Monthly Archives: April 2018

Vapor Blasting NOS Parts

Posted on by motopsyco

Vapor Blasting NOS Parts

Confession time, on of my favorite things about the whole antique & vintage motorcycle restoration business is hunting down good deals on new old stock parts. It’s astounding what you can find for these old motorcycles sometimes. The  joy of finding these 30, 40, or even 50 plus year old gems is often dulled by the fact that when you get them, they look old. Now this may be fine if you’re replacing parts on an original machine with a bit of patina as they will blend right in. But if you are doing a full restoration this just wont do. Let me give you a couple of examples using some parts that I have recently purchased for my current personal project a 1972 Honda SL100 K2. These will illustrate why I recommend vapor blasting NOS parts. When I removed the fork top bridge from the bike, one of the fork tube clamps had broken completely off. A brand new one was sourced on Ebay for a reasonable price, and this is how it looked when I took it out of the box.

Vapor Blasting NOS Parts

NOS top bridge before vapor blasting.

It’s just a little dull & oxidized, plus it has a little bit of magic marker writing on it. Even though it’s obviously 100% new & unused it still looks old, so I put it through the vapor blaster. 15 minutes later it looked like this (below)

Vapor Blasting NOS Parts

NOS top bridge after vapor blasting.

Vapor blasting NOS parts does not give them a polished finish. What it does is restore the aluminum so that it looks like it was freshly cast. Because this process has a light peening effect it closes the pores on the aluminum so that it stays cleaner longer. No clear coat is needed just occasional cleaning.

Here’s another example, a freshly vapor blasted cylinder head sitting on top of a brand new old stock cylinder. The new cylinder looks positively dull & dirty compared to the head, so after I finished all my clean up honing, ring gap checking etc. I ran the cylinder through my vapor blaster to clean up the appearance of it.

Vapor Blastin NOS Parts

NOS SL100 cylinder before vapor blasting.

If you look at the assembled engine below you can see how much better the cylinder looks and how well it matches the rest of the bare aluminum parts on this engine.

Vapor Blasting NOS Parts

Complete SL100 engine after vapor blasting.

Seriously if you’re performing a restoration on a motorcycle and you are not happy with the appearance of your new old stock aluminum parts find a shop near you that does vapor blasting.

Honda Ascot FT500 Junkyard Dog

Posted on by motopsyco
Honda Ascot FT500

Honda Ascot FT500 coming home with me.

I had sworn that I wasn’t going to do this anymore. It’s been several months since I had a hit & experienced that euphoria. It’s tough being an addict but I was keeping clean and was even beginning to straighten out my life & get my act together. We all know the first rule to overcoming an addiction is to stay away from temptation.

at Tired Iron Classics

Then yesterday I ran into my dealer, and he’s got the best stuff on the east coast. Next thing I know money & merchandise were exchanging places. If you’re a collector & restorer there is no better feeling than buying a new old pile of junk motorcycle. Especially when it’s a fairly desirable model like the Honda Ascot FT500 that you actually really wanted but couldn’t get when you were younger. Oh man it felt so good! I’m still riding that high today as I type this.

Trashed Honda Ascot FT500

The price on this old Honda Ascot FT500 was righteous enough that the condition really didn’t matter. With dirt cheap motorcycles you just need to go ahead & assume that you need to replace or repair everything. That way you avoid the disappointment that comes with having high hopes.

Trashed Honda Ascot FT500

I love it when they have fuzz growing in the cylinder fins.

Last night after supper I grabbed a beer, & removed the timing plugs so I could try to turn the engine and it’s seized but that’s okay as the plan is to strip it all the way down & build it back as a fire breathing hot rod.

Trashed Honda Ascot FT500

This one is a 1982 model. One of the best things about the Honda Ascot FT500 is the funky flat track styling, it’s the closest thing ever built to a factory street tracker. I’m not a fan of the rectangular headlight that instantly dates what is an otherwise timeless design. Beside it’s rusted out & will be tossed in garbage anyway.

Trashed Honda Ascot FT500 wheel

One of the best things about this bike is that it has cast aluminum wheels that are not Comstars. All of my other bikes except for my Helix scooter have wire wheels and quite frankly they are a pain in the rear to restore & maintain

Honda ascot guages

it’s so 1980s

So how did a motorcycle with less than 3500 miles wind up in such horrible condition? My guess is the the original owner thought that it needed a new starter, so he took the old one off & went to his local dealer for a replacement. Once they learned the price of a new starter they either swore off motorcycles altogether or went & bought another bike, leaving this poor old thing to die out behind the barn.

trashed Honda Asct FT500 rear

If the engine had not been seized I’d go ahead & start working on it but since it needs a full overhaul it will wind up in the corner of the shop with the other “ladies in waiting” where I’ll walk by occasionally and marinade it with penetrating oil until I complete my 2 current restorations. This one definitely will not be restored but will end up being a fairly nice restomod instead.

1982 Honda Ascot FT500

<1982 Honda Ascot FT500 >

Until next time

Peace Y’all

UPDATE 2023 I never finished this one and passed it on to someone else who wanted it.