Basket-case motorcycle restoration: Hard work, and then satisfaction

Todd Wallis shows off his restored Sabre

Todd Wallis won a basket-case 1966 Sears Sabre, made by Puch, with a $1 ticket in a raffle. Two months later he took his restored baby back to the club to show it off. Here is Part 1 of this article.

Body work

Restoration of the frame and fenders and other body work was a whole other ballgame than replacing or servicing parts.

First, Todd had to give everything a good scrubbing. Because he was working in a garage with no running water available, he brought it all to the house and washed it on the porch.

"It turned bright red, it was wild, and the paint just ran right off," he says. "Then when the old-style laquer dried it turned back to dull red."

When it was clean he took it back to the garage.

The chrome was pitted and rusted so he cleaned that with chrome polish and steel wool. "I spent a tremendous amount of time polishing chrome," he says.

The tank was one of the most-damaged areas, with a big dent in it. Todd pinned it with a stud gun, which welded pins to tank so it could be pulled out without having to drill holes. A puller that comes with the gun then pulls the dent out. Todd then ground off the welds and sanded it all.

Painting

When all the repair work was done on the various parts, Todd put on sealer so that the old laquer would not react with the urethane he would be using. Then he primed them all and painted them with the automotive refinish PPG.

Painting was a three-stage process, beginning with a base coat of silver, followed by a tint, and then a clear coat. Todd describes this as "a difficult system to spray" and this was his first time. The more you spray an area the darker the color gets so it is essential to spray evenly. Plus, whereas a few runs in the clear coat can easily be fixed, if you get runs in the metallic layer you have to start over.

"I'm not going to say there were not initially some mistakes," Todd notes. "But the tank and front fenders are the show pieces. That's got to be right."

When it was all done, though, Todd was "very pleased with how it turned out."

After spraying you have a surface texture described as eggshell or orange peel, so next Todd had to wet sand all the surfaces with progressively finer sandpaper. He then polished the shine back into it with three grades of polish. Every piece of aluminum was polished, and this was the most labor intensive part of the restoration. Todd even had to hold the engine up to the polishing wheel to get it done right.

For reassembly, Todd replaced all the nuts, bolts, and screws with new ones. The final touch was attaching original-style decals, and the restoration was complete.

Starting the restored Sabre

"It didn't start immediately but once I got fuel going it started very easily," says Todd. "Since I got it going it has been a very fun, reliable bike. It'll run all day long."

Todd is now using the Sabre to teach his wife Karen how to ride. The bike is light and easy to ride so it's a good one to train on.

Two months after winning the Sabre Todd took his completely restored prize back to the BMAC's monthly meeting to show it off. A relatively new member of the group, he hadn't gotten to know many of the members but when he unveiled the Sabre his credibility was established. "My stock exploded. It was a lot of fun, very interesting."

Todd says he feels "a big sense of accomplishment taking it from basket case to something that says 'wow!' I like working with my hands, the creative aspect of it. I'm creative enough to come up with good solutions and make it look right."

As for riding the bike, with only 50cc it doesn't go fast but "I don't need to go fast, but I like the attention on the road."

Note: National Motorcycle Travel Examiner Patty Davis is in the process, with her husband, of restoring an old Triumph. Follow along as they dive into this adventure.