MarkT!!!!! YES, YES it is. A bright spot in this reno. I will try to resume my progress although it has been 3 steps forward and 2 steps back much of the time.
Thanks for letting me know. AND thanks to whoever had anything to do with getting back up again. I was a bit heartbroken when it disappeared

Stove-Brite paint!

Stove brite is not available in the UK.

I sent the iffy can back with a sniffy comment and am going to try the rustoleum as suggested.

Oh snap!

cliff

Snap indeed.  Still waiting for the Hard Hat paint to arrive.  Of course I have heard of Rustoleum, but not hard hat.

The exhaust has been blasted clean of the horrible paint and is waiting for the PJ1 fast black heat resistant satin to turn up.

Had a look at the seat with a view to painting the base.  It had light surface rust in patches.  It looked like someone pressure washed it fairly recently and blew the paint off in patches.

​​​​​​The "saw teeth" holding the cover on were in very sound condition, but the stitching on the cover itself was rotted.  The seams broke apart with very little pressure.  No chance of getting it off intact and no point not continuing to remove it.  Rotted seams will not mend themselves.  Shame because the cover itself was in good condition.  No rips or marks.

Once the cover was off, it was discovered that the foam was glued down onto the base, so my idea of blasting the base at work was scuppered.  I had to clean it up the traditional way with wire brushes.

Base has had a couple of coats of enamel, as has the removed hinges and other fittings.  New seat cover has been ordered.  An expense I was hoping to avoid.
Never fitted a saw tooth hook type cover before.  Do you bend them out to puncture the cover and then bend them upwards again to hold it, or do you leave them as is at 45 degrees and stretch the cover further, impale it, and then let it relax a little into the hooks?

Another expense I was hoping to avoid.  The sprocket carrier shaft and nut.  The correct size seal arrived as did the new chain puller.  So got it all built up and on the bike.
Tightening the large shaft nut, it was obvious that the threads were not up to the job, they tightened up enough, but felt like they were about to yield.  I had noted they looked a little worn previously, but I had hoped...

Since it is a big safety issue if those threads yielded under a shock load, no way can they be deemed roadworthy and new ones have been ordered.  I had tentatively planned on new but was really hoping the old would be good enough to continue using.

That sprocket carrier assembly has turned out to be the biggest and most expensive problem so far.  The only original parts are the casting itself and the sprocket bolts and nuts.  New sprocket, carrier bearing, seal, spacer collar, chain pull, stub axle and nut.  Cost is probably close to £100 just for that small assembly.

Finally came across an unobtainable item missing off the bike when purchased.  The engine sprocket cover.  Found a NOS one in Thailand, took a leap of faith and ordered it.  A long way to ship.  Close to another £100.  
When I bought the bike I expected ebay to be awash with them.  Not so.
Of course, now I ordered one, ten secondhand ones will appear on ebay at £5 each, one selling from an address just down the road...
My plan B was to fit a RT100 plastic, one piece left cover, but they too are now unavailable.  I remember back in the fleet days, paying £12 each for brand new RT100 left covers from Yamaha, so it was a shock finding them rare as hens teeth.  We used to fit new ones on every full annual rebuild, just to brighten the bikes up and match the new paint.

Its been quite an expensive week.

 

Years ago, I used to buy Honda engine parts from bike breakers in the US. Most of them listed on eBay, but some found after contacting breakers direct.

Might be worth sending a form email to a good number of US and Canadian breakers, with a list of what you are looking for?

Would think they are only likely to advertise parts for the most popular bikes, but thats not to say they don't have exactly what you need?

Have come across some very rare NOS Honda parts in Thailand before, that were very reasonably priced, but that was quite a while ago, and prices probably mental now?

Rustoleum paint has arrived and rear brake backplate has had about five coats of the stuff.

Meanwhile the rear sprocket carrier nut and shaft arrived.  As with all things in this hobby, it pays to do ones homework.
Both items were available for purchase from Yamaha, but a little research and shopping around gleaned the same NOS part numbers listed for sale under a different model at a good saving.

I think the shaft was listed as a LT5 part and the nut as a early FS1 moped part.  Saving over buying from the dealer was around £15 and that includes shipping.  With a tight budget on this build, that £15 will pay for the rear brake shoes.

Added up what has been spent already and I am already £450 into my estimated £900 budget and I have the engine parts, bodywork repair materials, small.finishing off parts and tyres to buy yet. 
Just ordered the tank decals at £50 for a set, not too bad, but it is amazing how those £10 here and £15 there insignificant parts add up to a big bill.
I think it will probably be finished right on budget, unless a I come across a nasty shock.  I can do without any more paint failures and ill fitting aftermarket parts though.

Rear sprocket carrier finished.  It cost nearly 3x what I had originally hoped for, but safety comes first. Always.


Seat pan refinished and cover fitted.  Not a professional job by any means, but is workmanlike.  Once again, amazed by the condition of the fittings.  The seat lock looks almost new, but all it has had is a scrub with my nail brush and Carex hand soap.


Again, looks OK.  Not brilliant, but fine for this bike.  It is not intended to be a councours d'elegance contender.  Left sidepanel also cleaned up and fitted.



 

New rear wheel bearings fitted ( SKF). 
A quick word about wheelbearings in the smaller sizes like 6301.  Often you come across a " bulk buy opportunity" where the bearings are unbranded and come in a plastic tube of 10 or so for a very cheap price.
Avoid Avoid Avoid.  They are cheap rubbish, often constructed from stainless steel, instead of correctly heat treated bearing steel.
I once conducted a trial of these bearings on fleet, a tight parts budget ( £10 per bike per week) necessitating exploring any and all money saving avenues.
A wheel bearing generally lasted about 2 months on fleet, depending on park conditions.  Those unbranded ones did not last much more than a fortnight even in summer when the park was relatively dry.  Poor tolerances allowed water ingress past the seals and the poor quality steel could not take the constant pounding.
By the time of the winter quagmire, the bearings had been tossed in the bin.  I doubt they would have survived a week.

Always buy branded bearings from a good maker - SKF, Koyo, SNR, NSK, FAG ect.  Cheap is not cost effective in the long run.  Buy cheap, buy twice.

So, pontificating over with.  Back wheel refitted and she is finally standing on her own two wheels again. 


Wheels just fitted loosely, they will be coming out again for new tyres at the end of the build, but still an important milestone.



 

The engine sprocket cover has arrived from The Far East.  Remarkably fast delivery.  I am waiting for deliveries from the UK ordered before the cover.
Although it is not a genuine part, it looks to be a remarkable copy in alloy.  I was expecting some kind of 3D printed plastic part.

I came across another correct for the US 1977 DT100  Mikuni 1T9 - 60 carb on ebay.  It looks to be in better condition than the other I was watching and is £20 less.
It is winging its way to TK towers as I write...

1T9 carb.  A lucky find.  Internal pic shows it has the red fibre gasket in place on the float valve, so hopefully no need to rely on a bodged up carb.  Allegedly it was removed from a running bike getting parted out.  Also hopefully means I do not have to spend £15 on a new genuine #130 main jet, so effectively the carb has cost me a tenner.

Not knowing the mileage this carb has done, I will probably swap over the slide, needle and needle jet from my 2000 mile original carb so I know them to be in good condition.
It has a date with the ultrasonic bath in its near future.


 

Time to address my nemesis.

Stripped off the old tank paint, prepped it and started daubing it with body clag.  As previously mentioned, I managed to pop out the few dents I could reach from inside using a tyre lever.  The rest have to be filled with body clag.

My how I hate it.  I have zero apptitude for it and even less patience.  You need a special kind of patience to enjoy it, the same type as those who enjoy remodelling the rooms in their house.
I find it tedious in the extreme.

It does not help that all I have to do the job is a few sheets of wet and dry and a normal palm size sanding block.  No excuses, the pitiful tools are the result of the paragraph above.  I am just not invested in it.

Anyway a few hours later and several layers of clag applied and rubbed off and we are 95% there.
I know from previous experience that my attempting the last 5% will result in the job reaching its peak at 95.5% and falling off rapidly into a right old mess.  So 95% it is.
To get it right, it needs the entire side of the tank skinning, knocking in, and shaping and that is well beyond my capabilities.

Without doubt, the imperfections will be visible once painted, but maybe the decals will draw the eye away.

If anyone asks, I am calling the imperfections "patina".

Several hours of gnashing teeth and dust later, the tank has gone from this:



To a not great but as good as I can get it with my limited talent.