First Generation Ascots > The Thumper Years: Modified To Full Customs
Dutch FT project
FT500R:
Yep,
Thats one of the reasons that progress has been very slow.
Every time I disassembled the bike I had to make sure I was able to assemble it again within the day.
Unfortunately a real garage is almost unobtainable here in Amsterdam.
I've taken the engine inside now so I can work on it during the evenings in my living room.
This project will never be a fast paced one but nonetheless I hope to eventually have a nice little bike that I can enjoy.
J6G1Z:
Do you have a back porch, balcony, or maybe even a bath-tub? ;D
You wouldn't be the first guy to build a bike in his living room.
Good luck
J.
FT500R:
I do have a balcony and since the weather today was very good in the early evening I decided to work on the engine a bit.
Armed with a ton of de-greaser, a copper brush, some steel wool and a lot of toilet paper I tried to clean the very dirty engine.
I realized quite quickly that Honda did not design the engine with cleaning in mind, way to much unreachable nooks and crannies.
This is how bad it was:
After some scrubbing (who ever had the idea to make these large crevasses where chain grease builds up?)
The eventual some what clean result
Goal of today was not to get it shiny clean but clean enough so I can have it in my living room without receiving to many complaints ;)
I you guys have tips how to better clean it, especially in the small corners and in between the cooling fins they are more than welcome.
I also removed the rev cable mounting. Ill probably fabricate some sort of plastic insert and than cap it using a small steel plate using the original bolt hole
Unfortunately I also discovered that I am not the first to tinker with the bike, I found a large array of different screws, nuts and bolts with this being the absolute winner:
After cleaning its time for ordering parts!
The FT has a strange angled inlet manifold to help clear the battery tray but since I'm not using this anymore I wanted a straight inlet.
In one of the old Yahoo message board files I found a post about the possibility to use a Harley inlet manifold for which you only needed to oval the mounting holes a bit.
I ordered it and got it in the mail some time ago
However the carb mounting hole is slightly smaller than the original carb (42 vs 44mm) after some persuasion it does actually fit.
I am a bit worried about the original bracket that holds the throttle cables but I'll test that later.
Next part is deciding on how to paint the engine.
I'm leaning towards this look
so silver/polished side covers and cam cover, black cilinder, cilinder head and polished cooling fins.
J6G1Z:
I've used the foaming oven cleaning spray before. It is becoming difficult to find in the USA though. If you find some & try it, make sure you wear protective clothing, gloves & eye protection.
It looks like you might have a lot of rain in your area. Raw aluminum will not stay nice looking if it is exposed to moisture. It will turn chalky white, or worse. If you want a nice silver type of appearance, look for a Powder Coating shop. Here are a couple of wheels that I had powder coated.
J.
J6G1Z:
Here is something else you might be interested in.
https://www.z1enterprises.com/bolt-set-ft500-ascot-82-83.html
http://www.ukbolt.co.uk/448-qty-kit-honda-ascot-activa-atlas-aviator-stainless-engine-frame-allen-bolt-65886-p.asp
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