As promised, after the CL175 "sloper" restoration I wanted to do my CL160 next because they are very similar bikes and I could stay in the groove, so to speak. I'd purchased a fairly roached out and crusty '66 CL160 that came out of Buffalo NY a couple of years ago. Since I despise any bike painted an unoriginal color (yellow) I put it near the top of my project list for transformation. Just as a warning, anyone trying to restore this model, think seriously before getting involved as parts and prices for the first year, or only "real" 160 scrambler have went through the roof or mostly don't exist. Probably should have started with a better candidate . Anyway parts that shouldn't have been put back on were, due to the need to continue making progress. Parts laying around my shop tend to get lost a couple of days before they are to be installed . Most will be changed out as they hopefully will show up at some point in the future and will be easily enough changed out.
Here's a shot of the old gal before complete tear down.
As I've mentioned before, I like to fire up these old barn finds, to evaluate what hidden problems may be in the engine, so to know what to look for during teardown. Here's a link to the first "fire-up" of this scrambler.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7fLz488FRA
The only tear down issue on this one, was the unbelievably stuck swing arm pivot bolt.
After soaking with PB blaster for a couple day with no changes, the swing arm is submerged in Evapo-Rust for a few days. Probably won't get back to it for awhile as other matters are more pressing. Don't have my hopes up with this method either as my evapo rust is about wore out cleaning a couple of nasty tanks plus misc parts, also it's not the best stuff for cutting through any grease to get to the rust. Wish I had a fresher batch but damn that stuff is expensive. A couple gallons may cost more than a whole swing arm assembly
Here it is, the last piece to get off of the frame before media blasting is the swing arm and the right rear set which is on the pivot bolt as well.
Finally, partial success today. Swing arm is saved. Still need to get the right side bushing off the bolt so the right rear set can be removed. Have a new bolt on order, but so far no damage, maybe slight bend in the rear set from the 12 ton press (which wasn't really successful due to the rear set preventing a stable position.) Every time I had almost full pressure on it, and getting ready to use the sledge hammer on top of the the press to shock it, something would pop out of place . So I don't think that the evapo rust worked either. Just had to find the right support and swing a BMFH harder!
Here's the bike after media blasting and painting. Got in a hurry before taking a pic, and already had the swing arm, triple tree, rear sets and center stand on!!
Added one fork (because I lost the last NOS boot in the US and probably the world) and rear wheel with shocks.
Next installed rear fender and taillight assembly. Still looking for that damned boot!
Motor set in place. I know that boot is still around here someplace!
Gave up looking and put aftermarket boots on, had to make progress. Both forks on and ready for front wheel and fender! Also note one crusty rear shock I'm still trying to replace.
Front fender added along with headlight bucket and speedo assembly.
Having the front wheel in place, allows me to finally move it around if needed. Also beginning to put on some of the electrical components. Main harness attached as well as horn and ignition switch.
.....more to come!
