Well I took another day off from the re-decorating and spent it starting to strip the frame and other bits of the old, original coatings (where they still exist).
The first thing to do was to remove the fixings from the frame. I replaced each screw and nut as I removed whatever they held in place. Having learned the lesson many years ago that after some time the memory of what went where, on what, can be a bit unreliable.
In the bad old days, I'd have resorted to labeling everything but the advent of digital photography has made that task redundant.
Before removing the bits and pieces, I took lots of photos. This one helps to show the state of the surface on parts of the frame.
I just put all the small parts into a an old BMW Parts bag...
and then write what they are, or where from, on the bag.
Most are fairly obvious where they live on the frame but there are a couple of same size and thread bolts but of differing lengths. It just saves experimenting when reassembly comes around.
When I stripped the front-end, I also stripped the handlebars. I have a replacement throttle/heated-grip assembly so I cut the old one off. The left-hand one I managed to peel off for re-use but the bars were pretty scruffy,
so being careful with the wires, I set about the bars with the angle-grinder & cup-brush combo.
The fork-brace was attacked in the same way.
Ready for a final hand rub down with wet & dry:
In fact I've spent most of the day giving the tatty bits and pieces that have been removed a similar treatment. I will get all these parts ready to receive the first undercoat at the same time. The steering yokes, although not originally painted, will be as they are hard to keep clean where they are tucked behind the headlamp cowl and bare aluminium is a pain to prevent the growth of fur on in our climate.
By far the biggest job on the clean-up list is the frame. It's sound but quite badly afflicted with surface corrosion.
It has cleaned-up well;
Still a fair bit to do and getting into some of the nooks will not be easy. I may take it for sand-blasting just to get the last paint and rust cleaned out of the corners.
My plan is not to have it powder coated but to re-spray it myself. I'm not keen on powder-coated frames. My reasons are that, if it cracks, corrosion can spread under the finish, unseen for a long time until it finally bursts through the surface. By then it's usually gone a long way. The second problem is that once damaged it's impossible to effect a local repair, it all has to be stripped off and re-coated. At least paint can be repaired in the area of any subsequent damage.
Powder-coat is fine for smaller components,
After the cleaning, my next task is to remove the bearing from the lower steering yoke. I'll report on progress regularly (if I escape the re-decorating again).
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