Wheel cleaning and seat tinkering.

I had a thought about a month ago that I would have the racer back on wheels in two weeks. Well, that didn´t happen... The work on the wheels are so boring and tedious I can barely make myself do it at all. Luckily SAS has come to the rescue the last month. We do have standby duty at work every now and then. The maximum is 14 days in a row and during those times we are unable to plan any own, private, activitis at all. I basically have to be within 1:20 from Arlanda (the airport I´m stationed at) all the time to be able to check in for duty in that time span. Now, our house is just 45 minutes from the airport so I can be in my garage during standby duty and clean wheels... That feels OK! You might argue I actually get paid for cleaning wheels. That feeling makes it a bit easier!

The last post was about me finishing up the rear wheel and buying another racer. I did some more work on the wheel since the last time:

I mounted the new rear wheel bearings. The first bearing goes straight in with the covered side of the bearing facing outward. After that bearing is inserted the wheel is turned around and the spacer tube is inserted in to the hub. Time for the second (last) bearing to go in and meet the tube. A coat of bearing grease in to the balls on the inside of the bearing and in it goes!

I use a large socket to drive the bearing in to the hub. Ideally you would use an automotive hudraulic press to do this, but since Stickan closed shop a while ago I´m on my own. Lightly tapping your way around the OUTER bearing race makes it enter the hub. A light coat of grease also on the hub walls will make sure the bearing stays on track and enters straight and level.

Here I´m halfway in. Nice and easy tapping does it!

And here I´m done. You can feel when the bearing hits the bottom of the hub. The sound of the tapping also changes and the bearing should ideally be "flush" with the hub surface. The rear wheel is ready for its new tire! Over to the front one.

The process starts over again. Dirty wheel with slight surface rust and corrosion here and there. Since I´m into bearings right now, why not start by removing these at once? Problems directly! my beloved "Bearing remover tool" didn´t work on these bearings. The smallest insert to use on the spindle was too big! So, I had to use something else. I know screw drivers don´t work that well. so a brass mandrel I could fit through the smaller inner race of the front bearings did the job!

And here they are... The front bearings and the tool that was used to get them out. Luckily they hadn´t stuck that hard inside the hub. Sometimes it can be a pain removing old bearings that have been in place for 40+ years.

The bearing position on the left side, or is it the right one? Well, who can tell by these ambiguous markings? "V" stand for "Left" and "H" stands for "Right". I don´t even remember writing anything on the hub myself when I took it apart... No big deal right now but I will have to look for it later. I do think it doesn´t matter that much at all. The wheel seems to be completely symmetrical left to right side.

OK, here we go again... Cleaning in progress!
The front wheel seems to be in better nick than the rear one so I´m hoping I´ll be spending less time polishing it. Here I´m starting off with the brake surfaces and the 180 grit sanding wheel on my Milwaukee battery drill. As I said, tedious and boring. So boring I didn´t do it for so long....




































As I said earlier...The wheel cleaning business is no fun. The other day I got an e-mail from my friend, Janne, the owner of the other H1R being restored here in Stockholm. He was wondering how I was doing with the seat covers I promised to make copies of. His bike is getting closer to starting up so he soon needs the seat cover. I´have been working a bit on my old cover as described in an earlier post of this blog. If I am going to try to make seat covers I need to know my own fits as it should before copying it. So, I needed to finish my seat restoration! Lot´s more fun than cleaning wheels... Here´s a picture of the cover loosely on top of the seat on which it is supposed to be attached by push buttons. OK, lets´s fix the seat!

My plan was to use these small push button "bottoms" I bought at a boating equipment shop where they also sell stuff for making hoods and boat covers. These Stud bases can be fastened by a screw or a rivet. A few of the old holes were left open after the seat was repaired so I had a few spots to start with and get the cover correctly lined up. These remaining holes were a bit too big to use my slightly small rivets so I opted for screws and nuts here. Of course the head of the screws were slightly too big so I had to grind them down to size. A washer for reinforcement of the fiberglass. Turned out OK!

The next step was to stretch the cover as hard as possible to reach the edge of the seat base and then mark where to drill the next hole. Remember I had to make the "cut out" for the rear shock absorbers in relation to the seat´s position versus the gas tank and rider height. Now I had to try and get the cover as close to that cutout as possible. The technique here was to set one base stud at a time and try to keep a sharp look out all around the edge of the cover all he time. Tricky, to say the least.

The first rivet I installed ended up being loose and not securing the base stud at all.... Now what? As I looked closer I saw the problem. The riveting tool never reached the rivet head directly inside the base stud.... I needed a spacer. High enough to meet the tool and the rivet head at the bottom of the base stud. This little guy fixed it! An M4 Nyloc nut fit snugly inside the base stud at stood out just enough to meet the riveting tool. Victory!

An aluminium washer on the inside for support and this is what it looked like once installed. Not too good. I believe these base studs were originally screwed to the seat pan with M4 screws. There is no record of these parts in the parts manual as the seat is only one part number as a set. So, I can do whatever I prefer here. And I prefer rivets.

This is the look after a slight "massage" with my small hammer. Nice and tight fit.

Here´s the seat with the cover snapped in to position. Looks quite alright, I think. Let´s move on to the padding! The cover seems a bit "flat" here, don´t you think?

And now we can see another problem I have to sort first... The oil tank bracket has to be installed before putting the padding in place. This phenomena is very common working on bikes (and, to be honest, most everything you´re doing on a house as well...). There´s always something obstructing your progress, something you need to get done before further advancement is possible. And it goes on... To be able to fit the bracket I need to paint the underside of the seat first. There you have it! Two things to sort before fixing the padding to see if it can be copied for other restorations. Jeezzz!

Anyways... A quick masking of the underside and a thick coat of Hagmans flat black  spray paint sorted the first obstacle. Painting done!

This paint actually dries quite quickly and after some 30-40 minutes I was able to handle the parts again. Let´s move on to the oil tank!

You remember me finding another oil tank here in Sweden at our "Swedish eBay", Tradera? If, not, here it is... The brighter colored one with the fuel tap. It was used as a fuel tank on an engine driven flashlight called "Diamond" I saw it, got lucky and bought it for petty cash. It came with its own bracket and felt liners. I´ll use the "new" oil tank but try to remove the fuel tap and replace it with the brass fitting from the original, more "brownish" , tank that was on the bike.  Here we go!

The fuel tap was easily removed from the newer tank. The oil outlet in the older one was a bit more stuck! I had to be careful not to brake anything. Finally I found the correct tool to use to reach that far inside the tank and get a hold of the 12mm nut. Here´s everything loose and away from the tank.

I needed to manufacture a new gasket. I had nu fiber washers that fit to size so I decided to go for a rubber one instead. Some sturdy, fuel/oil secure, rubber material I found was very well suited for the job.

The rubber gasket became a bit thicker but I think it´ll do. Now I just had to get the washer and nut back on and tighten it.

A big pair of tweezers got the washer back on inside the tank.

Getting the nut on there was far more difficult. I had to use these bent tweezers, locking them with a clamp to hold the nut in place while carefully turning the brass outlet from the outside...  Got it!

I cleaned the felt strips and let them dry in order to let the double sided tape glue them to the bracket. They will be in constant "press" from the rubber bands holding the tank to the bracket so they just need to stay in place for now.

And here´s the "new" oil tank ready to go inside the seat. The correct length of hex head screws according to the part manual and washers plus nuts. These thick nuts were later changed to a thinner type that fitted the seat better considering you will actually be sitting on, or at least, hitting these with your butt when riding...

Here´s what it looks like from the outside. Thinner nuts and slightly larger plain washers for extra support on the fiber glass. Looks real uncomfortable here, doesn´t it?

This is the look on the inside. The initiated Kawasaki parts guy will recognize the screws from the seat of the H2 750. These are used to hold the hinges to the seat pan on the H2:s. I have no problem using them here. They´re Kawasaki screws, that´s all that matters. And they´re seat screws. Suites me fine. Remember the oil tank had been moved from under the seat to the right front inside of the fairing? I believe "Esso" did this for some reason. Well, I´m moving it back since the pictures from early 1970 shows it in it´s original location.

OK, moving on to the padding next. I bought some sturdy foam rubber from an upholstery shop nearby. 20mm thick and not too soft. Perfect for seat padding on a seventies racer. In this picture I´m outlining the contour of the seat on to the seat foam.

Piece by piece I cut it down to size and tried to get it flush with the edges all around the seat. My big, Chinese, pair of scissors did an excellent job. I love tools. I guess you found that out by now, right?

There´s an enforcement on the seat right at the angle between the seat and the "backrest". The padding had to be cut to make room for that "bump". Small cuts do the trick together with frequent checks how far I´have come. I do like upholstery work! Very rewarding and fun.

I thought I would have to make holes for the nuts in the backrest part of the padding but that wasn´t necessary at all. They couldn´t be felt through the foam. Ready for fitting of the cover!

Fits like a charm! A bit stretched, but not too much. I have seen many pictures online of seats where the owners release the cover from the seat base when not in use. I think mine can be left on without destroying the cover.

And here it is! the finished product... I think the paint that Johnny laid is absolutely perfect! It blends nicely with the used, slightly ragged, seat cover that´s over 47 years old.

The front view of the seat cover. You can see my repairs here and there. I don´t mind them at all! I´m very happy to be able to use this old cover on the bike. It is a true relic from the early days. I believe it is the original one the bike had when sold in 1970. The seat cover can most often be reused even after a crash. I actually think the seat base is the original as well. The fairing and windscreen are different, though. They take a pounding each time there´s a crash and they have most certainly been replaced a couple of times.

The outside is done. The only thing missing now is the black text "Esso Gunnarsson" that goes between the bottom white lines at the rear of the seat. I´ll deal with that later.

Time to get the oil tank in place. I got a tip about a Yamaha rubber strap having the same length as the H1R oil tank rubber bands. I bought a couple of them and will use them until I can source the correct ones, if I ever will.... ?

And here´s a peek inside the seat. Oil tank in place with its bracket and rubber bands. Brass outlet fitted to the better looking tank and ready to receive two stroke oil. If someone out there has two BAND OIL TANK #311220-6721 on stock, I´m very interested in buying....

Here´s a look down in to the hole in the seat. I need the correct oil tank cap as well. There´s no way I can reach down there to open the cap and refill oil. The original cap has a "handle bar" that reaches upwards to ease getting a grip on it. So, if you have a CAP, OIL TANK # 52003-012 I´m buying!

Here´s a comparison with the stock "fuel tank" cap on my oil tank and that of an S2 350cc triple. The one I am looking for is the same color as the one on the left but has the "handle bar" like the one on the right. It also has a vent hole as can  be seen in the next picture.

The insides of the two caps. 52003-012 has the vent hole and color of the left. one. Let me know if you find one, Please!

My investigation concerning my other racer (the home built one I bought a couple of weeks ago...) is ongoing and yesterday I got a hit! A friend here in Sweden who´s very much into racing history sent me this picture taken in 1973, probably in Karlsborg at the Gelleråsen track. I think it might actually be my bike!
The rear sets look exactly the same, the tank and the rear shocks also. The mounting of the fairing and the BING carbs are the same. I was told by someone else the bike might have been restored in the eighties and that can be the time the seat and fastback was changed. If you recognize the bike (or the hand in the picture) please let me know! The guy my friend suggested as the driver was not the correct one. I talked to him on the phone the otehr day and he never owned or built it. The hunt goes on!



























I will leave you now with one last picture of the seat as it looked when the bike was found in the barn 18 months ago. There´s been quite an improvement...

I have also started telling the story of the bike and the races it was in. The easiest way to do this and not mix that story with my restoration of the bike was to start another blog and link the two together.

You can read it here: www.kawapilot-races.blogspot.se

The history blog is also available from the start page of this blog on the right side where it says "pages" or "sidor" click on the line"Racing history Kawasaki H1R 1970" and you´ll get to the history blog. Those posts will be very living documents in the respect that I´ll add information to them as I come by it. Enjoy!

/Per

Wheel cleaning and buying another racer!

Time flies when you´re in the airline business... So sorry for not posting here for more than a month. That is a bit too long between the articles but on the other hand if nothing is being done on the bike, there´s nothing to write about.

The strange thing is that I feel I work on it most every day. This project is on my mind daily in some way or other. If I´m not thinking about how to proceed with the restoration technically, I´m at the computer looking for parts or searching for more information about the bike, "Esso", the races or the era, as such, in time. The seventies was an exciting time in many aspects! I´m also scanning a lot of background material and photos that I will publish as soon as I get enough material for each race the bike was in during the 4 years it was used.

Restoration wise I´m tooling along with the wheels. It would have been much easier and faster to just dismantle them and have them refurbished completely with rezinked spokes, media blasted and painted hubs and polished rims. Well, I didn´t choose that route, did I? No, I had to make it hard on myself. Degreasing them a couple of times, cleaning, cleaning and more cleaning and finally polishing by hand and also by using machines where I could, on these small surfaces.

I started out with my pneumatic grinder, fitted with a fine "grinding brush", 80 grit if I remember correctly, to clean up the brake surface on the inside of the brake drum. Rather pleasant work. Easy to reach and the brush is very effective on the surface rust on the drum. Fixed in under 30 minutes. Nice!
Here you can also see that the inside of the hub is dirty and full of soot and burned material sticking real hard to the surface. Not that the inside is that important, but I want it to look good during assembly. More about that later

Next up is the rim. Time to change to a buffing wheel with polishing paste driven by either the pneumatic grinder or the handheld battery drill. Dirty and tedious work. But rewarding since aluminium polishes quite easily and becomes very shiny. I use the machines as much as possible but realize that a lot more time will have to be spent polishing by hand.

The edges on the Borrani rims are coming along nicely. Here I also try to clean up the paint on the hub by various methods. My beloved "POL" polishing cream works OK, but doesn´t remove all the dirt and grease from the paint. I try White spirit and Thinner also. Works better but actually removes some of the paint as well... I´ll have to adress that later.

To finish off the rim polishing I need to get in between the spokes and clean up the surface. I find the fingers are my best polishing tools. This is NOT recommended if you have sensitive skin ( I do....). The fingers get very dirty and the products I´m using or not "finger friendly" But it gets the job done!

OK, rim more or less done. Time to start polishing spokes. 40 of them. At least two sides per spoke to polish and 2-3 positions to pull back and forth on the rag to get to every nook and cranny on the spokes. I spent at least 2 hours on one of the sides of the rear wheel polishing the 40 spokes from that side. Phui!!

Here´s the result of the first day of polishing the rear wheel. Rim almost done, hub cleaned and touched up with aluminium rim spray paint applied by brush in an artistic way! 20 years ago I actually did quite a few oil paintings and have lots of stuff left. The technique to apply spary color with a brush and make it look vintage and a bit used is something I have done before. So far so good! Time to go off to work for a few days.

Time flies... As I said before, things happen on a daily basis on the project. I buy parts, find out more about the history, I take stuff here and there to get fixed or made. During this time I also started out with the exhaust system. I´ll save that work for later and describe it as it gets more interesting.
Anyway, today i planned to remove the rear wheel bearings and change them. They seem to be OK, but I can not trust bearings that have been sitting in a barn for 40 years on this racer, No way. The tool I´m using here was a gift from my dear friend Stickan (the guy with the car repair shop across the street). He closed shop earlier this summer and he knew I just loved this old Volvo special tool set.

Nothing fancy at all. A set of hardened rings that you mount on a driving shaft (big or small) and use to drive out bearings. Works like a charm! I don´t know how I would cope without these... I have ruined my fair share of screw drivers trying to do this. Doesn´t work! They give in and are ruined. I´m sure there are better, more modern tools available out there, but I just love these! And they make me think of Stickan. Such a generous person and a great friend.

Stickan was actually 80 years old here when he finally emptied his workshop and closed up. One of the last genuine places in my neighborhood. Believe it or not, he started his business in the very same location 1961! 56 years hard at work repairing cars in the same basement. And still with a wonderful sense of humor and lots of laughter. This calendar girl was among the last things to go... I talked to him earlier today and he has actually bought himself a new bike! A sportster. How about that?! I can only wish to be that fit and happy at 80. Sorry for this parenthesis, but he is greatly missed! The garage is now being restored and will serve as parking space only for the owners of the condominiums in the house.... Too bad. OK, back to the wheel!

By slowly tapping my way around the bearing it is driven out from the hub. Here it is halfway. There is a tube inside the hub that makes it difficult to reach the bearing with any tool. That is why this set of rings and shafts is so superb. They slide inside and get a real good grip on the edge of the bearing even though the pipe is there and makes it difficult.

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Here they are! 6303A bearings and the steel tube that fits between the bearings on the inside of the hub. The tube is there to make the bearings, the spacers on the outside of the brake panel and the front fork legs in to one unit that you can tighten the axle on to. These bearings have been changed at some point. Stock bearings are 6303Z. The difference between the Z and the A is that the "A" bearings have two steel covers on the sides of the bearing and  "Z" only have one. Wheel bearings are typically "Z" with only one side covered. There is no need to cover up the balls on the inside of the hub. I have 6303SNE bearings in my stock and I will use them. The only difference here is that the cover on my new bearings will be nylon instead of steel. Doesn´t matter at all.

I will reinstall my new bearings when I´m done cleaning up the wheel. Back to polishing! The other side of all the spokes and some final  polishing of the rim. I found it a lot easier when I mounted the wheel on my vice. Spent another couple of hours in this part of the garage. As always... Good music on the radion makes tedious work a lot easier.

The rear wheel has seen a lot of chain oil and grease and was quite dirty with dried and, sort of, burned goo most everywhere. Thinner, or another strong solvent, will remove it. Here I´m using one of my paint brushes to clean up the inside of the hub. If you look closely you can see the brush strokes on the hub next to the spoke. That layer of paint was later "vintaged" by applying a small amount of thinner and brushing part of it off. Same technique was used on the inside of the drum and also on the hub between the spokes to get the shine back on the "cooling fins".

OK, here it is! Finished. I think I´m very pleased with the result. The final judgement if my work is good enough will be made when it all comes together on the bike with the brake plate, tire, sprocket and chain etc. So far it looks fine to me! I know, from experience, that it will look even better when the other parts are mounted to it.

And here is the other side. You can see I´ve painted the inside and treated the rim to look almost new. I believe It´ll be OK considering I´m replicating a racer that has been used for a couple of races during 1970.

Here´s a close-up of the inside. The brake surface has been cleaned and looks great. The inside of the hub might actually be a tad too bright, but it´ll do. You can also see one of the wheel bearing´s location. These wheels differ from the street ones in an interesting way. There´s no rubber damping cushions and no sprocket carrier on the racers. The chain drives the rear wheel directly without any damping what so ever. And on top of that, only two wheel bearings! On the street bikes there are three bearings on a rear wheel. two in the actual wheel and one in the sprocket carrier. For sure a lot heavier but also a lot more comfortable!

One last picture of the rear wheel clean-up. I think I´ve reached an OK "30cm-level" on this wheel restoration. This picture is from 10cm and here you can see some flaws in my brushing. Move away to 30cm, imagine the tire, sprocket and brake plate on and it is within limits!
One done! One to go....

Now over to something completely different... Well, maybe not THAT different. I have been aware of another Kawasaki racer here in Stockholm for the last 15 years and now I decided to try and acquire it.

The last time it was sold was 2001 or 2002 and I saw the ad back then in a magazine. During that time I had a couple of other projects (street bikes) and didn´t have any real interest in racers. So I let it go. I was pleased to see it end up here in town at a motorcycle parts dealer. One of the owners bought it. I´ve seen it in their shop now and then over the years but as they moved their business it disappeared and I haven´t seen it for a while.

When I started restoring the H1R this bike came back to memory and I asked if he still had it. He had and he was willing to sell it! A fair bit of negotiations back and forth and finally we agreed on a price and I bought it. It has been sitting for at least 15 years so it will need some TLC, for sure. My plan was to take it to EBOS/Eptune and have Ebbe look at it and start it up for me. He is busy, though, so we´ll see if I can keep my fingers off it. For now I´ve been looking at it closer to find out more about it.  The previous owner has some information about it somewhere...

Until he finds it, I´m searching myself all over the internet and via contacts and friends. So far not much has surfaced. I can see it is a fairly serious build someone did when they did it. Fiberglass body, tank and fairing with a Dunstall look to it. Two stroke oil tank behind the seat just like the real racers. It isn´t something someone built in their own garage from scratch, that´s for sure. The builder must have bought some kind of "kit" and modified an H1 1969 frame. The rear wheel is the original as is part of the frame. As you can understand I´m desperately looking for information about this bike. Please let me know if you recognize it or know something about it! Here are some clues:

RPM indicator from "SMITH"... Does that imply it was built in England? By who? Look also at the top of the front fork legs. What make is that? Ceriani? Marzocchi? The levers are Magura, commonly used all over Europe in the sventies.
I like the Tacho. 10000RPM:s straight up! Seems someone knew the approximate limit of the H1 engine´s capability.

The front drum brake. What make is this? It has 4LS technology and is super efficient. Open drum for ventilation and the front fork plus brake seems to be a nice unit. Did it all come with the "kit"? Tires are AVON road runners. Also commonly used.

The engine seems ported and has spacer plates below the cylinders. A common technique earlier to improve port timing and power. Big BING carbs with screened velocity stacks. Stock CDI ignition system with the smaller battery type from the H2:s. I connected power to it and the system seems OK. The characteristic "beeeep" from the early H1 CDI was there!

And here´s one of the problems... No kicker! The kicker shaft has been removed and the hole plugged. Was this plug a part of the "kit" as well? Or did someone make it? This makes it a bit harder for me to test starting the bike. I currently don´t own a roller starter... I´m looking for one! I really don´t fancy the idea of trying to start the bike downhill here at home and not having it start. Loong way uphill back home! Another interesting thing is that the gear box is dry. No oil.... Tells me there´s a problem with a leak somewhere.

Carbs seems to be OK, the float housings are easily removed by the spring and not too much goo in there. A light clean-up will be enough! I believe BING is a strange choice, though. A lot of other things on the bike point towards Britain, but these are BMW carbs or, at least, German. Why those?

I am very interested in the time frame here. When was it built? The VIN number is hard to read because of paint. I sanded the surface a bit to make it easier. I´m confident the VIN is below #1000. KAF-00X44. KAF is H1 and that low VIN is 1969, for sure. Does it say 00044? 00644 or 00944? Hard to tell!

OK, so the frame is 1969. What about the engine? KAE14369 is a 1970 H1 engine number. This tells me the bike was built at the earliest 1970. Possibly later, of course.

Here´s a picture of the tank, removed from the bike. What is it? Dunstall? The gas cap looks like it. It is in nice condition and seems to hold fuel. The fastener in front of the gas cap is for securing the tank to the frame in front. At the back there´s a bracket for a rubber band or similar to fasten the rear part. I guess it´ll take 12-14 liters of fuel.

Here´s another nice part. There are two fuel taps, one on each side of the tank, and the lines are joined here by this copper split. Soldered piece to split the two lines into three, one per carb. Nicely done! Also part of the "kit" or homemade?

The frame is heavily modified. It has been cut and a new rear part has been made to fit the seat slightly below the tank. In my opinion it doesn´t look that rigid and stable at all... If this engine makes 70-80 HP this is a scary ride!

Well, this is where I´m at right now... Thinking about two projects all of a sudden... I´m on Stand by duty at work for a few days so maybe I´ll find the time to try and start the second racer. If I get called out on duty I´ll have lots of things to think about, That´s for sure!










Thanks you guys for reading and if anyone of you knows anything about my second racer, please let me know! I can be reached at my e-mail: kawapilot@gmail.com or on my cell +46-70-5709240 Please don´t hesitate to contact me for any reason. I am, as you might understand, seriously interested in these racers! I´m also very keen on finding new street bike projects. So, if you have any Kawasaki triple you´re going to sell, let me know! I can buy it, help you sell it or even help you restore it. I do have a bit of knowledge and also some good contacts all over the world to source parts and restoration tips from. You are more than welcome! The coffee pot is always on here at the house.....