72 450 WR Tank Restoration

Finally got around to repainting the gas tank on my WR last weekend. Now on to reassembling the bike.

Looking good, I see you had your helper with you. Now if you could only teach him to wet sand... lol

Unless it involves chewing up things or making a mess of the lawn he isn't much help.

lol, some times there worse than kids... Keep us posted with some pics as you reassemble the bike. Its kinda like a motivation thing.

Will do, I'm hoping to get to it this weekend. Here's a few pics of my pile of parts.

Very nice work, That thing is gonna be sweet.

Wonderful job on the tank. I also like your refurbish job on the rear inner fender. Being handy at tig welding certainly has its perks. It looks like some material has been removed from the cylinder skirt next to the transfer ports, that's a big plus for improving volume. Have you considered taking it a step further and cleaning up the entry to the transfer ports? Check out the photo.

Also, Husky came out with a service bulletin describing what porting mods to do to improve the 450's performance. Check out the attached PDF.

Can't wait to see the finished product and get feedback on your first ride.

Excellent work on the ports, crash. The performance upgrade is free when we port n polish. The tank looks too good for the woods.

That is why I would put a Clarke tank on a rider. I could keep a durable finish like Deltron on a tank but that will not protect from dents

More progress

Great job on the restoration. Nice pics. Real nice metal skills & the finishes look great. Gonna be a beauty.

Looks like its coming along great. With the wheels already built you don't have to much further to go.

Have you decided what kind of shocks you'll be using to complement the Race Tech fork upgrade?

What ignition did you go with?

where do you find an assistant like that?? mine would set fire to it...

Not sure if that sway bar is gonna fit the bike

Thank you for kind words!

Thanks Crashaholic, I have an old pair of Works shocks which I liberated from my Norton build but I'm still on the hunt for a set of period racing shocks. As for the ignition I installed a Penton Dynamo (AC) which I purchased from John LaFeve. I plan on running a 200mm Hella light and unfortunately the standard 6V 30watt output wouldn't wouldn't cut it.