Sanding

Last night, I did a bit of sanding on the left crank case cover (AKA stator cover)

From this:

To this:

I used 400 grit wet automotive sand paper. Planning on slowly moving up to 2000 grit. I think I will be painting most of it black except for the round part so will only try to get that part really shiny.

UPDATE: this is after 600 and 1000 grit.

UPDATE: went up to 1500 last night

Next Steps

Ok so last week was a new milestone. I got the bike out of the trailer! And wow, do I have a lot of work ahead of me.

So far, I've determined that:
I'm missing:
a chain tensioner / adjuster:

bolts for the stator cover (or left crank case cover).  Also, the gasket on the stator cover is pretty much non-existent.

Headlight housing and handlebars. I do have the front chrome headlight housing but not the rear. The left headlight bracket is also broken.

The right side exhaust is rough shape and the left side is non-existent. Also, the collector looks really rough and the shields have been cut off with an angle grinder. I would like to get rid of it anyway and get after market exhaust but am also not looking forward to re-jetting the carbs.

I'll be relying on the shop manual as well as some on-line parts stores that have blow out diagrams for parts lists to figure out where everything goes.

At this point the wire harness is completed striped off but all the connectors look to be in fair to good condition.

I've tracked down the stator cover bolts and chain tension adjuster but before I spend any more money, my next and biggest priority is to get the bike back together so that at a bare minimum, I can get it to turn over and possibly even started. I'm not entirely sure what that bare minimum is but for starters I'll hook up the spark plug wires, battery, and as much of the wire harness up as I can. I'm sure having handlebars to connect the throttle too would be helpful as well.

Progress Report

So the bike is still in the trailer I brought it home in....

However, I've been doing a lot of research and learning. I watched an hour long video by Mr.Polecat on Youtube the other day on how to do Valve clearance adjustments. He rambled on a lot but it was all good learning. I've also been working on making myself a work space for the bike by enclosing the patio under my deck.

Last night I started working on the gas tank. I got as far as cleaning the exterior and peeling the original pin striping off. Here are some pics:

So I stopped by the autobody shop down the road from my work with it this morning and asked about getting it painted. The guy recommended getting the interior dipped or coated before hand and estimated he could paint it of about $150. Guess it's time to look around for an outfit that will coat it.