Thanks


Check out hellonewman's 62 thread as well. He is really close to starting the bike and has put a ton of effort into bring the bike back to life.

 

Well I have gone through 2 gallons of acetone, 1 quart of Jasco paint & epoxy remover (applied 3 times to each tank half), and 1 gallon oF mineral spirits. Let the acetone sit for 24 each time over the last four days. Got to the Jasco and I let it sit for 30 minutes (directions only call for 15 minutes) before draing and cleaning with mineral spirits. Would be nice to ba able to get in there with a rag or scraper, but the substitute has been chain link and 3/8 in bolts and shaking and mixing it around first with acteone, flollowed by the Jasco, and then mineral spirits.. Have 95% of the Red Kote gone but there is still some places that look like the coating over the original parkerized finish the tanks (gotta be Kreme or Por 15).

There are several disadvantages to living in California (politics aside), but one is that MEK and Xylol are not allowed in the state. Both have better reacting properties than acetone when it comes to epoxy and resin based materials.

Have a couple of more gallons of acetone and two more quarts of Jasco. Probably keep at it until I exhaust those and decide if it is good enough to have the insides done in Red Kote. Wish I could post a pic, but there is no way to just go with them as they are (uncoated).

Come Monday I drive up to Dent Dynamics in Santa Rosa and drop off the right tank so that they can take an ungly dent out.

 

Just finished getting up to date really enjoyed the progress thanks for sharing

 

Lucky you could drive to Dent Dynamics, I had to mail my Shovel tank to him, not cheap. But he does a great job and was worth the postage.

 

Used them to take a dent out of the '78 FXE tank, on 1/2 of my 49 EL tanks and now this. Definitely not cheap, but they do a really good job.

 

5 gallon tanks painted.



Waiting for the dent to be taken out of the right side on the 3-1/2 gallon tanks. After that they go down to a place in North Hollywood for derusitng the inside of the tanks and sealer. I have a set of aftermaket 3-1/2 gallon tanks I am thinking about using just to be able to fire the bike up. Still not sure about running the smaller tanks with the hack on it (even tho that is correct for 1965). If the gas milage is as bad as I think it will be, I'll probably end up using the 5 gallon tanks with the frame shifter (not introduced until 1966).


And on a side note...the inner primary in post #326 is HD issue and not aftermarket. Found out that the original one with the casting numbers #60620-65 was used from 1965 to early 1966. It is unvented (tho I did upgrade I mine and added the vent). Sometime in 1966 HD added the vent to the inner primary and changed/added the casting number #20-65A. That inner primary was used from mid-1966 thru 1969.

 

I used paint stripper and acetone to remove the paint from the tank emblems. They were not treated nicely. Not sure why someone figured they had to go all Cro-Magnon on them to get the original paint off because the combination of the stripper and solvent worked perfectly fine and no need to scrape paibnt off. Next up is to order the emblem paint



Both sets of (one set from the 5-gallon and the other from the 3-1/2 gallon ones) tank emblems appear to be original. There is no marking on the back of the right emblem but the back of the left emblem has the "FOX" markings on them.

 

Progress is slow. Got the 3-1/2 gallon tanks back from Dent Dynamics. There will still be a bit of filler on the right tank. Dent was pretty significant, but less than the dent in the 51-53 tanks I had posted awhile back.

Found a place in Los Angeles CA...GTL Advantage. They remove old liner, get rid of rust and use a sealer that is used by the US Navy to seal fuel tanks. Shipped the tanks yesterday, It is a two man shop. Great folfs to talk to. Turnaround time is 6 weeks. I will report back once they are back in my possession.

Finally got to mounting the windshield. It is not original to the bike. It was one of those swap meet special I acquired back in the late 70s because I was tired of the beatings I took from the elements everytime I was on a long road trip (I can only think of 3 times that I have crossed the Rockies and it wasn't raining or snowing lightly and then you kick in the unpredictable weather patterns on the plains). My understanding is that for 65 models the top piece should be peaked and not rounded, but I can't wrap my mind around using aftermarket when I have an original (just not correct year) part.

The windshield itself had some wear, tear and scratches. I used 2000 grit sandpaper (wet sanding) followed up by Novus plastic cleaner in three different grits to get it to where it looks decent enough.

When I took things apart to polish stainless, chrome braces and screws and cad plate the rest, I managed to salvage the original stcker. Use some Gorilla glue to put it back on. Think it will hold.




So the question for the day....Anyone know how to "decode" (for lack of a better word) the windshield components. They were made by Union Carbide. Just wondering if there is a way to determine the "year".

Top Piece:
Union Carbide M3355
"HD Logo" AS6
082

Bottom Piece:
Union Carbide M3355
"HD Logo" AS6
013

Center Piece:
Union Carbide M3355
"HD Logo" AS6
013

The "082" and "013" are actually under the "AS6". When I hit the submit button it shifts those to the left.

Some pics (not the best but the best I could do)

 

The right tool for the right job.

 

I need one to do my 66 bags. Doing the bottom clips would require something much bigger though. Or I'll do them by hand. Where can I get that tool?