New Winter project.

Bought this 1977 model. Not sure what the final plan is going to be yet. Couldn't resist. Seller only wanted $200 Canadian. I actually paid up for it ($250). Buying competition is tough around here! Was a grandfather/grandson project. Grandson lost interest. Unmolested motor shifts and kicks over, 3 sets of footpegs? 2 bash plates, Extra head, frame sanded down, no wiring harness, no cables, Looks to be about 90% here. More to come.

Congrats! That's a lot of value for the money. Without knowing where you plan to take this project, there's only one suggestion I offer. Have that frame glass bead-blasted. There's less than an hour's work to do a top-notch job, down to the last detail. A shop shouldn't charge much, with 98% of the paint already removed and virtually no rust. That's the only way to get those little recesses perfectly cleaned & prepped for primer...then you'd have a rock-solid base for fresh paint.

Looking forward to seeing this progress over the winter.

I like that idea, thanks. I'll investigate it. The gentleman I bought it from had several other projects and did a good job of cleanup on the CT parts he touched. Looks like who ever he got it from did a number on it? Here's a couple of other pics, they show the ghetto paint job it was was subjected too? Can't imagine what the frame looked like before he stripped it? There are shades of red, blue and silver on the other parts. Original colour was orange I'm sure. The frame is almost completely rust free as it sits now.

I've been busy. Mostly just cleaning up and painting. Here's an after pic.

Cleaned up the speedo and bench tested it. Odometer works I moved it just 1/10. The mph needle was moving nicely. The only issue is all three bulbs are blown.

Pulled apart the front forks and cleaned up all the crud that had settled in the bottom. Also cleaned up the rear shocks. Just waiting on new seals. They were leaking pretty good. In comparison to the forks on my 1983, these were extremely easy to disassemble. Also waiting on other hardware to reassemble everything. Should be here Thursday!

Now's the time to restore the lower/outer fork legs. The castings are well-made and refinish beautifully. They are a lot easier to deal with while separate. The rusted areas of the upper/inner legs should be wire brushed back to clean steel; a light coating of grease will keep the rust from returning and make reassembly easier. This is all it takes to transform a fork rebuild from solid & workmanlike to as good as it gets.

Use 15w fork oil and figure out the optimal quantity, which will be somewhere between 3.8-4.2oz, and you will be amazed by how well these K1-`79 forks can perform.

Cool project... springs don't look too tired either, like the bike hasn't been ridden too hard offroad. I bought longer fork legs and new springs for my project bike back in the day, never had any regrets either since I intended to beat the bike to death in the dirt, LOL. If you're gonna ride offroad, you can buy better rear shocks too, those are a good investment unless you want the bike to be stock.

I’ll go at it again on the inner tubes. I’ve used these sos pads before with great results and a stiff brush if needed. The lowers needed a lot of brushing and cleanup. I’ll prep em up and get them ready for refinishing as they can use it. On the 83 forks I used 10 weight motul fork oil and was wondering if I should have went with heavier as they seemed a little soft. 10 weight is recommended in the clymer manual.

This bike is gonna hit the dirt trails for sure. Right now I’m gonna go with these rear shocks. But an upgrade is definitely in the works down the road. I mostly blew the budget on my last 1983 project.

These fork ears have seen better days? Not sure if I want to re-use them. I was looking on chp and looks like they have a couple of alternatives. Any body ever tried them? I'll see if I can post up some pix of the chp fork ears.

These are the alternatives I was looking at. Any body ever used them.

OE fork oil was 7W and that's way too thin. 15W, or sometimes 20W fork oil, with the fill quantity adjusted to give the best fork action...which usually means stopping just short of hydrolock, with the fork bottomed-out. This is pretty easy to do, with the fork leg off the bike; you start by using the specified quantity for a dry-fill (3.8oz, as I recall), screw-in the cap, the compress the fork leg using bodyweight. then, add 5cc more oil and repeat the test...repeating that procedure until you feel the action tighten-up as the leg is bottomed-out. If you suddenly lose travel, that's hydrolock, and you'd either siphon, or pour-off 5cc and retest. What you're doing is decreasing the amount of trapped air inside the fork leg, which stiffens-up compression rate. It works surprisingly well with this style fork.

As for rear shocks, as long as what you're running don't bottom-out you should be okay. Be forewarned, when the shock bottom-out on these bikes, frame damage...most commonly the shock mounts themselves...occurs and the repairs are a major undertaking.

Those headlight ears appear to be "Shiny Orange" which was a 1977-only color...except in Canada. They don't look too bad, actually. Usually, they're crumpled and that's the single most difficult restoration task on a CT70. You could have a machine shop turn a spacer, to replace the one that's AWOL, then have it brazed into the HL ear. Those HL ears are unobtainium rare, so you definitely don't want to discard them. Put them on ebay and someone will snap them up; that pair appears quite restorable. Usually they're scrap metal. If you're going to use aftermarket HL mounts, you'll want to polish the upper fork legs, then clearcoat them.

The cast aluminum lower fork legs were brushed-polished on the K1-K4, the later models..including the `79 were painted "Cloud silver". Silver paint hides a lot of surface imperfections and is cheap; all it requires is decent surface prep. If you're motivated, those castings can be polished to a mirror-like finish that looks stunning.

MountainMini said:

This bike is gonna hit the dirt trails for sure. Right now I’m gonna go with these rear shocks. But an upgrade is definitely in the works down the road. I mostly blew the budget on my last 1983 project.
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Haha, I hear ya, that's the story of my life... my old FrankenBike started life as a '79 Z50R, but I added some cool aftermarket items that turned it into an offroad beast, LOL. I still miss that little bike, it sure worked well with the upgrades and that 140cc motor... I'll dig up the thread so you can check it out. CHEERS!!!

I won't trash the fork ears. I'll bag them and add them to my inventory for now. I'll do some extra work on the fork legs and get them ready for the aftermarket ears I plan on getting. Don't think I would be happy with the restoration of the old ones that I would be able to do.

I don't plan on riding it that hard to damage the frame, not intentionally anyway. So yah I'll use these rear shocks until they are no good anymore.

Got a shipment of parts yesterday. Mostly fork and steering hardware. So I can start the fork reassembly in the next little while. I’ll reassemble them using your method(Racerx). I’m pretty sure the clymer manual only recommended 2 oz. per fork. So i think the amounts you recommend which are about double with the heavier weight oil will stiffen things up nicely.

As you fill the fork legs, initially, look inside while one is fully compressed. That's very easy to do, off the bike a, with no spring fighting you. The oil level should be at least ~3" below the threads, to prevent hydrolock.

FYI, there's a very basic reason why bottoming-out the suspension (while riding) is damaging. Once those shocks are bottomed-out, the shock-loading skyrockets. It's like hitting the shock mounts with a sledgehammer and they won't long survive that. If you are forced to choose between overly soft and overly stiff shocks, the latter will be far easier...structurally/mechanically...on the shock mounts. Every one of these frames that I've run across with bent shock mounts had been run with stock shocks, that were usually worn out, or outright blown. My daily rider had been ridden for a time with only the RH side shock. As-received, the shock mount on that side was bent upward by ~0.20", measured at the end. I straightened it and it lasted for a time; around 5500 miles, it snapped-off cleanly, at the step (just inboard of where the upper shock eye sits), while riding...at 50mph. I repaired my frame and it was MAJOR surgery.

Ok so I did a little research in my not so good clymer manual. The refill capacity for the 1980+ forks is 1.8-2 oz. I’m doing a set of 1977 right now. The clymer table 5 front fork oil capacity after disassembly, looks like a misprint? Listed as 3.4-3.6 cc?! Nothing is listed in the oz. section? I think I’ll go with your refill capacity amounts Racerx.

Fill quantities vary, from one manual to the next. Generally speaking, they overlap around 3.8oz+/-, for a dry fill. What no manual will tell you is the optimal quantity for YOUR fork. The only way to determine that is with a little extra attention when doing the initial fill...followed with some road miles to check the result. Fill quantity can make a much bigger difference than seems possible. It's a little tricky, if you've never done this but, in reality, it's rather straightforward. As you reach the limit, suspension action tightens rapidly. 5cc can make the difference between optimal and too stiff...or even hydrolock (before the fork can bottom-out). This varies due to production tolerances, internal wear and oil viscosity. Start with 3.5oz. Then, with the fork leg fully compressed, look inside. Add 5cc of oil, at a time, until you can see the oil level ~6" below the cap threads. At that point, finish assembling the fork, on the bike, then test the front end action. If you can bottom-out the fork easily, front wheel braced against a wall, workbench, (or using the front brake, if it'll hold), try adding 5cc more oil, then retesting. If you can't quite bottom-out the front end, or you really have to jump on it...time for the road test. If you're happy with the suspension action, you're done. OTOH, if it's still too soft, go back to the "add 5cc and retest" mode, until you either get what you're after or you reach the point of reduced fork excursion (hydrolock), then remove the amount of oil that pushed things over-the-top.

You can use the drain bolts on the fork legs, just be careful with the torque. They don't need much. If you source a large syringe...and they are made for this type of use...it makes life a lot easier.

Did a quick bench test on a few electrical items. The horn passed, the turn signal indicator passed, the one sealed beam headlight passed. But the other crappy headlight with red paint is garbage. Saved the trim ring and hardware, tossed the bulb.

Had some extra time off on the long weekend. Got distracted. Inquired about these 2 mini’s for sale. Immediately the seller dropped his price $150. Maybe a little urgent to sell. Got them for $300. Each. A 1980 with engine and a 1972 no engine good body.