Before starting a project and spending money, I try to take an inventory of the bike’s condition and develop a plan and budget. Usually, for a bike this old, I can plan on replacing everything that’s rubber, all the control cables, and renew all the filters. Since my wife has owned this bike since 1978 when I bought it for her as a wedding present, I have a pretty good idea of how it has been maintained and any major problems. Overall, the bike is in good condition for its 40-year age and 97,500 miles.

I took a number of pictures to document the “before” condition and to help with an initial parts list for the project.  I also removed the front fender, gas tank and seat to get a better look at the frame and chrome to better see the condition.

This is the high-level work plan  I came up with.

• Replace all rubber parts
• Remove all cables, tachometer and speedometer cables
• Remove fairing
• Remove tank, side covers and fenders
• Rebuild petcocks and polish
• Remove front wheel
• Clean and polish front wheel
• Grease front wheel bearings
• Inspect brake shoes, replace if necessary
• Rebuild front forks
• Replace steering head bearings
• Remove carburetors
• Rebuild carburetors, clean and polish
• Remove heads and cylinders, exhaust
• Clean and polish exhaust header
• Replace mufflers and cross over pipe
• Bead blast heads, cylinders, valve covers
• Rebuild heads with valves, seats, seals and springs
• Replace piston rings and hone cylinder
• Remove rear wheel
• Clean and polish rear wheel and hub
• Grease rear wheel bearings
• Inspect brake shoes, replace if needed
• Remove shocks
• Clean and polish shocks
• Remove battery box
• Remove turn signals
• Clean and polish turn signals
• Remove rear frame
• Remove rear drive
• Remove transmission and clean
• Grease drive shaft splines
• Remove engine and clean
• Remove all electrics
• Remove wiring harness
• Strip paint from frame, rear frame, rear drive, battery box, fairing bracket, handlebar controls
• Powder coat frame, rear frame, rear drive, battery box, fairing bracket, handle bar controls
• Strip faring paint, repair dings and replace chrome edging and windscreen gasket and  wiring harness plug
• Strip paint from fenders, tank, side covers
• Paint fenders, tank, side covers, fairing
• Reassemble frame, wiring harness and electrics
• Mount engine and transmission in frame
• Reassemble rear frame
• Reassemble swing arm
• Reassemble shocks
• Reassemble battery box
• Reassemble cylinders and heads
• Reassemble carburetors
• Reassemble exhaust and mufflers
• reassemble handlebars and controls
• Replace all control cables, speedometer and  tachometer cables
• Mount new tires and tubes
• Assemble fenders
• Replace battery
• Assemble wheels
• Assemble tank on frame

Here’s some of the “before” pictures.