"Raw Deal" how to make a crappy bike.....worse!

markus

markus

Well-Known Member
#1
#1
I posted in the vintage forum showing this bike I recently bought. its a 100% original 1979 manco streaker. It looks like hell though, Motor seemed to be locked up and looks like it had been sitting in a swamp (it was right near the banks of the ST. Johns river up in north FL) Even came complete with grass and twigs intertwined through it for were it had got parked and forgotten about long ago.


So I hit every bolt on it with PB blaster and let it sit a few days, Not sure what I was going to do with it. I started to take it apart the other day to see just how bad everything was. Its not so terrible really. The frame is heavily pitted, while it could be fixed, why? Its a streaker:doah: Once I got the wheels off, right to the blast cabinet they went. They did not clean up too bad actually. there is some pitting but not as bad as I thought there would be

Luckily The bolts came out for the sprocket and did not break the spacer, and I didn't even pull any threads out. All the hardware got blasted and cleaned and ready to be dolled up as well. The sprocket looked pretty bad even after media blasting, I hit it with some etching primer and will have to spray it silver.

The motor, Its an H30, cord was hanging half out the recoil, solid stuck or at least it felt that way. I started to pull the blower housing off and about 2 lbs of dirt and debris toppled out of it, complete with rusty water line on the flywheel:doah: cleaned that out and the motor moves, the recoil is all froze up by itself not really the motor:thumbsup: So I got it pulled and tore mostly apart to get a better idea of how bad it is, alot of rust (but not deep thankfully) on the shrouds but the block is pretty clean, carb operates smoothly, and looks low hours.


So what am I gonna do with that nasty frame? Make it worse:thumbsup: Today I went out with one of my wire brushes and started to scrape all the loose stuff off, then I painted it with aircraft stripper, broke out the pressure cleaner and started to blast away at it.



I'm just gonna leave it "raw". I still have a few Klingons of yellow, I would like to get it totally bare (with minimal work mind you :wink:).

Since the motor looks good, is a correct mini bike motor etc.. its worth cleaning up no matter what, so I am going to do that. Not sure what I will do to it, I want to blast the tins and see how they come out, might leave them "raw" as well. Wheels are done, seat is perfect, chainguard is nice. Dunno if I will reuse the fenders, While I like to leave the bikes "original" those things are kinda gay! I'm on the fence about the handlebars as well, Maybe a set of tall chrome ones for it or something, or just leave it as is.

who knows, maybe a nice frame will pop up and I can just swap over and I can put this frame out of its misery finally:laugh:
 
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markus

markus

Well-Known Member
#12
#12
Havasu Dave said:
A can of latex rust converter, a can of etching primer and a can of hammered metal, and you're there. :thumbsup:
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How bout just some 80 grit paper, a scotch brite whiz wheel, and a can of clearcoat, and a cheap can of it at that:thumbsup: this is a shot of the good (smooth) side BTW:doah:. I just did a light pass with the clear on the back section to see what was gonna happen.



i don't think i every seen a yellow manco........maybe the first one every posted here?
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I never knew or paid attention to who actually made these. I Always see them qouted as being a Sears. it had the Manco decal front left of the plate, but it also has pre drilled holes for some sort of tag like what a sears bike would have, Maybe it was just overflow for manco or something to that effect?

Is that the "mark of manco" to the right of the holes?:
 
markus

markus

Well-Known Member
#14
#14
toomanytoys said:
Looks good really.

How you coming on that hilltopper?
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The Hilltopper-I pressure cleaned it, does that count for anything:shrug: I actually rolled it out to the shed for the time being. Few more things I want to clear out of here before I tear another one apart. This Manco was not planned, I was literally tearing the bike down just so I could throw the frame away this coming garbage day when I got this "idea" :doah:
 
markus

markus

Well-Known Member
#15
#15
Cleared and back on wheels......


the sun always goes away when I try and take pics:doah: It looks a little cooler in direct sunlight as the different colors start to show better. I only used 3/4 of a can of that cheap "high heat" dupli-color crap clear for the entire bike, including clearing the sprocket. I may lay some more on it before its gets fully assembled, gonna let this "cure" and see what it does first.
The seat is deceiving, it looks big and cushioned well, it sits too far forward and would probably be more comfortable if it was just a piece of plywood! Not only did they skimp on the paint when they built these seat padding was not high priority either:doah:. Gotta figure out bars too, If I don't use what it came with, I have to go at least the same size or taller, I tried a Rupp set on it which were a little shorter, no way that would ever work, even for a little person! This thing is SHORT!

Gotta start stripping the motor:thumbsup:
 
45t

45t

Well-Known Member
#16
#16
I like it. It would make a good beater bike. :thumbsup:

You could easily refoam the seat with a few layers of carpet padding cut, trimmed to fit and glued together. I did that on one of mine. It was a cheap and easy fix and inproved the comfort a lot.
 
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markus

markus

Well-Known Member
#18
#18
Little more done, I stripped the engine tins, scotchbrited them and got them somewhat shiney, installed the numberplate which I am lovin'! I stuck the fenders loosely one for now, I really don't know about them:shrug:



I did try a lil indian fender I have on it, It looked alot better I thought. I don't have a blank fender though for the front as the holes are in an odd spot, so I may just buy a set of standard chrome fenders through OldMiniBikes, they are the same size as vintage fender I have just not as nice on the bend.

I also re-glued the original serial number decal back onto the bike. I don't know how well it will work, I really could not get the paint off the pack of the decal and it was infused with rust from the frame. I am going to see if I can find a sheet of clear decal and stick that over the top to help protect it.



I cleaned up the block and sprayed it with semi gloss black which was a prefect match to what was on it. I don't know if I want to leave it semi gloss or I may reinstall all the tins and clear it all at once.

I blasted the bars for now, hit them with the scotch brite disk as well. I looked a little last night for replacement bars, I kinda like the BMX crossbar on this set though, so I will maybe roll with these for now...

 
roccosbike

roccosbike

#20
#20
That mark of manco you refer to looks like a stamp from whoever welded it.They do that to keep track of who welded what in a production shop. At least thats what I think because I used to work at Putzmeister America welding on pumper trucks and I still have my stamp, I used to stamp everything I welded there.(it was mandatory)
 
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