cruhr1 2016 build off entry*vintage class *1969 Rupp Chopper*

[cruhr1]

If your plans are to keep it and you really love it, I would redo it. No better way to start a project than actually having all the correct parts in front of you instead of trying to hunt everything down or settling on the incorrect parts because you cant find them. I lean toward redo becuase of the frame "repair" needing repaired and the chainguard crack more than anything. Just looking to make some scratch off it, then just clean it up but the frame issue will kill it for alot of people anyway and bring the overall value down.

One thing I will point out from my experience with the cubs and 220's, if you start messing with the tank and take it off the shroud or anything like that, no matter how clean it is inside, reline/reseal it. Whoever had done the "restoration" on the engine that came with one of the 220 cubs I had did not, even thought it was an NOS tank it started to seep from the riv-nuts, thankfully they did use quality paint and didnt ruin the finish of the shroud. But I did have to "break the seal" on the shroud bolts and bugger up a better than average "resto" to get the shroud off so I could seal the tank-it was that or I had try and roll sealer all around inside the tank and hold it upside down still attached to the engine! It may not leak now but when taking the bolts out or re installing its possible for the rivnut to move and they are not sealed.

Good luck with it!

Thanks for the tank tips Markus. Are you suggesting that I leave the tank attached to shroud if possible? What did you use to seal yours? And to answer your first question I plan to keep this bike. In case you didn't see my thread from last week titled "my free mini bike story" I heard about the bike, located the owner and talked to him about my mini bike interests and he gave the bike to me for nothing. The way I see it that bike would have sat where it was for who knows how long rotting away. I don't feel bad about restoring it. At least I plan on doing it as original as possible. Worse things could have happened to it. Someone else could have found it, thrown that little Tec in the garbage and put a predator on it.

 

[Rupp 72]

Chad at the end of the day it is your bike so do what you want. I personally like to restore bikes, even if they could be considered survivors. I understand that things are only original once, but to me a restored bike will stand out more than a survivor and in the end will still have the same or in many cases more value. Also it is fun to work on and nice to be able to show all your buddies before and after pictures and be proud of your work. Do what you want with the bike, in any case it is a great candidate for the Build Off most definitely:thumbsup: I cant wait to see what you do with it!

 

[markus]

I used redkote on that tank, it was the easiest to work with since I was trying to be as careful as I could of the paint. I did go a step further as well and dress and run a bead of JB weld around the nuts when I had the tank off the shroud too since its not seen in hopes to cover all bases-if the tank was bare or going to be painted I would have tried some solder for a cleaner/better seal. If you have a heavy hand when tightening i would probably install it back on the shroud before you line it, in case the nut twists, if your restoring you will probably paint the engine as one unit like factory so that wont matter that its on there, just get the shroud prepped good first.

 

[manchester1]

I can probably save a lot of that seat instead of a new one. I would have to get a good look at it and make sure its not to crunchy:laugh: It would also same you some $$$$$$$$$. I sewed new sides on this seat from my Rupp.

 

[cruhr1]

I can probably save a lot of that seat instead of a new one. I would have to get a good look at it and make sure its not to crunchy:laugh: It would also same you some $$$$$$$$$. I sewed new sides on this seat from my Rupp.

Hey Karen that seat isn't crusty or stiff at all. It's just worn on the two rear corners. I'll send you whole thing soon and you can work your magic.

 

[manchester1]

Sounds good. I don't care about dirt, that helps to preserve.:laugh:

 

[cruhr1]

I didn't have much time tonight but I did work on a small section of one of the wheels just to see how they were going to clean up. They should come out nice.

 

[manchester1]

That looks great. Those Rupps clean up really nice. Just takes some elbow grease. Even my rust bucket cleaned up pretty good

 

[cruhr1]

I used redkote on that tank, it was the easiest to work with since I was trying to be as careful as I could of the paint. I did go a step further as well and dress and run a bead of JB weld around the nuts when I had the tank off the shroud too since its not seen in hopes to cover all bases-if the tank was bare or going to be painted I would have tried some solder for a cleaner/better seal. If you have a heavy hand when tightening i would probably install it back on the shroud before you line it, in case the nut twists, if your restoring you will probably paint the engine as one unit like factory so that wont matter that its on there, just get the shroud prepped good first.

Thanks Markus. This advice is much appreciated:thumbsup:

 

[jakedmoe]

That thing is sweet! untouched.

 

[KEFMAN99]

this was in worse shape than your chad when I started it

 

[KEFMAN99]

 

[KEFMAN99]

 

[cruhr1]

Got some work done today!

I got the bike disassembled this morning and started removing the grease. Here are some pics of the frame with most of the grease removed.

After looking over the frame I have made my final decision to restore the bike. As you can see on the lower half of the frame there is quite a bit of paint missing and the lower rear tubes are rusting pretty heavily. I got most of the paint removed from the frame and cleaned up the stick weld on the down tube. Surprisingly it was welded up really nice and solid.

I also got the wheels split apart and started cleaning up the chrome rings. This is by far the worst one and it cleaned up quite well.

I still have to strip the forks and straighten the slight bend in the tubes but it's finally on the way now!

 

[manchester1]

That looks great. Your doing a awesome job:thumbsup:

 

[mrpat]

Looking good. All your hard work will pay off....guaranteed!

 

[OND]

Looking good and going to look even better, :thumbsup: Keep up the good work !

 

[capguncowboy]

I recant my previous statemtents about keeping it as a survivor. That paint was far worst than it looked in the original pictures. I would have done the same thing as you.

You've made some good progress. I can't believe those wheel halves look as good as they do when the rest of it was so rough

 

[cruhr1]

That looks great. Your doing a awesome job:thumbsup:

Looking good. All your hard work will pay off....guaranteed!

Looking good and going to look even better, :thumbsup: Keep up the good work !

Thanks everyone.

 

[cruhr1]

I recant my previous statemtents about keeping it as a survivor. That paint was far worst than it looked in the original pictures. I would have done the same thing as you.

You've made some good progress. I can't believe those wheel halves look as good as they do when the rest of it was so rough

Thanks capgun! It was even worse than I originally thought. Much of that paint could be scratched off with a fingernail so it was definitely time to fully restore it. I was quite surprised how well that wheel half cleaned up. All I can say is they must have used some really good chrome back then. All that rust is just sitting on the surface. There are a few tiny black specs where it ate through the chrome but by the time the aluminum center hubs are bolted back in they will not be noticeable and the other two halves are much better than the one I cleaned up already.