...and, pause...

So that brings things up to date. As I update this (August 24) I am knee deep in building work on my new house and the Guzzi is waiting patiently in storage for me to get things to a decent stage so that I can finish her off. 

Apart from finishing the paint and doing the electrics, it should be mostly an enjoyable assembly project now. Famous last words or what?! Anyway, hopefully we can have things completed in time for Spring 2025, just 12 months late!!

Repairing the Centre Stand

The "feet" of the centre stand had completely worn through with use and the mud etc that had then compacted in the open tubes was set like concrete! I managed to clear it all out and then cut back the thin, corroded tube further until I reached sound metal.

I shaped up patches for each foot, using the same tube I'd got to reinforce the frame repair joints. That was a lot harder than it sounds, as the end of each foot is a compound curve. Once they were clamped in place, I welded the long sides and then did loads of small tacks to build up weld in the toes. 

This repair was much more challenging than the frame repair, as the steel was relatively thin, but I got there in the end! Again, the sanding disc was used to grind the welds back and give an acceptable finish, especially as it will hardly be seen once on the bike.

The frame, centre stand and a few odd bits were then sent off for powder coating. The original red powder coat had to be acid stripped first. Everything arrived back on the day I was moving house, so it had a cursory inspection to check the right number of parts were there and then got thrown in the shed with all the other parts! 

Reinstating the frame rails

The previous owner hacked off the back 6" of the frame to make a "brat" look. Hmmm. I needed it reinstating to carry the rear mudguard and rack mounting points.

I'd got hold of an old frame and chopped off the missing parts. I found some steel tube and cut a couple of 3" long pieces to act as sleeves inside the frame to reinforce the joints.

You may recall that I'd bought an old welder to try and use, but I just couldn't get it to weld consistently. In the end I bit the bullet and bought a new welder - talk about chalk and cheese! Within 15 minutes I was producing decently strong (but maybe not very pretty!) welds.

I mocked up the replacement frame horns, temporarily fitting the mudguard to get everything in the right place and then I clamped it all up, before putting a couple of tack welds in to hold it all together.

Once it was tacked up, I dismantled the mudguard and clamps and welded the joints all the way round, doing lots of small tacks so I didn't overheat it and risk distortion. A few minutes with a sanding disc in the angle grinder got the welds ground down pretty flush. 

I was so happy with how this turned out - I'd been dreading doing it, but was determined I wanted to have a go myself. When I measured it all up afterwards and compared it to the factory frame dimensions, everything was spot on within the +/-1mm tolerance they gave!

Painting the engine and transmission

I'm going for an all black look with this bike. The engine and shaft drive would have been silver originally but I reckon this will look good and it's my bike so that's how it's going to be!

The engine and shaft drive were both pretty filthy so I spent a couple of hours with degreaser and a wire brush getting it all ready for paint.

I've used Holts Engine Enamel in a satin black finish - it looks more glossy in the photos than in real life. Again, I've found this engine enamel to be pretty durable on the Crusader and it doesn't need a primer which is a big advantage. I'm going to clean the paint off the rocker box covers and polish them back to the bare aluminium, but that can wait till it's all done sometime.

Painting the bodywork

I sent the petrol tank and rear mudguard off to a local sandblasters to have all the old paint and filler etc removed.

They turned out to be in remarkably good shape with just a small dent in the lower part of the tank to repair. I got a couple of coats of red lead primer on them to stop any rusting while they went back into storage for a while.

Before:

After blasting and priming:

All of the other body parts (side panels, front mudguard and an original fairing that I bought from Italy) are plastic. A month or so later, once there were some warm days, I got everything out again to get it all primed and with a couple of coats of the top coat on, just to protect it all till next winter.

I'm using Halfords Enamel paint again. It proved to be pretty durable on the Crusader rebuild and this bike is being restored to be used rather than being a show bike. I've chosen a bright metallic blue colour, which might be a bit TOO bright - we shall see. It can always be redone another time if I really don't like it. I warmed the paint up in a bowl of hot water as it was still coolish outside where I was painting.

Life gets in the way again!

I haven't updated this for about 8 months. Life has a habit of getting in the way of my plans and that has happened big style this year!

In February, I ended up flying solo in terms of relationship status and moved temporarily to stay with some friends on their field in my caravan. This compromised the restoration process somewhat!!  They kindly made some space available for me in an old potting shed and so, once I'd settled in, all of the pieces of the Guzzi were reloaded into my car and moved to their new temporary home.

So I now had limited space to work, mostly this small shed and the caravan awning! Not ideal.

I had a couple of months "hiaitus" while waiting for the purchase of my new house to complete, and this will be a major project for the rest of the year, so I tried to get a few significant bits done before it all got laid up to be hopefully completed during Winter 2024/5.

Refurbishment of all the bits and pieces!

Over the last couple of months I've spent time in short bursts refinishing most of the ancillary bits and pieces. Generally the process was degrease and clean; remove all loose paint and rub down smooth; apply rust converter to any rusty bits; prime and respray. I've been using Simoniz Hard Gloss or Satin Black after a recommendation from one of the Royal Enfield group members. It seems to live up to its name so far and is nice to apply.

Pictures tell a thousand words:

I removed the paint from the horribly painted tank badges and repainted them with Humbrol model paint. Not perfect, but good enough.

Various black brackets etc have been repainted.

The rear light needed a fair amount of work to get rid of scrapes before I repainted it and I also gave the front indicators (that will mount into the fairing) a clean up and repainted the bodies.

 

The number plate looked like it had been jumped up and down on and then holes to bolt it on made with a large screwdriver! But it's a nice pressed metal one so seems a shame to replace it.

I managed to get it near enough flat but then needed to disguise the messy mounting holes. I cut a piece of aluminium can and epoxied it onto the back behind the holes, then filled with body filler and rubbed down. I sprayed the back satin black and used a Humbrol model paint that was almst the right colour and touched up where I'd filled in. 

I then found a cool "Made in Italy" sticker to cover the mess! Again, not perfect but OK for what I need and smartened it all up for the cost of a sticker and a bottle of paint.

Another pleasant afternoon's work had the rev counter bezel, clutch lever and horn looking good again.

The forks were next to get the black paint treatment. The stanchions are a little pitted and I'll probably get them rechromed at some point but they are ok for now. The forks use a sealed cartridge system so there isn't a lot of oil under pressure there to be held back by the seals, as I'm used to. I replaced the seals to be on the safe side though and refilled with oil. I'm really impressed with the quality of the various bolts used on these assemblies - they clean up very nicely.

I've bought some Kawasaki switchgear and when I tested them, the switches were pretty sticky and inconsistent in the connections they were making, so I pulled them apart and gave each of the individual contactors a good clean up and lubrication. Very fiddly work and I was constantly waiting for a spring to ping across the workshop, but all is working as it should now. The bodies cleaned up pretty nicely as well.

Keeping on the electrical theme, the coils and their mounting brackets were horribly mucky so I pulled that lot apart and gave it all a good dose of brake cleaner and wire brushing.

And pretty much the last black bits then were the brake calipers - 2 front and 1 rear. I was originally going to just repaint them assuming that all was well until I could test them connected up to the bike. But I decided that I was better to be safe and bought Brembo service kits to replace the seals and stretch bolts. Expensive but it does give me some peace of mind. I've also bought a nearly new Royal Enfield 350 brake lever and master cylinder that matches the style of the clutch lever really well, so the braking system should be well sorted now.

I've bought various bits of chromeware and most of it looked decidedly second hand. I spent pretty much a whole day applying chrome cleaner and elbow grease to it all but was really pleased with how it all came to life.

Tarnished mess:

Seat grab rail

Crash Bars / pannier protectors:

Pannier frames:

So now I think it's time to sort out welding on those frame horns and then refinish the frame and engine ready for the rebuild to commence.