New member with a barn find...

Just joined the site. Bought this 1973 850 commando off a client. Been sitting for about 30 years.

Good Luck. Many good build threads here from all levels of starting points from Basket cases to decent rollers. You appear to be somewhere in between.

She's beautiful! Does the engine turn over? Fwiw, when I brought my 850 home it was seized up. I drained what fluid was in it, and then topped it clear to the valves with ATF and Acetone mixed 50/50. I had read about it working well and decided to give it a try. The acetone was pretty hard on the alternator, turned it to cheese whiz (yah, I filled the primary too). Went away and left it to soak for a couple of months while I worked on other stuff. It really did a great job on everything else. The pistons broke free in their bores while I was taking the rotor nut off the crank. Years of crud just washed away with a bath in kerosene once I got the parts out. The pistons came out looking new. Or maybe I just got lucky. Kinda hard to know for sure. But I figured it couldn't hurt to get something soaking into all those old fasteners, but even the cylinder bores came out bright. It is hardly scientific, but it is the kind of thing that makes a guy into a believer.

Russ

Thx Russ! It appears someone started to take the topp end off and stopped ( who knows why). So much fun to perform a resurection on such a classic. Here are a couple of my other builds no laughing!

honker said:

Thx Russ! It appears someone started to take the topp end off and stopped ( who knows why). So much fun to perform a resurection on such a classic. Here are a couple of my other builds no laughing!

Click to expand...

No laughing. Crying. :wink:

swooshdave said:

honker said:

Thx Russ! It appears someone started to take the topp end off and stopped ( who knows why). So much fun to perform a resurection on such a classic. Here are a couple of my other builds no laughing!

Click to expand...

No laughing. Crying. :wink:

Click to expand...

Most modified Commando I have ever seen!!!

Sorry about the partial pictures cant get them to load properly???

Welcome, Honker.

That is a CLASSY sidecar rig, I love it.

You should set up a production line making those sidecars.

honker said:

Sorry about the partial pictures cant get them to load properly???

Click to expand...

One way to do it is to drag the cursor on to the picture in your library in Photobucket. Put the cursor on the little sprocket in the picture and pick 'edit'. There will be a slider bar to enlarge or shrink the pic.

If you want to look at somebody's picture that's coming up cropped, and you're using Windows, right button click the picture and pick 'view image'. You'll get the whole thing, but shrunk to fit.

P.S.
You can also re-size the picture before you upload it to Photobucket by opening it with Paint. Hit Image on the task bar, then Resize/Skew.

Jeepers! What planet are you from? Here I am trying to give you advice!

Russ

I think we can all learn from each other..

Be prepared to forget all you know and start again, british bikes are ... different.
It will soon train you, though.

Someone is right, you could sell those sidecars.
And maybe a range of similar styles, for other makes....

" british bikes are ... different. "

Yea , looks to me like the oil couldnt get out , and was all stuck inside .

A good application of OIL on the OUTSIDE about now should help rectify the situation and get things going smoothly .

Only exception to this would be to fill the INSIDE of the Gas Tank , with Oil . Then you could try compression igniton too
and that should oil the insides of the exhausts abnd mufflers .You can Save a lot on replacement parts like this .

Good Find . Lucky Man . A true word of caution . ' Some People ' 8) think DONT change anything , unless its a IMPROVEMENT .
mucking with things just for hecks sake can be a big step into the wop wops .

73 Inters potentially one of the best .

better get a bottle of lucas smoke to put back in the wiring harness while you are at it...

Honker,

People often abandon the removal of the head because they miss the one vital bolt in the middle of the head between where the casting that houses the exhaust rockers rises up from the fins. There are a total of 10 fasteners holding the head in place; 4 long bolts from the top near the spark plug holes, 1 shorter bolt from the top in the middle of the head towards the front (this is most often overlooked) 2 nuts from the top at the front of the head, 2 long tube nuts that go in from the bottom underneath the exhaust ports and 1 nut that goes in from the bottom at the back of the head in the middle under the inlet rockers.

Good luck with your project, it looks like it you have the requisite skills and will produce a very nice finished article.

Dave