Ben's '72 Interstate Rebuild

Gearbox is apart. The bike was last registered in 1982 and the oil looked Reaganesque..

Ben's '72 Interstate Rebuild


The gears and shafts look good at first inspection. There was this flaking of chrome on the ratchet assembly

Ben's '72 Interstate Rebuild


Do I need to worry about this?

Interstate Seat came in from Burtons. Very pretty.
 
I recommend Cape Cod Dustless Blasting in Orleans MA for vapor blasting of heads, cases,etc. They did a great job sandblasting my frame and steel parts, and then vapor blasting my engine cases. I took in my gearbox shell and inner cover today and tried out the vapor blasting system myself. Easy to use and very fast
Ben's '72 Interstate Rebuild


Tonight I washed the gears and shafts in solvent and examined them. No galling or significant wear marks.
Ben's '72 Interstate Rebuild

Ben's '72 Interstate Rebuild


Ben's '72 Interstate Rebuild

Ben's '72 Interstate Rebuild


The gearbox is on hold pending receipt of new bearings and some minor AN parts. Tomorrow I’ll start fiddling with the swing arm again. Stripping and rebuilding carbs next also.
 
Received a new id plate from Old Britts and duplicated the stamping from my original plate. Does anyone know what the “PP” means.
Ben's '72 Interstate Rebuild
 
Received a new id plate from Old Britts and duplicated the stamping from my original plate. Does anyone know what the “PP” means.

Looking at the pic of the original plate in your photobucket album it seems the date is stamped in the wrong place (should be in the other box) and there could be another letter ahead of the 'PP'....or it could just be a dirt mark.

If it's another badly stamped letter and 'PP' is actually PR, then, possibly it's '1972 APR'.

(Layshaft 1st gear is also fitted the wrong way in your pic.)
 
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Looking at the pic of the original plate in your photobucket album it seems the date is stamped in the wrong place (should be in the other box) and there could be another letter ahead of the 'PP'....or it could just be a dirt mark.

If it's another badly stamped letter and 'PP' is actually PR, then, possibly it's '1972 APR'.

(Layshaft 1st gear is also fitted the wrong way in your pic.)
I concur on both issues.

As much as some folks berate shop manuals, the manual is clear about the shoulder on the layshaft gear.
 
My 1972 750 is June 1972 manufacture - indeed this is stamped in the smaller upper box as “1972JUN” - sn is 209xxx so all makes sense that yours is APR - Can’t really tell for certain but it looks like your year stamp may read “1072” rather than “1972”
 
My 1972 has a different label entirely. It is a bit more orange with different wording. The date is at the top 1972 JAN and serial no. 2020xx at the bottom. The right side of the lettering on the label has been abraded by the wires and cables.
 
Just stamp it 1972BEN and be done with it.
Id like to see the DMV challenge ownership on that one!
 
Thanks LAB. I read the old britts page after taking that
pic and installed the gear with the shoulder out as instructed. The box is shifting nicely but the assembly took a long time, especially getting the pawl spring right.

I stamped the I’d plate exactly as the original I’d plate had it stamped. My stamp font is slightly different.
Ben's '72 Interstate Rebuild


The top box was empty. The date is 1072 which must mean October of 72. The PP is badly stamped but they look like Ps. As long as it matches I’m happy.

Swingarm is fitted on the cradle
Ben's '72 Interstate Rebuild

Steel eBay tank test fit. Thankfully it fits on the top tube and locates properly
Ben's '72 Interstate Rebuild


Here is the original glass tank for comparison
Ben's '72 Interstate Rebuild


I really like the glass tank but will probably put it on the shelf.

Thanks everyone for paying attention and helping me through this first build.
 
The date is 1072 which must mean October of 72. The PP is badly stamped but they look like Ps.

It looks like 1072 but is almost certainly 1972 as the base of the 2 is also missing.

'10' 72 would be late for a 206xxx serial number and wasn't the date format used at that time as others have also said.
 
I'll go look at the back of the old plate and see if I can get any more clues. It does seem that APR would be a more likely code given the model number. If anyone has photos of 1972 plates I'd love to see them. I'll order a couple more id plates from Ella to play with.
 
Month & year stamped twice - seems whomever was stamping out plates got to do pretty much as they pleased - not much rhyme or reason to this - but when you look at their system ( or lack thereof ) of model numbers from the earlier time it is no surprise .
Ben's '72 Interstate Rebuild
 
Thanks L.A.B and Richard. Here is another pic of the plate.
Ben's '72 Interstate Rebuild

It looks as if the factory stamper ( which is a job I would have loved for about an hour) did a poor job of stamping 1972 APR. The Japanese would have sent him out back to contemplate his family’s honor. I ordered another fresh plate and will try again. Good thing I bought extra mounting rivets.

I got the iso’s In and test fit.
Ben's '72 Interstate Rebuild

I converted the ISO’s to vernier. I removed all paint from the ends of the iso assemblies and the inside of the frame mounts so as not to alter the iso adjustment. Should I leave these areas bare steel? I’m worried about the iso to frame connection rusting.

Spent most of tonight wire wheeling engine mount bolts, nuts and washers and sorting parts in anticipation of mounting the wheels and the the engine.
 
Spent most of tonight wire wheeling engine mount bolts, nuts and washers and sorting parts in anticipation of mounting the wheels and the the engine.

Wont that take off all of the Cad plating?

I have a whole bucket of.rusty Norton nuts bolts that I replaced with ss.
 
Get some more drive rivets and a scrap of steel. Drill the steel with same size hole as in your headstock and do a test . You may find the drive rivets are too big. I purchased a new frame from AN which came with a beautiful powdercoat finish. I made certain that the holes were clear of powdercoat and I also assumed that the rivets were brass but they were brass plated steel. The first rivet folded up and chipped the powdercoat because the hole was too small . Had the rivets been brass they may have been soft enough to go in. I wound up enlarging the holes but only after experimenting on scrap to determine the optimum size.
 
I hope the wheel won’t take the finish off. I had better figure this out now.

I think the rivets are steel. They took a pretty good hammering going in and kept their shape.
 
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