1971 Huffy Slingshot 3 touch-up

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CRASH

CRASH

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I am going to journal this clean up, touch up, light restoration… whatever you want to call it.

Here’s how I got it.

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It looks decent in the pictures, but it’s a 10 foot bike. It looks good from 10 feet away. Those of you that know me know that I’m more about having a bike look good from 10 inches away. So I’m going to have to work some magic.
 
Initial inspection:
- Spokes look like they’re 52 years old, so going to re-lace the wheels.
- Front tire is wrong, and a correct one will cost 25% of what I bought the whole bike for, but that’s what it is.
- Seat is wrong and has a small tear on the top, but for now it’s going to stay because it matches, even though it is a Troxel.
- Sissy is wrong, so it’s getting a freshly chromed original 48” tall sissy. (I just hope the Troxel isn’t to fat for it)
- Chain is garbage. Replacing.
- Frame caps are smashed on the front, so getting some aluminum reproductions made by a friend that I’ve used on all my Huffy restorations.
- Front and Rear brake housings were cut way too short, so replacing that and the cables.
So far that’s it.
 
Tore it down and cleaned the frame. The paint damage is… there. My perfectionist brain wants to repaint it. But the client bought it as an original bike, so… touch up? I’m going to take it to a body shop friend of mine to see if he can match the paint. Then to see what dabbing that paint of exposed, slightly corroded, metal might look like.
Maybe a touch up, a light wet sand, and shooting new clear?
We’ll see.

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Proof that it’s a ‘71. Previous owner swears he researched it and found that it was a ‘69. But the frame, BMA/6 decal, and reflective fork darts led me to believe between 70 and 72.

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See what I mean about 10 inches? It’s a nightmare.
 
When I took apart the front wheel, the rubber spoke strip had melted into the metal, plus caused some corrosion.

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The wire wheel took care of that.

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And what is this stamped arrow? I’ve never seen that before. Must be some sort of manufacturer’s mark. Usually I see these rims stamped from Araya, but not this one. Just the arrow.

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On the rear rim, the spokes were really tight, and the wheel wasn’t true. I noticed a lot of threads exposed out of the nipple. (giggle). I thought maybe the spokes were really short.

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Turns out they just had a lot of threads cut on them. Odd. I guess I’m used to lacing custom cut spokes that show very little threads.

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That’s what I’m doing to these, so they all got cut and tossed.

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The steer tube was pretty rusty inside and out. So I hit the inside with some POR-15, and I wire wheeled the outside, then hit it with some etch primer to protect it.

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This bike was previously cleaned, but it was a mediocre job at best. I cleaned each painted part separately. Here’s a few “before” soap.

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Then I hit each one with some light rubbing compound. As a “before” shot, here is the guard in the sun after the polishing compound.

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The after probably doesn’t show a big difference, but the parts and frame are shinier and smoother following some carnuba wax and hand buffing.

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Looking good, CRASH! Where do you find these cool Huffys? I keep my eyes open on Marketplace and Craigslist. When I do see them they are usually spendy. Are you going to flip this one?
 
Pondo said:
Looking good, CRASH! Where do you find these cool Huffys? I keep my eyes open on Marketplace and Craigslist. When I do see them they are usually spendy. Are you going to flip this one?
Click to expand...
I found this one in Oakhurst, sitting on the side of the road waiting for trash pick up.

No, seriously, a guy I’m doing a bike for found it advertised on the cabe, and paid me a few bucks to go pick it up in San Jose, then freshen it up for him.
 
I gave the fork spring an Evaporust bath then polished it. No one asked, but my trick for getting the spring in and out is zip ties. Installing it is easier. You set it in a vice, set the zip ties in, squeeze it, tighten down the ties, put it in the fork, and cut the ties. It’s sets itself in very easy.

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I’m going to start with restoring parts. I cracked apart the shifter to separate it from the console for cleaning.
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The shift cover is pretty yellowed from time,
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So I have some peroxide for just this reason.
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After I poured in the peroxide I realized I have a bottle of the clear liquid, which may have been better to let in the UV rays, but we’ll see how this works. I’ll let it sit in the sun all day.
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Here’s how it looked after sitting in the crème for a day.
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Not bad, but still some yellowing. (And residual glue can be easily seen)

Since I had just a bit of the liquid left…
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I’ll give that another day of soaking to hopefully fully utilize the sun’s UV power and bleach away the last remnants of yellow.
 
Accepted an offer today, so that’s some good news.

This was my last bit of polishing for this bike.

From this
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To this
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Polished to this
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Then to this
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Got the spokes for the wheels, but he forgot to throw the nipples in box, so they’ll be a few more days. Waiting for the new front tire as well.

Meanwhile, I’ll start assembly.
 

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