View attachment 348066 Hello folks, I’m a newbie and am restoring my 1983 500 Pantah after around 30 years off the road. I bought it in 1987 and clocked up many thousands of trouble free riding, including a trip to France with my mate Sam and ended up towing his 600 Pantah home after his engine expired. That’s got to be a first !! My gearbox main bearing failed 6 years later around 1994 and due to racing and work commitments i didn’t have time to repair it so it was all stripped down and boxed……for 22 years!! Several house moves later i finally got my act together when rats invaded the storage shed and i had to start rebuilding. It’s been slow and painful but it’s getting very close to completion. The photos show its original form but i decided to change the appearance fairly radically and go for a stripped back look. The paintwork is going to be smoked orange so purists look away More to come …. Dove
Some more info on the build. I started the renovation in earnest 8 years ago and to be honest, everything was in an absolute state. I decided to begin by getting the frame, swinging arm, wheels and metalwork blasted and powder coated. Psychologically this was a jump start to the brain that would give the project some impetus. I decided from the start that I wanted to remove the fairing and go with a naked look and this meant changing the seat unit too. I found a fibre glass flat tracker seat online which required cutting and shortening the rear frame loop. Also the headlight bracket and clocks needed addressing as it looks daft without the fairing so i got short headlight brackets which clamp to the forks to allow the headlight to swivel. I also bought an Acewell electronic speedo/revcounter and made a stainless bracket for that. I’m a machinist to trade so i machined new wheel spindles, swinging arm spindle and various spacers in stainless. Rebuilt the calipers and turned new pistons from stainless, new footrests and linkages and basically everything else that was damaged or rusted. I stripped, cleaned and inspected the engine components and sent everything to a Ducati racer called Andy Pike who rebuilt it very reasonably and sold me replacement camshafts as mine were corroded. I bought Dell Orto overhaul kits and rebuilt the carbs. Replaced the shocks with YSS units and my friend Sam made me a 2 into 1 stainless exhaust system. No baffles so it’ll probably be heard in the next postcode. A new wiring loom was custom made which incorporated the electronic speedo but I’m scratching my head right now trying to figure it out. We have a paint shop at work so once I’ve finished prepping and priming the tank, seat and front mudguard it’s getting sprayed burnt orange. Really all i need to buy are a battery, chain and clutch cable. Andy told me to do away with the original air filter as it saps power so a couple of gauze filters are also needed. Getting close but the electrics are definitely giving me a headache.
