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Old 11-04-19, 08:02 PM   #41
mikerj
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Default Re: 1979 Suzuki X5 Long term rebuild

Great thread! Not been on the org in quite a while so missed this.


I bought an X5 for £30 a bike breakers whilst I was doing my A levels about 30 years ago (bloody hell, really that long? ) with loads of bits missing and a dead ignition. I rewound the ignition stator and eventually scraped together enough s/h bits to get it back on the road and used it for several years, regularly racing around Dartmoor with my mate who had a GT185. I still have that bike, though it is literally buried in the back of my dads garage to the extent that I haven't seen it for about 20 years.


I also have a B120 which is ready to be reassembled after spending a long time sourcing various new old stock parts. Not a bike I particularly wanted, but my dad randomly bought it for me a couple of years back as I used to have a B100P I rode around my gradparents farm when I was 11-12 years old, and thought I'd like the nostalgia. Unfortunately it was the most rotten, nastiest example I've ever seen; even the swing arm was rotted out. Spent way more than it's worth on it because I'm daft.
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Old 23-06-19, 05:32 AM   #42
mister c
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Default Re: 1979 Suzuki X5 Long term rebuild

Again, it's been a while, but here's an update. My mojo for the X5 & anything bike related has been out of the window of late, but decided to get my backside into gear a couple of weeks ago & source some paint.
BS Supplies in Stoke on Trent are a brilliant company to deal with, they are so helpful in anything paint related, I've always used them for my rattle cans.
This time however, I was venturing into the world of spray guns, thinners, hardener & paint. I was going to get my mate to spray the panels for me, but decided to have a bash myself as you can always sand it down & do it again. I have a small, cheap compressor & an even cheaper spray gun which came in the obligatory free tools kit that came with it, so went to B. S. with an old panel for the paint match. It was all sorted within about 20 minutes, the assistant told me how to go about mixing 2 pack & that if I had any problems, give Matt a ring as he's a whizz kid on anything spray related.
So, the hard work started with removing old decals & paint (This is where the Wife's hair drier came i very handy )






So, with it all de stickered, the hard graft of sanding, smoothing, priming & generally tidying up the surfaces ready for the top coat.









Once I was happy with the primed bodywork I had to wait for a decent day as my shed is like a collander & I also needed some heat to get the paint to harden. I was talking to a friend, who said, "You need to be careful with that 2 pack paint it contains cyanide". Well, that made me start to worry &, reading posts on websites of people having to be resuscitated after using it, I started to panic &started to think about going back to my trusty rattle cans. After more reading &, more importantly, reading on the health & safety website that the paint "had the possibillity" of giving you Asthma & wouldn't kill me, I bit the bullet & set things in motion for the next nice day.
That turned out to be yesterday (Saturday). I woke up very early (4am), took the dog for a walk, had a brew, then waited for a half decent hour to turn my compressor on. I brought the panels into the back yard, hung them on the line, mixed the paint & started to spray away





"Hmmm, this 2 pack paint is rather good" I thought, you don't need lacquer once the paint has dried, so once the panels were all painted with about 30 coats I left it to bake in the lovely sunshine we had.
It was then that disaster struck. The wire holding the tank on the line decided to give up the ghost, the tank fell, hit one of the sidepanels on the way to the floor, then roll across the yard, I was mortified. So, it was out with the sand paper, filler & paint again to cover up the mess


Next job was to flat & polish the paintwork. I used 1200 grit sandpaper very lightly across the tank's surface with lots of water, then used a colour restorer as a polish.



After about 3 hours of constant sanding & buffing I ended up with a very shiny tank, it's not perfect as it has some small blemishes, but I am really impressed. The next step were the Decals. I had bought a full set from Retrodecals on the net & hoped that this stage would go ok as they cost a small fortune ( in the great scheme of things), but the quality is top notch & period correct, so I'm not complaining. I had taken measurements of what went where before I stripped the tank, so got my tape measure out, placed masking tape at certain points & put them on. Wow, what a transformation, I can't wait to get the sidepanels & tail piece done now to show off the full bike......... Watch this space......






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Old 23-06-19, 05:42 AM   #43
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Default Re: 1979 Suzuki X5 Long term rebuild

Well done.
I enjoy reading this thread and I’m very respectful of what you have done with this bike - the paint looks very good indeed. I suspect it makes no financial sense to spend so much on a bike like this, but that is perhaps not the point: you find it satisfying (which I think is the point).

I enjoy restoration projects also, but at the other end of the scale: mine is a Bloop (1976 model) - saved from the breaker’s yard, given an oily rag finish and now going so well it makes me grin every time I ride it:



Good fortune,
Alan


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Old 23-06-19, 06:53 AM   #44
Craig380
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Default Re: 1979 Suzuki X5 Long term rebuild

Oh man, I can't imagine what it must have felt like when the tank dropped

But it now looks MINT, it's exactly the colour mine was. Great job!
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Old 23-06-19, 10:46 AM   #45
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Default Re: 1979 Suzuki X5 Long term rebuild

X5 was a lovely wee bike, its only flaw was that it wasn't an X7
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Old 23-06-19, 10:48 AM   #46
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Default Re: 1979 Suzuki X5 Long term rebuild

Quote:
Originally Posted by Othen View Post
Well done.
I enjoy reading this thread and I’m very respectful of what you have done with this bike - the paint looks very good indeed. I suspect it makes no financial sense to spend so much on a bike like this, but that is perhaps not the point: you find it satisfying (which I think is the point).

I enjoy restoration projects also, but at the other end of the scale: mine is a Bloop (1976 model) - saved from the breaker’s yard, given an oily rag finish and now going so well it makes me grin every time I ride it:



Good fortune,
Alan


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Completely agree.
Please don't ever restore the Bloop, its perfect just as it is.
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Old 23-06-19, 10:55 AM   #47
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Default Re: 1979 Suzuki X5 Long term rebuild

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Originally Posted by Talking Heads View Post
Completely agree.

Please don't ever restore the Bloop, its perfect just as it is.


... I agree, that was sort of the point of saving it from the scrapper: it has taken 43 years to look this good


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Old 23-06-19, 04:10 PM   #48
garynortheast
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Default Re: 1979 Suzuki X5 Long term rebuild

That looks absolutely fantastic Col! I think I need to have a spin over to take a look at some point!
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Old 23-06-19, 04:58 PM   #49
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Default Re: 1979 Suzuki X5 Long term rebuild

The X5 Looks great I had a X7 back in the day in the same blue, been looking at the thread and the end result is great, there is Nowt wrong with the Bloop a real bike and shows how good Suzuki are at making bikes.
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Old 23-06-19, 05:44 PM   #50
mister c
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Default Re: 1979 Suzuki X5 Long term rebuild

BLOOP is looking goodo, how do these experts put it? "Great patina".
I bought an X5 brand new back in 1979, so have wanted one for quite a while. This came up (in boxes) for £350, so had to buy it & restore it back to a good condition while honing my skills learning how to sort things, especially spare parts that are as rare as rocking horse droppings. This one is a keeper & will hardly get ridden at all.
Well, I was awake early again this morning (3:45am) so took the dog for a walk, made a brew & headed off to the shed. The plastic wouldn't shine up as well as the tank so I resorted to fixing the decals, then applying lacquer over the paint to make it shine. The overall effect is really nice, I'm so pleased with it. I now have a long road ahead cleaning her up as she's been in the leaky shed for nearly a year & a half. It will then be a case of number plate, MOT then take her for a little test run


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