Category Archives: Motorbikes

Tank Painted

Painted the fuel tank today. Used CRC Strip Off paint stripper in a can. Sanded with 400 grit wet. Etch primer then Rustoleum High gloss White then two coats of 2K clear from my spray gun.
There’s some runs and orange peel, it’s not by any means perfect but it’s better than it was and the tank is protected from corrosion now.

Crankcase washout

The SX175 rustoration continues. We’ve got the transmission shifting. We got all the water out of it and then filled it to the top with a mix of diesel, turps and petrol (our parts washer brew). Worked it free, seems ok.
Today we worked on getting the water out of the crankcase. Getting the cylinder off was a challenge, there was a lot of packed in dirt around the cylinder retaining nuts. Genuine Queensland red dirt that had set like cement.
After we got the cylinder off we put our small parts washer under the bike and piped the fluid into the crankcase to flush out the mayonnaise.
Piston ring gap is 1.6mm šŸ˜‚ but the cylinder looks have little wear and came up good enough after a light hone. Piston will do, it’s not terrible.
We’re definitely going to need some new piston rings.