This is what $200 got me

Poor girl has been neglected, but I got her cheap.



Battery still had a charge, had new spark plugs, ran last year but am told it needs a new starter. Tires are dry rotted and the last owner decided to spray paint chrome parts silver. Oh yeah, missing turn signals on the right side as well. 19,100 miles though. Unsure if that's good or bad.

Other than that, relatively good shape from what I can tell. Original paint isn't too bad, just bummed someone decided to paint over the original chrome instead of trying to remove whatever rust may have appeared on it because now I want to strip all that off.

The goal is to restore it to look like it did when they were new.

I'm new here, this is my first motorcycle and going to be my first project. Won't be anything crazy, simply want to get this bike looking like it did originally and clean it up. That'll come after I get it running properly.

Updates to come over the following weeks.

Despite the silver paint (some folks shouldn't be allowed to buy paint) it looks like the bike hasn't been tortured or badly abused. $200 was a really good deal. Assuming oil changes were performed, 19k miles isn't many miles. The link below has some tips that should be helpful in bringing the bike back to normal. Good luck with it, and ask questions here as you run into issues. Ed

kzrider.com/forum/10-new-members/589649-...r-savannah-ga#594587

Lacquer thinner should take that silver paint right off.

sbc1320 wrote: Lacquer thinner should take that silver paint right off.

I've got some aircraft stripper somewhere, I used that stuff to rip powdercoat off bicycle frames. It'll bubble right up and can be wiped off, straight to the bare metal. I suspect it'll work on spray paint, too.

650ed wrote: Despite the silver paint (some folks shouldn't be allowed to buy paint) it looks like the bike hasn't been tortured or badly abused. $200 was a really good deal. Assuming oil changes were performed, 19k miles isn't many miles. The link below has some tips that should be helpful in bringing the bike back to normal. Good luck with it, and ask questions here as you run into issues. Ed

kzrider.com/forum/10-new-members/589649-...r-savannah-ga#594587

Thanks!

The paint is on the forks, bars, cables, springs, anything that was shiny before is now dull silver. Probably was some rust showing, and instead of correcting that it got rattle canned.

You've done well there for $200. Take your time and do it properly Keep us informed with plenty of pictures :woohoo:

You did well, a beat up scooter is more than that.

Doesn't look too bad, nice snag! 19 k isn't too high mileage, these old girls will go a lot more than that with a little TLC! Watch the aircraft stripper, that stuff might eat a hole in your engine block! LOL! it WILL eat your plastic bits...As posted earlier, a rag dampened with laquer thinner will, if not wipe rattle can enamel right off, will at least soften it... give it few minutes to dwell, THEN it will probably wipe off. Again though, stay away from the plastic bits! Lots of good folks here, youv'e come to the right place...Oh! If you don't have one, get a FACTORY service manual specifically for your year/model bike. Finally, crumpled alumnum foil and water can do some pretty cool things with crusty chrome...Welcome!

Nice bike to start with. Like stated before, manual and all the service items.
Does it have a complete air box? Usually the rear triangular piece is missing.
Check out a little project of mine and if you have any questions about the 440
engine, just ask.

www.dotheton.com/forum/index.php?topic=39120.0

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Thanks everyone. It's getting warm out finally and I remembered I still have a motorcycle in my back yard.

The seller told me it needs a new starter. My father, who has ridden motorcycles and tinkered on them for as long as I can remember mentioned the existing starter may just need 'cleaned out', that we should try that before buying a new one. While he certainly may be correct, I'm quite busy as is he. I'm looking at starters online on eBay, $150 to buy a new one won't kill me but it'd be nice to get the existing one working if possible. How simple would it be to take off the old one, clean it up and replace it. I've not got a proper garage and my toolset is limited to a cheap kit. Just trying to determine if it'd be worth it to mess with the existing one or just replace it.

Thanks!

Nice snag, it doesn't look like it will take too much to get it back up and running.

Love the Oldboy avatar! Great movie.

Thanks, it's a great movie. I had no idea they're making a new one, or have made a new one. I'll need to see that one too.

I'm completely new to bikes, this is my first one and have no automotive experience beyond changing some spark plugs, headlight bulbs and checking my oil... So quite a newb here.

Is it worth the time/effort to try to take off the old starter and 'clean it out' to see if that 'fixes' the starter? Or should I just go ahead and buy a new/used one for it that is known to work? How difficult of a task would this be for someone who has no experience whatsoever?