Cleaned Up

The Sears was looking a bit neglected, dusty and dirty. I knew I needed to change the oil as I'd left the fuel valves open and it flooded the crankcase this spring. So, I spent the afternoon today detailing this 40 year old bike and this is how she turned out.

The engine cases were covered with 40 years of grime. I didn't have any spray degreaser, so I tried some Clorox wipes. They work really good taking bugs off my fairing so I thought it might do well scrubbing. Wow, these wipes really cut through the grease and grime. I went through about 20 of them cleaning the whole engine and detailing some places I missed with sponge and soap. Here's an inprocess view showing the grime in the back and the cleaned right side case in front.

Here's some shots of the 106cc engine.

Notice the Delorto carb with the correct intake box. Filter isn't stock - try finding one of those in central Iowa.

Gotta love the header pipe.

Notice the shifter is on the right and the brake is on the left.

There's a couple of dings from 40 years of use. Here's a front rim ding.

Here's the rear rim.

Gilera made the Interstate as a catalog bike for Sears. You could also get a 125cc version, which is pretty much the same bike, same engine with a bigger cylinder.

Check out these wheel spacers on the axle. You turn this spacer to put tension on the chain. This is a pretty cool idea, why don't they use this method anymore?

Yep, 425 actual miles. It was about 360 when I got the bike, but I rode it to work one day.

The chrome isn't the greatest, but given its history, it's surprisingly good.

The muffler is off a Harley and th inlet is 1-1/2" diameter. The header pipe is 1-1/4", so it's got an exhaust leak.

This bike was bought new in 1968 by a guy who worked at Armour's meat packing plant and rode it to work. When he retired, his grandkids put it thought hell for a few years. It ended up getting a stupid bad flamed paint job. The bike ended up sitting in a barn for about 15 years. When the owner died, it was put on auction with all of his household items. Dad bought it for about $100. He had it repainted T-bird red, what was in the paint gun when Dad brought it in. It's pretty close to the stock red color, but the fenders are supposed to be silver. Someday, I'll repaint the fenders.

It does run ok, but needs some carb work. This fall I'll drop it off at a better mechanic friend of mine to clean and set the carb. I need to also replace the cables on it as they're really sloppy. The clutch cable has stretched to the point where it won't release the clutch.