Author Topic: 83 Mongoose californian resto thanks to JimmyP and Crazypaving (Read 1230 times)

Threaders · « **on:** March 29, 2011, 01:22 PM »

Well....... Its been a year in the making and its finaly here $:-\$
This is what I scored of the bay for the grand total of 26 pounds all up. This was last summer.

Some nice welding work on the seat tube, I am sure you will agree

(not done by me)

Anyway, I soaked the frame in citric acid powder for a couple of days to see if the chrome could be saved, but it did s0d all, so decided to treat it with some kurite and give a coat of white hammerite

. I left it for a couple of weeks and then sanded down the whole frame to get the paint nice and smooth.

This is after sanding.

Fast forward a few months during which time I rattle canned over the hammerite and did some colour sanding plus laquer and also scored the rest of the parts from ebay and bmxmuseum.com. I got the decals from jimmyp and bars from crazypaving and the final bits arrived this morning

And here she is:

From a foot away, the paint looks pretty good and what it lacks in perfection, it makes up for in durabilty. (I dropped a spanner more than once on the frame when tightening stuff and not a mark!!)
This will be a rider and am just waiting on some used white tyres to arrive, then I will change over the new ones and be ready to roll

brettypeeps · « **Reply #1 on:** March 29, 2011, 01:34 PM »

Now that looks much better

Great job

pickle · « **Reply #2 on:** March 29, 2011, 02:03 PM »

Nice......gotta love a goose!

Threaders · « **Reply #3 on:** March 29, 2011, 02:53 PM »

I know about the chain. Its normally a habbit of mine to always take out one too many links and end up with a chain to short then have the headache of trying to hammer the chain pin back in

, so this time I made it slack. I figure when I change the tyres, ill pull the rear wheel back a bit to tighten it. Im still not sure about the coaster brake. Never had one before and had to take this one apart and regrease to get it working as it had seazed up.
Its working fine now, but I have heard some horror stories about riding with them. Guess ill ride it slow to begin with.

john4130 · « **Reply #4 on:** March 29, 2011, 07:46 PM »

whatever you do don't crank full speed and then try to bunnyhop with a coaster. i watched my brother do it about half an hour after fitting one. he went straight over the bars and face in the dirt. funniest thing i've ever seen.

Threaders · « **Reply #5 on:** March 29, 2011, 08:29 PM »

A freind of mine back in the day lost his two front teeth going over the handle bars and hitting the concerete!! I was there and still have nightmares about that. I might just fook it and get a jb freewheel adapter. I thought the coaster brake should apply a smooth braking action ie the harder you back pedal the harder the brake applies, but mine locks up the wheel stiff right away.
Ill take it for a spin in the next couple of days and let you know how I get on (ill wear a gum sheild). Thanks for your comments, Jonathan.

Threaders · « **Reply #6 on:** March 31, 2011, 03:09 PM »

Well........ Got the tyres today and changed them over and took out a couple of links in the chain then took it for its first spin

Got to say it rides absoloutly sweet and I'm loving the coaster brake! No brake rub, how cool is that. It brakes verry sharply though and took a while to get used to it, if you back pedal 1/2 and inch though, you get a nice gentle slow down any more and it stops dead.
Will take some pictures over the weekend as we are due for some nice weather