So I mow lawns on the weekend and a guy was tossing an old huffy cruiser. The thing was a bit rusty, but still ride-able and no serious damage to anything that I could see. Basically I'd like to spend a bit of my time learning bike by tearing it down, cleaning it (and replacing what needs replacing if its cheap enough), painting it, and then enjoying it around town just for fun.
8/8/2012 UPDATE: So I thought today would be the day I'd get the rims finished completely....but a wrench got thrown in my spoke when I found ungodly amounts of rust underneath the tires and tubes. They are 26" by 1.25" and I'd like to go bigger than that if they'd fit. Also decided I'm going to custom fabricate a truss fork. Should be fun.
8/7/2012 UPDATE: So I spent last night cleaning the last of the green paint of of every smaller piece, and all day today I used chemical paint stripper to remove the 3 coats prior. I also got rid of the rust that was left on the frame, handlebars. My uncle helped me brass weld the press fitted dropouts so those should last way longer now. I may grind them down tomorrow but I'm not sure. They are pretty clean as-is. Tomorrow I have to finish the rims and I've decided to just clear coat the body. The oldstyle brass welds were just too cool to cover up.
8/2/2012 UPDATE: Cleaned up original post, consolidated images to the first post. Called my Uncle who owns a body shop, he's going to help me strip the paint and get some automotive paint stripper for me. He's pretty busy so I'm not sure when I'll get over there to do it, but will take pics.
Disassembly
Thing looks rough guys. real rough. Not as bad as some other builds I've seen on here though.
The fork wouldn't come off, finally got it off with some heat.
I think it was originally red. Or black. Or green?
I've got some wheels, though not sure if they were original.
Crank finally came off ((took me FOREVER to figure out the left side was righty-loosy)
Cleaning Her Up
Everything cleaned up pretty nicely with some degreaser and a plastic brush. Obviously there's still lots of rust, but I'm going to get all the paint off before I worry too much about that.
I recommend this PVC gloves because the wires brushes don't catch or pull on them.
Stripping Her Down
Safety first kids (pvc gloves, eye protection, etc)
No joke, 5 applications of aircraft paint stripper. Insane amount of work. I guess the chemical composition of the oldest layer of paint just wasn't the same as new stuff because the first two layers came of in one coat of stripper + paper towels. PAPER TOWELS.
Wire brush is what it came down to, and there was still a couple places missing.
Dull, and IMHO ugly.
Polished it up with some super fine sandpaper. Got it shining. I'll do a bit more polishing tomorrow then clearcoat it. Rims are probably gonna get done as well. I'll have time to primer the rims, but probably not paint them (we'll see)
Clear Coated
Had my uncle use some brass welds on the rear dropouts. Matches the others and should make it stronger. Serial number 5H339307
Cool patina
Really shines in the sun
8/8/2012 UPDATE: So I thought today would be the day I'd get the rims finished completely....but a wrench got thrown in my spoke when I found ungodly amounts of rust underneath the tires and tubes. They are 26" by 1.25" and I'd like to go bigger than that if they'd fit. Also decided I'm going to custom fabricate a truss fork. Should be fun.
8/7/2012 UPDATE: So I spent last night cleaning the last of the green paint of of every smaller piece, and all day today I used chemical paint stripper to remove the 3 coats prior. I also got rid of the rust that was left on the frame, handlebars. My uncle helped me brass weld the press fitted dropouts so those should last way longer now. I may grind them down tomorrow but I'm not sure. They are pretty clean as-is. Tomorrow I have to finish the rims and I've decided to just clear coat the body. The oldstyle brass welds were just too cool to cover up.
8/2/2012 UPDATE: Cleaned up original post, consolidated images to the first post. Called my Uncle who owns a body shop, he's going to help me strip the paint and get some automotive paint stripper for me. He's pretty busy so I'm not sure when I'll get over there to do it, but will take pics.
Disassembly
Thing looks rough guys. real rough. Not as bad as some other builds I've seen on here though.
The fork wouldn't come off, finally got it off with some heat.
I think it was originally red. Or black. Or green?
I've got some wheels, though not sure if they were original.
Crank finally came off ((took me FOREVER to figure out the left side was righty-loosy)
Cleaning Her Up
Everything cleaned up pretty nicely with some degreaser and a plastic brush. Obviously there's still lots of rust, but I'm going to get all the paint off before I worry too much about that.
I recommend this PVC gloves because the wires brushes don't catch or pull on them.
Stripping Her Down
Safety first kids (pvc gloves, eye protection, etc)
No joke, 5 applications of aircraft paint stripper. Insane amount of work. I guess the chemical composition of the oldest layer of paint just wasn't the same as new stuff because the first two layers came of in one coat of stripper + paper towels. PAPER TOWELS.
Wire brush is what it came down to, and there was still a couple places missing.
Dull, and IMHO ugly.
Polished it up with some super fine sandpaper. Got it shining. I'll do a bit more polishing tomorrow then clearcoat it. Rims are probably gonna get done as well. I'll have time to primer the rims, but probably not paint them (we'll see)
Clear Coated
Had my uncle use some brass welds on the rear dropouts. Matches the others and should make it stronger. Serial number 5H339307
Cool patina
Really shines in the sun
