This is how she came home.

The original paint is in excellent condition. The previous owner started the rebuild.

Before he gave up this is what he removed.

The faring and bags will not be reinstalled. We want a Naked Wing. (the pickup truck could also use a restoration)

30,000 original miles. The gauge faces could use some work.

Starting the tear down.

The carbs definitly need a rebuild, but they are in remarkably good shape considering they sat for 17 years with gas in them.

The radiator hoses need to be replaced.

The bolt that holds the back of the thermostat housing in place snapped off prompting much work and drilling eventurally ending up with a helicoil.

The timing belts look to be in excellent shape but are going to be replaced due to age.

The last engine I started after sitting for a long time had an exhaust valve stick open destroying the engine.

This time we are taking no chances. The heads are comming off.

The heads are in pretty good condition.

A little carbon and rust on the exposed valve stem in the port. Then clean all surfaces, new oil seals and gaskets.

Got the heads, timing belts and the points back on and painted the engine.

Next is the thermostat housing and coolant tubes. Then reinstall the carburators and the battery box and battery.

Getting ready to start her for the first time

The inside of the gas tank was rusty so it had to come out to be cleaned.

This involved removing the rear tire, rear fender, differential, rear brake, battery and battery box.

In my search for an original equipmet muffler I ended up purchasing an entire 76 parts bike complete with muffler, rear seat rail, rear shocks and

any other part I could possibly want. The only problem is the parts bike is almost to nice to take any parts off.

A little polishing the exterior and cleaning the interior and replacing all the gaskets and and jets in the carburators.

Put everything together and roll it out in the driveway for pictures.

The muffler needed a lot of cleaning and a little welding where the headers joined to the muffler.

I started her up today and was able to ride her around the neighborhood.

The Tail lights are still missing and the fork seals need to be replaced.

I couldn't resist taking a picture of both of the wings together.

Now the fork needed to come apart to change the fork seals.

While I had them apart I spent at least five hours at the buffing wheel polishing the lower fork legs

reassemble the fork with new seals, clean and polish the rim, completely disassemble and clean the brake calipers, replace the speedometer cable.

and put it all back together.

First ride.

I drove the bike over to let the previous owner see it. I could tell by his reaction that he approves of my work.

He even let me take his picture with the bike.