Aermacchi/Harley Baja Project

[dt]

Hah! Another eBay find for the Baja…and another Sprint part at that. Yup, this Front Fender off a 1970 Aermacchi SS350 Sprint is the same fender that was on the MSR model Baja. The SRs all had the raised fender, but I like the low fender way better and it’ll make it look more like an MSR when I’m done. Sweeeeet!

[dt]

I got the fender on Friday and slipped it on today just to make sure it fit. Same part number and all, but the bike it came off (70 Sprint) had a 19 inch front tire and this is 21. Checked with one of the guys on the Aermacchi Yahoo Group who confirmed it was the same before I bid on the thing. Fits pretty good. Now I’ve got a low and a high fender for the bike. I’ll paint and stripe it same as the high fender.

[dt]

Heck of a nice day weatherwise today. I hope you all got some time in the saddle. My bike is down at the Harley dealer getting a new front tire and the 10,000 service. So I worked a little on the Baja. I’m still working on the tank and that took up most of my time, but I continue to tinker with the stock pipe. As you can see in the photos below, it’s really pitted, particularly back on the stinger/muffler. I’m trying something new (to me) called Hi-Temp Lab Metal.



The stuff is a filler putty, like bondo, although you don’t have to premix it. It’s used for lots of things including exhaust pipe repair. While the photos look pretty bad, there’s actually a lot of metal left, so it was worth a try.

Here’s a photo when it first came off.



Here’s a photo after bead blasting.



The next photo is my first application of the Lab Metal on the stinger after a LOT of sanding today. Like most things, there’s a learning curve. First, it dries fairly quickly and was way too cakey to apply right out of the can. The stuff comes with a solvent, so I was able to thin it down…too much, so then it was runny. LOL! It didn’t go on evenly at all causing a lot of waves. I just let it dry thinking it’d just be a little more sanding. Well…Lab Metal is “Metal.” In its dried state this stuff is really like metal. It took a lot of sanding just to get it to this condition and there’s more work ahead. I think I’ve got the mix pretty well down, so at least I’ll be able to apply the remaining coats a little more evenly and without the waves.

[dt]

Lastly today, I got the wiring squared up, installed the kick, shift and pegs, and put the seat on. Looks like I didn’t provide a photo earleir of the good work Anthony’s Upholstery (Brandon) did getting that seat cover to fit…so here you go. I'd have never pulled that off.

[bagobones]

Very impressive work. It takes a lot of resourcefulness and skill and patience to re-do a basket case like this. This kind of work is always more impressive to me than watching somebody bolt on a bunch of new parts. You're the man, DT.

This thread is encouraging me to be patient with my Virago project, which now has some kind of engine knock and had to be trailered home. I guess I'll have four cold months in the garage to gt it all straightened out. Patience.....

[dt]

Thanks. I highly recommend this type of thing to everyone. We all have bikes to ride. Having another motorcycle in the garage (old or new) to tinker around with is a great hobby. Motorcycles are pretty easy to understand and pretty easy to work on. No rush, no pressure...until you get it done. Then you want to get another. 

[dt]

As I look through all the photos I’ve posted, I guess I haven’t tossed up any recent tank photos. Quite a little work has continued after the last report on it. Anyway, here’s where I’m at and how I’ve continued the orange/black/white pinstripe theme I’m working with. I slipped out of work a little early yesterday and painted the gloss black top stripe across the top of the tank. This morning I laid down the white pinstripe and put the decals on.



The restorer is the last year of the SR (and all Bajas) and I didn’t particularly care for the tank decal. This is the tank decal from the earliest years of the MSR. The only thing I needed to do was replace the top orange stripe with a piece of black pinstripe to make it work.

[dt]

Here ya go…





Oh, I’d have shot some photos of the tank on the bike, but I’ve got a little issue with the current handle in that it’s swinging a little too close to the tank for comfort. Some time back I put a standard mx bar I had lying around on…too little rise, too much pull. The original bar was kind of a mess, but it’s the perfect rise/pull (a little wide, though). Nonetheless, I’m working on getting that back in shape to put back on.

UPDATE Sunday...

Uh…not quite a match colorwise. Closer than these photos are showing though. Looks all gobbldy-gookie.  



Outdoors comes out a little better. That’s more what it looks like than indoor pictures.

[dt]

Not much work this week. Last week I painted the low fender, put the pinstripe on yesterday and slapped it on.



I'm hoping to find some time this week to work some more on the pipe. That's taking a lot of work and doesn't seem to be coming out the way I'd like. Might have to start thinking of something else.

[dt]

The Baja project has been on hold for nearly two months now. I ran into some problems with the pipe using that Lab-Metal stuff and just couldn’t get it where I wanted it. So I called around to a few places to see what it would take/cost to fab a whole new pipe. I landed on Circle F Exhaust over in Houston who I’ve bought racing pipes from in the past. Since it was a new pipe for them they said they’d do it for $225. Still have one of their pipes on my Yamaha Scrambler that iirc was around $200. Anyway, then, talking with some guys on the Aermacchi Yahoo! Group, a couple others with SRs wanted a pipe also…and, one of them was over in Texas about five hours from Circle F, but didn’t have a stock pipe. So I shipped my stock pipe over there and he delivered his motorcycle and viola’…we got pipes!

Except I don’t have it yet. Circle F sent photos and said they were shipping them out today. Should get it next week!

[dv]

Just discovered this sight.Nice to see your Baja project.I've owned a 1970 since 1971 and inherited my brothers 1972 in 05.Been planning on restoring and or selling.Both run and have been stored indoors there whole life.I have a few spare parts ,owners manuals,and harley repair manuals. Another brother had a new 1973,but AMF had bought into Harley that year and major changes came to the Baja.Brakes, shocks transmission.His bike fell apart beneath him.My Bajas are 100% Harley/Aermacchi and still going.

[dt]

Hey, dv! Welcome to another Baja owner. Where are you from?

Do you have MSRs or SRs? My SR100 is under a cover in my garage at the moment because it’s my busy time at work…I’m a cpa…oh, but then these guys on here get me to join them on four day motorcycle boondoggles right in the middle of all that. I do now have the pipe from CircleF which I only got a couple weeks ago. Looks pretty good. Still have a long ways to go. One of the parts/assemblies I’d like to find is the factory engine guard. It doesn’t seem like it would be too difficult to fabricate one if one doesn’t turn up though.

[dv]

Hello dt. I'm from western NY,south of Buffalo about 30 miles.I've got an MSR and an SR. Never have seen a factory engine guard.I changed the paint scheme years ago on my MSR.Where did you get the tank decal?

[dt]

Hey, I’m originally from up in that neck of the woods…Syracuse. You’re more than welcome to post some photos of your baja’s here.

I got the tank decal from an eBay vendor. He doesn’t seem to have one up at the moment and I can’t figure out who it was going through my eBay records. Perhaps if you keep an eye out he’ll have one up soon. I like that decal much better than the one that was on the tank (later models), but I had to replace the top stripe with some black pinstripe since I painted the tank orange.

On the engine guard, I think I’ve seen only one in a photo somewhere, but it’s in the Parts Catalog as a kit (page 26, PN 48925-70). Here’s a copy of the photo in the Catalog:

[dv]

Thanks for the info.I'll see about the pics someday.Not to good with the computer stuff yet.

[RAWHIDEROCKY]

GREAT Looking Baja project.  Really really an enjoyable read.  As I was reading from the start, I'm asking myself, How does he find all the time?  Then I saw your 15yo labor department.
Man that is fantastic, kids today don't seem to have any interest in anything.  Much less something Dad is interested in doing.  My hats off to you, for developing one fine young man.
Want to adopt another?

Glad to see you got some good info. from the Aermacchi site, I am HarleySX over there.
I'm too tall and fat for the little Baja, but I do ride a few SX350s.
The Engine Guard will be the hardest part to find.  Other than the Air Box cover, they do come up on occasion.  But I've never even seen the Engine Guard on a restored Baja at any AMCA Show, I attend 3 to 6 AMCA Shows yearly for the past 10 years.

I'm also the guy that had the orange Aermacchi Hats made, because nothing was available.
If you forward your snail mail info, I'd love to ship a few to you and your son for free.
Thanking you for your contribution to the Aermacchi family. 
I now have a Baja I'm interested in getting, and after reading your adventure.  I know anything can be done with the right motivation.
Keep up the great work.
Ride'm
Brian Fry  bdfry@flash.net
I'm in Chicago now, but we also have a house in Sebastian FL. I'll be down end of this month.  I don't have a Sprint in FL. yet, but ride my RoadKing and '63 Topper scooter in FL.

[dt]

Hey Brian, thanks for the comments. The Aermacchi Group has been a great source of help. I’d still be messing around with the mag if not for Mike K’s help. Plus, I got a chance to meet a bunch of the racers, including Lancaster Sprint's guys up at the AMA Vintage Days last summer.

I’m in the process of making room for more projects. Maybe the next one will be a Sprint like the one my dad taught me to ride on back in 1971. 

[dt]

I finally got the pipe from CircleF a couple weeks ago, so I dragged out the Baja today to finish off a couple things. First was the air box. Quite a mess, but it’s such thick metal it cleaned up pretty good, although it left quite a little pitting.



I’m actually lucky to have it, but I don’t have the filter cover so I had to improvise something until one turns up. Sometime ago I put a beadblast on it and painted it black. What I found for the filter and cover was a K&N complete filter in their universal/custom section. It’s part number RC-0850.



All I had to do to fit it was cut out the entire rubber flange and backing and then drill a hole for the mount screw. Viola!





Last weekend I put a light coat of high heat coating on the pipe and left it for the week. I’m going to have to cure it in a couple coats. I let the heat from the running engine cure it, but it usually works best when I cure a light coat and then a little heavier one. Some of the powder coating shops have a real nice coating for pipes.

[mrbones]

That bike looks great! 

[bagobones]

If you took that up to the mid-Ohio vantage days, people would FREAK over it. It's beautiful, and you really did bring it back from the DEAD. You got mad skillz, my friend. I mean, that air filter looked like ASS!  You're the man.