Rear Shocks

The rear shocks on the bike were working fine however they were a bit rusty and chipped.
I spent a little time with my craft drill sanding and buffing
The shocks are a sealed unit and I couldn’t find a away to get them apart to paint the spring, I couldnt do with trying to get bit off paper between the spring and piston so I just touched them up with the wife’s nail polish.

I think they have come out ok and don’t look too bad, if I think that they look to old when the rest of the bike is done I’ll invest in new ones

Parts

Just a quick update on parts purchased and parts to get so people can understand what were changing on this bike, i was originally going to just tidy it up but its soon grown in to a full restoration. Motor and all !!!!

Purchased

Front Fork Legs, Exhaust Gasket, Engine Head Gaskets, Front Wheel Bearings, Air Filter,Left Hand Grip,Exhaust Pain, Exhaust Wadding, Spark Plug,De Greaser, Exhaust Wrap & Ties,

Selling

Old Fork Legs, Old Plastics/Seat & tank

To Buy

Plastics/Seat/Tank, throttle & Oil Cable,Oil pipe,Rear Wheel & Shaft Bearings,Foot Peg Rubbers,New Piston & Rings, Small End Bearing,Crank & Big Bearing, Crank Bearings, Oil Caps,Tyres & Innertubes …….. im sure the list will grow

 

Exhaust work

Dave brought the exhaust with him today and true to the word he had got the guard off and re-tapped with new screws.
It all came at a cost tho and the cost was PAIN!!!

When drilling the old fixings out he also drill pressed his hand !

Exhaust work

Today I dropped the exhaust over to Daves so he could try and take the guard off and re tap the holes to remount.

The guard was a little bent and needed straightening out, also the part of the guard at the lower end by the manifold was highly rusted and bent, I suggested that we cut this bit away and wrapped with exhaust tape the ‘u’ bend part away from the manifold for 2″ inches until where the guard begins.

Daves told me he would have a look at it this week or next weekend , once he is finished I can clean it up and paint it .

See below images before any work.

Dropped bits round Dave’s about noon today and received a call at 8pm saying he had done it with NO damage to the original exhaust. He has cut the rusted part off drilled out and re-taped the 3 guard mounting holes. He is a true engineer and I’d struggle doing a job like that without his help! He is going to give it to me this week for paint ect. I’ll post pictures once it’s complete .

I’m sure that this isn’t the last job that I’ll be needing Dave and his workshop for machining/manufacturing purposes.

Time todate 4hrs + 1hr Dave total 5hrs work todate.

More Strip Down

Today i needed to remove the old forks and get them on Ebay, while there i wanted to take the wheels off to give to Curtis for paint, i took the rear shocks off too so i could touch these up,and the exhaust so i could service and paint.

The bike is coming apart nicely all i have to do is remember how to put it back together.

Iv been a bit ebay crazy picking up parts here and there bearings/filers ect.  its good to know you can still pick up parts for these old bikes and not overly expensive either.

Curtis is a friend from work who is going to spray the frame,bars, fork tress and wheels for me. i could do this but i think id rush it.  Iv taken the rear shocks of as there is some rust on the spring/coil i would live to take this apart and do a full job but i think it’s a sealed unit instead im just using some of the wifes red nail varnish to touch up. if it looks shocking at the end ill buy some new aftermarket ones.

When getting the exhaust off i took the baffle out the silencer and it was oil crazy, also there was a bit of wadding in there that was soggy as hell. iv ordered some new wadding (not really needed) but should run nicer) and a new copper gasket. im going to spray the exhaust and a friend Dave is going to work on freeing the guard as it was rusted and screws were rounded of. iv got a bet with him that he can’t take the guard off and re tap the holes without putting a hole in it !

All coming along nicely, next on the list is to re-wrap the electrical loom and label once this is done ill take the motor from the frame.

Also was concerned about the rear wheel , when taking it off i noticed that the brake shoes had come off completely. Im hoping that this is the reason why the why was not spinning freely.

Time was 2Hrs + 2Hrs = 4Hrs none by others (might be taking my time so i remember how things go together)

Day 1 Strip Down & Check

Today i got the bike on the ramp in my dads work shop and started to strip it down!

This is the bike before in all its glory as you can tell she has seen better days.

Evaluations!

Full strip down and paint inc. wheels,frame,engine head,fork clamps,

Front forks are in need of a full restoration however you cannot get aftermarket parts and original OEM/Yamaha are expensive it works out only £20 more to buy a new pair of fork legs. i got some from ebay yesterday for £65 delivered and hoping to get £20 back for the old ones.

Exhaust system needs a full service, i may wrap it. going to change front wheel bearings and both front and back break shoes.

Im felling new plastics but would love to keep the original seat but i will need recovering and a seat cover from yamaha is £60 when a set of plastics with seat is only £110 deivered. Could prob get £25 for old set with Tank.

Long list of items to get done first need to strip it down, i downloaded for free a PDF Manual and Parts catalog (not correct year but will help)

The frame number is a 4X4 – 260902 i belive that this is a 1983 PW50k.

Time spent todate 2Hours & none by others

Bike Purchased

After about a month of lossing ebay auctions and 10`s of emails trying to buy bikes out of auction iv finally had luck and got a bike.

I paid £170 for it, had to travel 80 miles so not to bad really, it fit in the boot of my car nicely!

Now for the first observations; Seat ripped, plastics tatty,not petrol cap, forks rusted and seals gone, paint bad and pitted, wiring loom exposed, oil pump not connected, rear wheel not running too freely.

Not all bad tho as some good points are; all orignal, runs fine on and off choke,all complete

Now the fun starts hopefully the next time my boy (Finley) sees it it will be a diffrent bike!!

P.S Bit concered how the back wheel is a bit tight.

Project PW 50

I like many other riders started my riding life on a little Yamaha PW 50, i was 3 years old when i starred on mine and i thought it would be a nice present to also get my son for his 3rd birthday.

Iv spent time looking for a suitable project as i want to do a full restoration on an older bike, one day he can look back at this blog to see the hard work that went in to his little bike.

Im not a big bike mechanic but have good basic knowledge from working on old bikes iv owned and from helping my dad with general bike maintenance

Im not going to spend ££££`s but want to get it to a good standard with a little help from mates and ebay!

Any questions of tips please let me know and drop me a comment.