this post was submitted on 08 Dec 2025
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Motorcycles
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Alright bud, congrats, this is how I got into motorcycling as well, albeit on a different make/model.
Some things to check, if you're already aware of this stuff my bad, but maybe you'll find some useful info here:
Plenty of other work to do, as your life is in your hands, but you'll learn a lot, and have fun too. Keep an eye out for corroded electrical connections too, there's a wiring diagram in the manual that's pretty easy to follow.
The official service manual is your friend, take the time to read the job first before going for it. Crazy I gotta say that, but I've seen other people really fuck some moto jobs up.
Have fun, keep us posted on your progress!
Wow, great advice, thanks for taking the time for this write-up!
I've worked as a car mechanic, so I'm not completely clueless but I don't have any experience with motorcycles.
I thought about cleaning the tank myself but I'm not sure how to go about conserving it. Do you have any tips how I could apply the coating on the inside? The tank kinda does a inverted U-shape around the frame and the filler hole is not very large.
The carb seems to be a pretty common model from Sachs and there are a lot of manuals available. Not so much for the bike itself unfortunately, there's pretty much zero documentation to be found. Most of the parts including the engine, brakes and gearbox seem to be from Sachs as well, so I'll probably be able find some more info on those separately.
I have not tested for compression yet but I did put some oil in the cylinder and let it sit for a bit before turning it over. I'll see if I can get it running before I decide on the actual scope of this project, but it's definitely going back on the road in any case!
Nice, you'll find bikes to be away easier to work on than cars haha. Maybe email this guy? https://www.pentonpartsusa.com/catalog/8a%20repair%20sachs.htm
For the tank, I basically turned the tank upside down after taping up the fill port, and reached a bent coat hanger in via the removable petcock, electrically isolated from the tank body with the highest of technology: used chopsticks. Coat hangers usually have a thin plastic varnish, so scrub the wire with steel wool first.
Electrolysis will 'pull' rust from every spot that has line-of-sight with the wire. Considering the u-bend, seems like you may have to do two runs of electrolysis for removing the majority of the rust, then follow it with something like evaporust to get anything that got missed.
Glad to hear you put oil in the cylinder first, I really wish I had known that when I first started haha.
That looks promising, thanks!
The only rust repairs I had to deal with so far were frame and underbody stuff on cars with plenty of space but I'm excited for the challenge. It's definitely a welcome change to be able to work on something while sitting comfortably and not constantly bent over an engine bay or crawling around under a vehicle :D
I really appreciate the advice!
It's a two stroke.
👍 Still useful info for the anyone in the future doing this kind of work.