Part 2 - Honda XR600 Adventure Build

So after getting the frame back from powder coaters (who did a very good job and I would recommend them) we could really hook in.

I knew after reading a few older posts in the 600/650L threads that I’d need to flush the frame of any sandblasting and coating debris.


I began by plugging up the frames oil storage, and ran about 250ml of kerosene into it. I let it sit a few minutes then gave it a good shake up, then let drain into a bucket. I repeated this around 3 times with the frame up right, then another 3 times with the frame upside down so the oil ‘tank’ was at the lowest point. I flushed thoroughly with water, then one last fill of kerosene to get rid of any water. I used compressed air to blast out any leftover liquids and let dry in the sun for a couple of hours.


You can see here the amount of crap that came out on the first and second flushes. Bit of a worry, but it came clean in the end.


Next was cleaning up the swing arm. I didn’t get an overall before shot, but this old girls through the wars. There’s some fairly bad grooves from letting the chain slipper wear though, in fact the chain slipper on it when I bought the bike was an offcut section of plastic.



Here you can see condition before and after.


It then got masked up and prepped for paint. I opted for painting the swinger over powder coating as I wasn’t sure on the tolerances for bearings etc. Perhaps I’ll see how the paint holds up and if not might look at coating this at a later stage.



After Paint, while my Dad worked on cleaning up the engine.




Even after several goes at degreasing and scrubbing she still looked a bit sad. I had read on here a few guys have gone down the path of acid washing and also a full soda or sand blast. I figured she’s all rebuilt and mechanically fine, I didn’t want to go tearing her down too much. A solid clean-up and fresh coat of paint should do the trick for now.
Remember, I’m doing all of this on a bit of a budget. It’s not a full on resto – just a backyard resto!


So once we masked up bits and pieces, into the custom spray booth it went (read; garden shed) and several coats of high temp aluminium finish engine enamel went on. A bit ‘silvery’ but generally much tidier!




While we waited for the engine to dry we set to work on installing the new steering head bearings and the triple clamps.



Then all the new swingarm bearings were loaded with grease and the swinger was installed.




The brakes need some real work. I’ve blasted them for now, but they’ll need a full overhaul. The rear piston is basically hanging out, and the seal is visible, and torn.


With the blasting cabinet running, we took the opportunity to clean up the remainder of the misc. bolts and brackets.



While we waited for some paint to dry, we set about cleaning out all of the threads on the powdercoated frame. While the powdercoating place did a good job, they did miss two or three threads.


With the engine dry and bolts all sorted we set about lifting the engine into the frame (very carefully). We masked the frame off, and laid cardboard on the frame rails and on the front down tube to prevent scratching. A few goes, a bit of sweat, and just a few swear words….and it went it in! Stoked!
We took the chance to step back and admire…and threw in the recently revived and polished Staintune headers for a photo!


The final work last night was looking at tidying up some of the wiring. The heatproof casing had perished. We’re looking at using some high pressure fuel line as a casing. Thoughts?

No updates from Teknik on the suspension yet...hopefully this week.

More updates again soon. Cheers!