My V65 resto project

[zamackie49]

I am now the proud owner of GeoffStovold's V65. I decided to give it a light restoration. Details to follow, as and when.

 

[zamackie49]

I thought you might like to know what has been done to the bike since you sold it to me. (what else does an old man do in the winter?) I've refurbished all the brake calipers and powder-coated the wheels; they look pretty good. In addition, I've been sanding the rusty spots on the frame and the swinging arm with the view to touching them up with Hammerite rather than a full restoration. It'll be more of a good-looking user rather than a garage queen, as long as you don't look too closely. The next thing I want to do is renovate the front forks, but I've failed to remove them. Do you have any tips on how to do that?
Ride safe,
Dave.

 

[Paul Brice]

I just vapour blasted V65 Florida wheels (they were painted & corroded) & left them just wiped with AC50F. For forks you could probably polish the lower legs in situ (wet & dry at finer and finer levels down to 4000 grit); if the stanctions are good, the lowers can be removed without dropping the stanctions (as long as you release the damper assemblies at the top); else you need to undo both yolk bolts (can gently pry with chisel) & hammer/pull them out ....I hammered very hard with a socket & then dressed the bashed up tops later. Even then I had to wet & dry sand the inside of the yolk grips 'somewhat' to get the new stantions back in.

 

[Paul Brice]

Here's my rebuilt short video in case it helps....V65 Florida refurb; 1drv.ms/v/s!AtciqvJAt-nzsm1YQf-q9OCy5vQV?e=ceJYTf

 

[zamackie49]

I managed to remove the forks after leaving the yokes slathered in penetrating oil for several days. I reversed the pinch bolt on the top yoke and inserted a flat chisel, but that method didn't work for the lower yoke, where I carefully tapped in a small chisel, removed the valves at the top, used the shaft of an old wooden hammer as a punch, and hit with a bigger hammer. Once they started to move, they came out quite easily. The bottom halves look quite different from yours. I plan to polish the short top part and paint the rest. My next plan is to renew the oil and seal. Any tips would be welcome. I couldn't load your video, but your wheels look good. Mine are now clad in nice new rubber.

 

[Paul Brice]

It's all per manual.....just drain (& measure how much comes out in case you don't disassemble the damper units) the drain bolt & then undo the 'underneath big bolt' & withdraw the fork lower....seal is a circlip then screwdriver/suitable puller. Just drift new seal in & replace circlip (it's not pressurised, just holds the ATF in the fork). Carefully refit fork leg making sure the spring end cap groove aligns with lower cap thing in lower leg (some are plastic, some metal) refit lower 'underneath bolt'...refill from top with same amount you took out (or refill with recommended if you stripped it all down). Assuming you have manual, it's straightforward & only thing I remember is that 'forks back tightenend in yolks' is the best way to hold stanctions/fork (incl wheel sometimes) to undo/retorque lower bolt and top bolt.

 

[zamackie49]

It's all per manual.....just drain (& measure how much comes out in case you don't disassemble the damper units) the drain bolt & then undo the 'underneath big bolt' & withdraw the fork lower....seal is a circlip then screwdriver/suitable puller. Just drift new seal in & replace circlip (it's not pressurised, just holds the ATF in the fork). Carefully refit fork leg making sure the spring end cap groove aligns with lower cap thing in lower leg (some are plastic, some metal) refit lower 'underneath bolt'...refill from top with same amount you took out (or refill with recommended if you stripped it all down). Assuming you have manual, it's straightforward & only thing I remember is that 'forks back tightenend in yolks' is the best way to hold stanctions/fork (incl wheel sometimes) to undo/retorque lower bolt and top bolt.

Thanks for that. I don't have a manual for the V65 only one for the V50, which I assume is similar in many respects, but you know what they say about assumptions. For example, are the forks the same size? Anyway, things are progressing slowly with the hope that the bike will be ridable in the spring.

 

[pizza for you]

Looking forward to seeing the end results. Hope someday to visit Snydale, Yorkshire where my great grand mother was born. Beautiful country it is.

 

[Paul Brice]

The Mk3 manual I have also covers the V65/V65SP/V50C/V50. The V50 Mk3 has 32mm wide fork sliders; the V65 & V50C have 35mm sliders (my V65 Florida has 38mm sliders).....but despite all the bits are slightly wider, I think they are the same set up.

 

[Adamigo]

Just remember the oil inside is supposed just to lubricate the inners, as damping is done by the sealed unit at the end of the spring. So, similar amount of oil as in V50 will definitely do, no need to be extremely precise.

 

[Paul Brice]

They are all same spec'd at 0.07 Litres of ATF

 

[zamackie49]

Here's my rebuilt short video in case it helps....V65 Florida refurb; 1drv.ms/v/s!AtciqvJAt-nzsm1YQf-q9OCy5vQV?e=ceJYTf

I couldn't see how to watch your video. Do I need a special player?

 

[Paul Brice]

No, I'm not allowed to post links to external content, so administrators have cut it. I sent you a PM with it though !

 

[Tassie Mike]

I have also recently acquired a V65 as a project. I was fortunate it came with Ikon shocks and a Silent Hektik ignition. It also came with a drive box that was as much silicone as anything else and the original 1983 brake fluid. I'll follow your path with interest and probably post some pics of my own.

 

[zamackie49]

Things are moving on. The forks, grab rail, battery holder, numberplate holder, and headlight surround have all been painted and are ready to be re-fitted but, before that, I need to titivate the frame, swing arm, and engine casing plus clean the carbs and change the oils and filters. I'm sure that there will be other things that crop up in the process but progress is being made. Roll on spring.

 

[zamackie49]

After much anguish, the front forks are back in place. The yokes were astonishingly tight, so a lot of rubber hammer action was needed, even with two chisels inserted to help spread the yokes. I was very careful not to insert them too far in case of damage. I sprayed in a little penetrating fluid as well, which I think made a small difference.



I have cleaned and re-attached the carbs, making sure that they were airtight to the filter box. Previously air had been getting in through a gap between the left carb and filter box. I lubricated the throttle slide and, with a bit of luck, the overrun lag will be improved. Watch this space. A new air filter has been fitted. It was not easy, as the wingnut and screw had to be sawn off, as well as repositioning the breather pipes to gain access to the ridiculously positioned airbox. I had put in a new screw with a new wingnut and I made a new bracket. A time-consuming affair.

I fitted new (correct) spark plugs. The old ones were mismatched and, with the air gap, possibly the reason why the right side pipe ran hotter than the left.

The pipes have been re-chromed and the stainless silencers have been thoroughly polished by the people at the chromers. They have been transformed, as you will see from the before-and-after photos. I opted to have them re-chromed rather than buy new ones, which turned out to be cheaper than the after-market ones that I saw, which could have been made of tin foil, as far as I know.



I decided to paint the swing arm black instead of the cream that it had been. As you will see the cream was showing its age rather badly. It remains to be seen if I like it when everything is reassembled. My long-term plan is to have the engine refurbished and the frame powder-coated but that all depends on whether or not I want to keep the bike after a season's riding.



I have refurbished the calipers with new pins, springs, seals, and nipples (the pads were virtually new). As they were, only one caliper had the pins correctly positioned. In the other calipers, the pins were either missing or damaged and the nipples were all bunged up; not good!




Things are coming along but with days or sometimes weeks in between disassembling and reassembling, I struggle to remember how everything goes together. but I hope that it will be ready for April and some reasonable biking weather. We plod on. More news to follow.

 

[Paul Brice]

Agree the cream painted swingarms look out of place in the mix ...Did you paint over the old paint on swing arm or strip it first ?? Personally I found the rear swing arm & bevel box looked great just with stripping the paint off & match the engine block in base metal - didn't even need polishing, and a squirt of ACF50 keeps it gleaming !

 

[zamackie49]

Moving on! The tricky job was to bleed the rear brakes. I struggled, so I sent the bike to a nearby motorcycle workshop. The front brake was easy to bleed and works as it would have done, which is not great but should be okay to compliment the rear. In the meantime, I have cleaned the petrol tank and sealed it with 'Rostio' emulsion. The taps have been polished and the internal filters cleaned (they were full of all sorts of rubbish). I do intend to add some small inline filters, just in case. I managed to source some good-looking rear indicators and, with straight stems, it should look fairly close to the original. The headlight is on and working plus the front indicators and the instrument cluster.

New photos of the (more-or-less) finished article. Just a few safety checks, and it should be ready to go.

 

[DeadEye]

Looking Good !
Well done.

 

[pizza for you]

Looks great.