CB450 shock tear down

After struggling with some Irwin clamps for 30 minutes and a few pinched fingers, I finally managed to disassemble the 450 shocks. After seeing the shrouds removed on a friends bike I decided to keep them off. I polished up the chrome bits, checked that the dampers were still functioning properly, and reassembled; I like the look much better now. Next up is priming and painting the subframe and truing the wheels.

Teaser

The bike is almost done... more pictures to come soon

Time For Paint

First coats of color were put on today. It came out with some orange peel and a few air bubbles but hopefully it'll all wet sand out before the clear coat. The tank has been painted with the same color but its locked away in a box and I won't be moving it for a few hours out of paranoia so pictures will come tomorrow when it's dry.

Rear shock mounts in progress

The plates for the rear shock mounts are welded on. They're drilled with 7/8" holes that I'll dremel out to 1" at a horizontal angle since the plates are not vertical. The shock mounts were turned with a 1" step so that the bushing has something solid to butt against so this will be welded into the hole in the plate. My welds are still not great but they're getting better. They may not look pretty but these mounts aren't going anywhere.

Finished Fork Brace

I put the last coat of paint on the fork brace and attached the perforated aluminum. It's ready to mount.

Lacing Wheels

I finished up the rims and hubs today so finally time to lace them up. I took a timelapse video to show the whole process and a glamor shot of the finished products. Buchanan's really came through for me on the spokes. I told them my situation and that I was on a time crunch and was still told they would take a week just to manufacture. I requested 3-day shipping to expedite the process a little but was surprised to see that they had shipped the day after I ordered them. I definitely recommend their products and customer service.

Front Wheel

Finally got around to removing the front wheel and unlacing it. I was able to remove all the spokes with just a little elbow grease. The hub and rim were sandblasted to prep for paint and powder, respectively.

Buchanan spokes and Eastwood powder came today and I'll be powdering the rims and top coating the hubs tomorrow. If all goes well, I'll be ready to lace up the hubs in two days time.