Personal Blog: Anime, Cars, Motorcycles, geek stuff.
For the Rupp’s paint we decided to use Urethane since it is the most common and is likely what we’ll be using for my Dodge when she’s ready for paint. We found all the supplies at a small auto paint store that we just happened to drive by on the way to somewhere else. For the quart of paint, and all the other supplies it cost about $130 total for all the supplies we needed. A lot of money for a little bike, huh?
Rupp parts have become rather expensive lately, seems we are one of many Rupp restoration projects. Of the many parts we needed for this restoration is a 1971+ Rupp rear fender. We found a good front fender off eBay but the rear fenders are just too expensive for our budget so we make our own.
Engine Painted and front wheel painted.
 
Ruppdate 3
We stripped as much as we could with paint stripper off the frame, wheels, and other painted parts from the mini bike. Next weekend we’ll strip the rest and apply a small amount of Body-filler to our welds to cover up the ugliness of stick welding (It still looks pretty good without filler!).
We used Jacobs’s paint stripper and about 2-4 coats on the parts depending on the part, the frame got about 4 and the wheels got about 2.
We don’t know what the original color is; we found a coat of yellow under the obviously non original blue coat. We don’t know if the yellow is primer from the factory or what. If you know anything about how Rupp painted their bikes, please leave a comment.
The front wheel is cleanable but the rear has too much rust and would require paint.
We are currently researching frame paints and chrome paint. Any suggestions?
Now since the frame work is done, we looked at the engine.
The engine, a flat head Tecumseh is in good condition, minimal ridge at the top of the cylinder and the valves functioned just fine and butt up against the seats well. We removed all the carbon we could from the head and ‘short block’ and just put them back together using the still-good-condition head gasket.
We also rebuilt the transmission which is much like the modern Ford Freestyle transmission except this just has one variable-diameter pulley.
The intake tube had to be remade. It was a pair of aluminum tubes with mounting plates on each end and a hose joining them (another modification). With the new angle of the engine, it would have sat is such a way that the carb would have hit the frame and would have sat at an angle.
So we found some tubing that slid over the existing intake tubes, heated it up to bending it so the carb sat at the correct angle, and used epoxy to seal it and keep the mounting plates aligned on the engine and carb.
He is a picture of the result (needs cosmetic work).
My dad and I have started a Rupp mini bike restoration on what we think is a 1971 Rupp Enduro. We think that’s what it is but it’s been modified so much that we can’t identify it, a Rupp parts salesperson said that it is likely to be that year/model. We know it’s a 1971+ but model could be many including a rare and sought-after Black widow!
Like I said the bike is heavily modified, the frame was reconfigured to eliminate the trademark Rupp engine slant, the engine has been replaced, a headlight support was added, and many more mods that’ll going to make this resto a little more expensive than it should be.
Before:
After:
Anyways, our plans are to restore it to factory spec (my dad’s plans, I want to hot rod it!). We’ve already began by tearing the thing part and cutting welding the frame back to factory spec (whole weekend project). Next up; stripping the paint!
I’ll post status of the bike during the resto.
There are few Rupp sites, this one is helpful.
http://www.ruppbikes.com/ruppBikes.aspx
