The Hodaka Club Forum

Welding And Repair, that's whats happening today on one of my 93 frames that I am getting prepared to paint. There are some grooves cut into the frame that are all most cutting that swing arm support piece through. Just thought I will weld it up and grind it down before it gets painted. The grooves are from the chain. Think I will put a piece of plastic where that chain was rubbing to keep that from happening again.

Here it is after being repaired and primered. There were some cracks in several welds here and there on this frame that I welded up also.

Bravo! Attention to detail and a job well done. I like this action to detail stuff and W.I.P. in general. Carry on.

Max

Shortly, when I get these 93 frames prepared I will get to try out my paint booth I made out of an 8' x 8' storage container. It has an exhaust fan and intake air filter plus some explosion proof lights that I picked up cheap on Ebay. I had the container for storage but decided to cover it with some nice sheet metal and make it into a paint booth for motorcycles.
In the past I made a "Redneck Booth" out of PVC pipes and clear sheet plastic. It had a fan and filter as well but I had to make it and disassemble it when I used it. It worked very well for painting though. Did some really nice painting in it when I restored a 125 Bultaco.
With the new booth I can still use it to store stuff in it but I can also paint in it very easily.
The lights give some good light too. You need plenty of light for good painting.
I also have hooks to hang parts and air connections for the paint gun. I have an old Binks model 62 spray gun that does me a real professional job. Been using that Binks gun for about 30 years now. I know its old school but that's what I am. These new Sata guns etc. are really good but expensive as heck. This new booth is much easier to enter and get out of than my "Redneck Booth". These frames will be the first things to try out in it. I need to get some frame red paint from Mr. Paul and I will be ready.

There it is, sorry about one pic being rotated the wrong way. The bottom pic shows the entry door and intake filter, The middle pic shows the exhaust fan. And the top pic shows inside with the explosion proof lights. I fully insulated the walls and roof. What a difference that makes.

Does any body know of a later Hodaka model that had a plastic chain protector that might fit on this 93? Seems like the super combat had one. Thanks gentlemen

The Super Combat and late model Super Rat had a plastic chain roller mounted to the top of the swing arm to keep the chain off the swing arm pivot point.

X2 on the Super Combat roller. Simple system, welded to the swingarm, the roller lifts the chain so that it can not contact the swingarm support. You can also use a slider here, but no one makes one specifically for the Hodaka, so making one is up to you.

If you can source some teflon like in snowmobile suspension, it'll last quite a while as a rubbing block.

Yes I was thinking of a piece oh UHMW plastic about an 1/8 of an inch in thickness would be a good rubbing protection. That's what I will try and do. Thanks Gentlemen!

The side plates of a chain will wear a plastic protector quickly until the chain rollers contact the plastic. Then the rate of wear will slow down drastically to almost no wear. 1/8 inch thickness is probably the minimum to allow the rollers to contact the protector without the side plates completely severing it. Should work.

That sounds correct to me now that you mentioned it, good deal. I will go a little thicker. Thanks. What kind of Ossa do you have? I always wanted a DMR. That stands for Dick Mann Replica. Dick Mann who was a former national number one in dirt track racing won the Santa Fe National short track race back in the 70's on an Ossa 250. After that race Ossa manufactured an identical replica of the bike. It was a popular bike for short track until the AMA changed the engine capacity to 360cc instead of 250cc.

I've really enjoyed reading this thread. The attention to detail - filling and finishing chain wear grooves and set ups for paint jobs faaaaaaar beyond the rattle can Krylon work that I do. I guess the enjoyment started with the opening post which mentioned that the frame was nearly cut through by the chain. Then I looked at the photo and noted there was only an inch or more to go to "cut through" that part of the frame.

Nifty paint shop!

Ed

How do you support the frame to paint it?---------------Clarence

I have some hooks in the ceiling of the booth that I can hang parts using wire to suspend them from. The frame will be suspended between the roof and the floor midway so I can spray under it and over it without touching it. And I can get around it on the sides. The swingarms I will paint them separate from the frame. When everything is dry then assemble everything back together. That's what I did with the "Redneck Booth" Thanks Gentlemen!

The exhaust fan is a 1/4 horsepower explosion proof motor with a sixteen inch fan on it. It moves some air to let me tell you. When its running it sounds like their is a P51 mustang nearby getting ready for takeoff! It should get rid of overspray very well. I have a shutter that I can regulate how much opening the exhaust fan has, if I want to. I want to do a really professional paint job. I have some Bultacos that will need some nice painting. The gas tanks are fiberglass and were originally painted very nicely. Bruce Reynolds of BR Bultaco in San Diego California restores some of the nicest Bultacos. Check out his website. The Bultaco 125 Sherpa S I restored is as nice as what he does or even better. Somebody else does his painting and fiberglass work. I do it myself here in my shop. Maybe I will post a pic of the Bultaco. Thanks gentlemen!

Here is the Bultaco Sherpa S 125 that I restored. It was painted in my "Redneck Booth." The paint is flawless. I used Nason single stage paint. That's made by Dupont by the way. Excellent product. This photos was a pic of it in process, I did some more to the bike after this photo was taken but this shows the painting.

Zoom up on the gas tank you will see it came out flawless. That was painted in my "Redneck Booth". The aluminum I polished myself also. Let me submit a pic of my polishing bench I made.

This polishing bench I made about 25 years ago. I used it to polish handguns before reblueing them when I was a gunsmith. Now I use it to polish motorcycle parts. Look at the lovely Hodaka Rich Gagnon had posted here a few days ago with those polished cases he had on it. This is what I will use to do me some Hodaka cases with. Rich did his by hand, I can do mine a little faster with this polisher. The wheels are easily changed and you can use different grits of polishing compounds. Begining with the coarser first and ending with the finest. Thanks Guys!

dadgum pic rotated wrong, sorry just zoom up on it.

Oh man, thought I had these two 93 frames ready to try out the new paint booth. Got to looking at one of the steering stops on one of the frames because it looked out of position. Got to checking it and noticed it had been bent and was cracked at the weld that secures it to the frame. If it came off later completely it could have caused the forks to dent my newly rechromed gas tank. So I decided to fix it with a little more W.A.R.
I also discovered two more weld cracks as shown in the pictures. Glad I discovered this now. Now is the time to WAR,not after I have painted everything.

Here in this pic I have cut the steering stop loose on the ends so that I can reposition it correctly and reweld it.

Erick,

Those bearing races will pop right out if you didn't want to tape them off. I used an old socket extension and tapped a hammer to it around the inside circumference until it popped out. A little heat would probably help too. It really didn't take a lot to push them out on the frames I've repainted or powder coated. Then you can use a couple large thick washers and a long bolt to press them back in without damaging the paint.

Roger

Hey Roger! Hows it going? Yeah I took the cup out you will see it out in my next pic. Thanks Brother

After having installed the triple tree and checking to make sure all is well I welded the stop back up. Now it looks like it should, I could tell it was bent back. The triple tree makes much better contact with it now. Where as before, the triple tree was just barely making contact with it.