Well it still doesn't look too bad from 5 yards, but the poor old girl is a bit battered when you look up close, and that's what I tend to do!
Hopefully this will document a long awaited refurb and become more interesting as it goes along. The bulk of it is just re-finishing various bits, which is pretty boring in itself, but I do have some little mods in mind.
I made a start this afternoon by draining the tank and lifting it off. I tipped it upside down to get the last drips out and heard a rattle. Upon investigation I found the detritus pictured below. Two pieces of gravel and three large lumps of some sort of resin. Presumably an attempt by a previous owner to cure a leaky hinge bracket?
One of the first jobs I did when I bought it 10 years ago was have the hinge properly brazed up and it's never leaked a drop.
I've checked the internal breather pipes and a guitar string will pass all the way through both of them, so no worries there. The external pipe and Y piece need replacing though.
I also pulled out a tank which I was going to spray yellow at one time, but I've had enough Yellow bikes now, they seem to be unlucky for me!
One breather is clear on that, but the other is blocked and I can't yet get the guitar string though, so that's soaking in WD40 for now , ready for another poke in a couple of days time. Probably should have gone with my rust eating crystals first? The WD40 might have been a bad idea and stop the rust eater doing it's job so well?
I hope I don't leave too long gaps between posts on here, but the next few months will be very busy for me, so I'll see what time I can find for the project.