Dealing with the DT

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Quick update: I've got tyres, tubes, rim tape and spokes. Just need to finish cleaning & polishing the hubs before getting the wheel rebuilding underway.

One annoyance (more at myself than anything else) the cheapo handlebar switches actually look pretty good and suit the style of the bike. The left one (lights, indicators, horn) needs rewiring but the right also has the throttle cable... and I didn't order a matching throttle tube thingy Oh well, I can use the old one for testing if needed it's the left switches that are actually broken.
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Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

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Spend a few hours hand-polishing the front hub, turned out nice:

https://i.imgur.com/X7foGTj.jpg?1

I did see someone on YouTube go as far as polishing to a mirror shine and sealing in with lacquer. Given the gouges on the hubs I thought it better to stick with "maintained" rather than "as new" for the look.

Okay, so deep breath:

https://i.imgur.com/2IcARls.jpg?1

It didn't take too long...

https://media.giphy.com/media/3o6nV2pJcnaRaf0xDq/giphy.gif

...to get to this:

https://i.imgur.com/CGgHGq1.jpg?1

Great! So what went wrong? Well I just went at it in no particular order. I thought I'd start with one side, outers and then completely misjudged ALL of the rest of the spokes and their placements so had to take them out and start again

2nd time around I did get the placement right but I was still going with the "one side at a time" plan so ended up temporarily undoing two spokes at a time to get the last round in

Oh well, live and learn. And here we are, ready for the truing stand:

https://i.imgur.com/wR9Kbmb.jpg?1

Right, now let's get... feck... so the axle on my stand is 12.5mm and the front wheel wants 12mm. Foiled again

A friendly machinist has offered to cut me a 12mm rod to length with a nice bevelled edge on the end for £5 so we'll have to pick this one up later.

Top tip: DO NOT tighten your nipples up much to give yourself some wiggle room
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Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[Sister Sledge]

'Hits a snag - the drum brakes are oval..'
I'd forgotten just how fine those older type spokes were - the ones on my CCM are like metal rods compared to those spokes.
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CCM 404 DS

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It's cold but not so cold I need gloves to work. Thought I'd finish the strip down of the DT.

For the most part everything came apart easily: swing arm is out, engine is out, cylinder head is off, barrel is off. The last two I could do with getting blasted to get rid of all the flaking paint.

I took the forks out as a prelude to checking the steering bearings and paint (actually I think the forks were plasti-dipped too no it is paint) just flaked off of one:

https://i.imgur.com/CKnoULC.jpg?1

It's that white powdery corrosion and underlying metal is quite uneven and lumpy. I'm wondering if it had a knock at some point or is that just the way forks go?

What to do? Cheeky fill and spray? But then the paint won't match the rest of the fork
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Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[WD Forte]

I'd rub down corrosion, flat it,etch prime then give it some rattle can satin black.
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bikers smell of wee

[stinkwheel]

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[Sister Sledge]

Just file the crud away and paint it. As others have said - it's a dirt bike and will have history. Speaking of which - if you're bored why not go along the railway model making route and paint/texture the bike with fake dirt and mud? You could hide some seriously nasty damage doing that! (just don't put dried moss trees on it..)
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CCM 404 DS

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[stinkwheel]

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Nice! Just found a local specialist to vapour blast the cylinder head and barrel for ~£20
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Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[Easy-X]

Wow, more luck! Found a left hand switch cheap - broken but entirely in the opposite way to mine I was aiming to put on some Chinesium handlebar switches but I think it'll be easier to repair what I have.
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Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

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Got the cylinder head and barrel cleaned up:

https://i.imgur.com/WkgDxuj.jpg?1

Quick reminder of what it used to look like:

https://i.imgur.com/ZVbml34.jpg?1

Last night I laced up the back wheel and got it spinning true. I can't see what all the fuss is about, seemed easy enough to do... admittedly it took me 3 hours from start to finish
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Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[dekip]

Head looks great. Way better then i did with mine. Was it sand blaster?
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Long time reviewer in computer magazine.
That include all wireless devices, SBC and microcontrollers. When my brain get stuck, all that helps is ride.
My bikes: MZ 175SE (1967), Yamaha Virago XV535 (1993) and TVS Apache (2008)

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The weekend I've been mostly cleaning up parts, removing rust, treating where necessary and repainting. Still need to lacquer them so no exciting photos

The busted left handlebar switch turned up and combined with my broken one... good as new:

https://i.imgur.com/NNrdb4V.jpg?1

My mate said he spent ages polishing up the crankcase covers then dropped one and left a gouge in it. Then went "fuck it" and painted them black. Can't say I care for the look.

I tried Nitromors. There are mutterings that they've changed the formula and it isn't very good. I have to partly agree. It got about 90% of the paint off after two helpings but the rest I had to get off the old fashioned way. The gouge wasn't so bad in the end. Here we are after a light polish:

https://i.imgur.com/6Pfk0s0.jpg?2

There's a slight dimple on the left hand cover but I didn't think it worth going completely mad with it.
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Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

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Few more things done...

I'm mostly replacing the really rusty bolts but there are a few specialist ones here and there so I've cleaned up the worst of the rust, treated and painted silver or black where appropriate (not the threads, obviously!) Not very exciting stuff but needs doing

I've re-wrapped the wiring loom:

https://i.imgur.com/KhgCCJ9.jpg?1

Again, not particularly exciting but it was starting to unravel in various places. Gave me a chance to add a fused bullet connector for the battery connection - soldered on + heatshrink wrap. Those red bullet sockets are somewhat annoying to look at (they're for the indicators) I might replace them in a minute just for OCD reasons

Stumbled over some nice fork bottoms:

https://i.imgur.com/fHvS26Y.jpg?1

£20!!! Bargain Dunno if I'll bother using them yet but forks are easy enough to drop out and piss about with later down the road.

I dunno how to put this but the random Hagon rear shocks to me look "dated" rather than "classic." They're also 330mm whereas the originals would have been 320mm so I got these cheapies:

https://i.imgur.com/tAMVByY.jpg?1

They're meant for a Suzuki I think and the only downside is the 14mm bolt holes - the DT has 10mm bolts - so I got some bronze shims that fit absolutely perfectly. Bronze is good for bearings, yes? If I actually go out off-roading on this thing I'm sure I'll swap them out but they look appropriate for the bike.

Then there are some random bits that were rusty; the kicker and gear rubbers had perished:

https://i.imgur.com/z3122Cc.jpg?1

I've come to the conclusion that 80% of the bits and bobs are dead easy to get hold of (thanks to the Japs using all metric stuff or sharing parts amongst models) 10% are easy if you know were to look (thanks, Yambits!) and the last 10%... oh dear

For example, there's a rubber thing that goes over chain side of the swing arm to account for slap. You just can't get those anywhere except maybe NOS from the USA which I don't really count as viable. But that sort of thing I expect you could get away with just cable tying some rubber.

Another is the throttle cable. Clutch, brake, speedo and tacho cables? No problem, dirt cheap too. But the throttle is obviously a split one to work the oil pump and the ends are nothing like the later DT175MX Yes, you can make cables up but then you get into casting the little cable ends and well, that's just hassle

I might write up a list of "really fucking hard to get" parts just as an aid/warning to others
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Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[WD Forte]

I cut up and keep sections of old tyres for making things like that 'chain slap' thing you mention.
and to stop the mainstand knocking against the exhaust or swinging arm
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bikers smell of wee

[Sister Sledge]

This ^^. Can get similar more modern ones from other makes and adapt them to fit aswell. With many CCMs it's a common thing too.
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CCM 404 DS

[Ste]

If you have no luck with other options for getting throttle cables, Venhill make custom ones and so should be able to help you out.

https://www.venhill.co.uk/custom-cables/

I'm sure someone's posted a guide on BCF about how to make your own cables but I might be imagining that which would explain why I can't find it.

Found a post about throttle cables where someone mentions https://speedycables.com/ and the guy who mentions them knows his stuff so I'd be quite happy following something he suggests.

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The throttle cable assembly I have is okay... just old. Worst aspect is the rubber boots at the lever end and the carb end have started to disintegrate. That and the metal outer is starting to un-spiral (is that a word?) at the lever end.

I think I'll get hold of one of the later cables to steal stuff from. At ~£10 it'd be worth it just for the rubber bits
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Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

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The wife has gone round to her dad's for the evening. Time to break out the lube!

...and rebuild the steering bearings.

<addendum> This is were having the original parts manual is handy. I've counted 19 big ball bearings on the bottom - they fit leaving enough space for half a one which you would expect - but the top is 22 small ball bearings. There's space enough for 23... the manual says 22 so I'll stop panicking that I've lost one somewhere
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Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

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Here's one for you clever people to show how stoopid I am

Top of the swing arm:

https://i.imgur.com/KiJSdmv.jpg?1

I gave it a shake and a combination of fossilised mud, rust and twigs came out of the little hole. Not enough to worry about I don't think but as it's on the top side its only purpose seems to be to allow water to collect in the swing arm void

Could I seal it up or does it have some function?
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Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[Shaft]