wires for chafing, cuts and the like - anything that was potential for a short. The only real damage was the shrink tubing (it really isn't shrink tubing, it's more like a chafe shroud) that protects the wiring harness as it runs from the frame into the headlight bucket. Over time, that shroud had hardened and then split because of the back and forth twisting it gets each time the handlebars are turned. I simply cut the gray tape at the harness end to release it, trimmed the tape back, then cut the shroud off of the wiring. I cut a new shroud to length (using the old one as a template), fed the two wires with the combo connectors trough it, then taped the other wires together, attached some safety wire to that bundle, and pulled it through the shroud. Then I taped it all up with gray tape I bought from Vintage Connections (all of the tubing and replacement connectors came from them, as well).