Work in Progress

[padawan]

Hi all,

This is my first post on 400gb up until now I've been more of a "lurker"

Anyway, quick bit of background for you all. After doing a fair bit of research I picked up my NC30 in October last year from this lass in Berkshire. I was told that the bike was a good runner and had not been dropped or crashed (as far as she knew) the only issues were the left hand fairing panels were missing (had come off when she was riding), one of the front forks was/is leaking and the bike hadn't been serviced in many years. Since October I've been itching to fix the bike up; especially after reading all the posts on here (and Kermits ace renovation on Honda-forums). Oh and luckily the bike appears to be a sound runner having used it between then and now :D

Now, I'm not a mechanic but I'm fairly competent with a screwdriver so I've decided to give it a go (also with the hope that I'll get a lot of advice from you all). At the moment the intention is to clean it up and fix up the missing pieces. I've bagged most of what I need from ebay and have made a mental "wish list" of things I'd like to do with it. I am just a fair weather rider for now but in time I hope to use the bike a lot more (esp once its fixed up). Anyway, enough rambling here are some pics of the bike.



The pics aren't great because of the confined space I've taken them in but in time I'll post better ones. As you can see someone has been to work on the bike before as it has an unusual paint scheme (which I intend to change). Going by the paint code it was orginally RWB which I'd love to convert it back to but I imagine this would cost a fortune.

Anyway, today I stripped down the fairings (amazingly all were original) and started at the front of the bike. This will be a slow project but if there's any interest I'll post more info.

[Carlos]

Welcome to the forum amigo, you came to the right place as the level of help, advice and instruction here is second to none. Good luck with the rebuild. :)

[wullvfr]

your in the right place,if you find any problems the advice you get from here is 2nd to none.once you get the bike back upto scratch you will have so much enjoyment from the nc30,and from getting it back upto scratch.i love working on the bike and i was in the same boat,having to do certain things to the 400 and the things you learn...i would never have contemplated doing any kind of electrical tasks where as now im pretty much a fully qualified auto electricain lol!!!!!
anyway welcome and enjoy your nc30 mate :D :D

[CMSMJ1]

howdo,

Looks like a nice bike - old skool paintjob is pretty cool.. like a retro job done to it in the early 90's. Pretty cool actually

Welcome Padawan...have a look at the old forum database too if you need to - link in one of the info forums up top.

[padawan]

Hey all,

I'm glad to see that my post generated some interest. Thanks for the comments and I sure will look up as many references as possible.

So today (after taking the family out to the park) I made a start on cleaning up the clocks. Here are some pics of them stripped down ready for a good clean (in the picture the speedo is all cleaned up ready to go).



Once I've cleaned up the surface rust on the bracket, as per Kermits re-build I'm going spray it matt black.



All of the screw heads had surface rust which I cleaned up using wet & dry paper, is that the best solution for the surface rust on the bracket prior to spraying it ? Oh and any ideas on the best way to clean up the rubber pieces ?

[Carlos]

Wet and dry is cool for surface rust, use plenty of primer and I would recommend satin as opposed to matt black, it gives much nicer and newer finish. For rusty nuts and bolts use a wire brush then get the kettle on, we're gonna have a brew!
put a dozen tea bags in a small plastic tub, add boiling water, add your nuts (ouch) and leave overnight, the tanic acid in the tea will eat any rust and neutralise what might remain, clean of the parts with a scotchbright pad and paint as normal, it really works.
For the rubber parts use brasso and a toothbrush, then clean with washing up liquid and rinse......they'll come up like new. :)

[padawan]

Wet and dry is cool for surface rust, use plenty of primer and I would recommend satin as opposed to matt black, it gives much nicer and newer finish. For rusty nuts and bolts use a wire brush then get the kettle on, we're gonna have a brew!
put a dozen tea bags in a small plastic tub, add boiling water, add your nuts (ouch) and leave overnight, the tanic acid in the tea will eat any rust and neutralise what might remain, clean of the parts with a scotchbright pad and paint as normal, it really works.
For the rubber parts use brasso and a toothbrush, then clean with washing up liquid and rinse......they'll come up like new. :)

Hey Carlos,

Thanks for the advice, I agree with you satin will be a lot better :)

I'll be giving your other tips a go too (cheers). Will post pics of the results soon.

[padawan]

Been a while since I posted a comment, thought I would give a quick update as its been a while.

Unfortunately, work on my NC30 halted because I lost my job a few weeks back I'm now dedicating my time to looking for something new.

Once I've got myself sorted rest assured the the work in progress will move along swiftly.

Glad that there is always something new and interesting on the forum as I like to catch up on what's new when I'm taking a break, keep it up guys !

[padawan]

Hey All,

Well with a new job in toe the project is back on line and just in time to make most of what's left of the summer. So I wheeled out the NC30 and started stripping it down and came across this:



Does anyone recognise this as the standard reg/rec ? The bike (pre-strip) has always been a good runner, starts and goes perfectly fine. So the question is should I replace this for a newer model (with fins) and if so what is a good swap option ?

[veefer400]

Looks like the one Ive just replaced on my Girls NC23?? I would say run it til it blows, my 20-year old NC24 is still on its original Reg/rectifier (will probably blow tomorrow now, doh!) - if its not broke dont fix it! Dave Silver do good pattern finned Reg/rectifiers for £55...