Meet Cain....1979 Special.....

jfinnan · Posted: June 1, 2009, 11:00 pm Post subject: Meet Cain....1979 Special.....

Picked up a decent late model 1979 Special on Saturday. Found it leaning against a fence behind my mother-in-laws neighbors shed. It's got a few little dings here and there, and is obviously dirty, but in relatively good shape. Nothing a good wash won't take care of. It has 8600mi. on the odometer, and the engine turns over smoothly. Carbs are gummed up, but that's to be expected. Paid $375 for it....can't complain about that. I'm certain it will run without to much trouble, though the tires are cracked pretty bad, but still holding air.

I named it Cain....figured my current '81 Special should finally have a name...Abel. Cain is the older bad brother of Abel right? I'm planning on having some fun turning this one into just that...the bad one. Wink

Here he is in all his rescued glory....

nudude53 · Posted: June 1, 2009, 11:36 pm Post subject: Re: Meet Cain....1979 Special.....

One will kill the other out of jealousy.

xsjohn · Posted: June 1, 2009, 11:42 pm Post subject: Re: Meet Cain....1979 Special.....

If Adam had only known......it's better to be lonely than miserable...... Shocked

xsjohn

rhilker · Posted: June 2, 2009, 8:22 pm Post subject: Re: Meet Cain....1979 Special.....

Looks like it's a 79 with a modified tail light. The seat is right and the side pods.

XS1981 is turning in his sleep over $375.00. LOL thats 226.00 pounds.

Nice find.

danno · Full Member Joined: Mar 04, 2006 Posts: 212

Good score! It is most likely a 1980 ( model year ) bike as evindenced by the plastic sidecovers,rectangular taillight,reflectors on the shocks,and the seat profile. Can't wait to see what it becomes. Enjoy!

IAmGrowler · Posted: June 2, 2009, 10:04 pm Post subject: Re: Meet Cain....1979 Special.....

danno wrote:

Good score! It is most likely a 1980 ( model year ) bike as evindenced by the plastic sidecovers,rectangular taillight,reflectors on the shocks,and the seat profile. Can't wait to see what it becomes. Enjoy!

At least an '80.

Aside from what you mention above, the grab bar is another dead giveaway.

pumps · Posted: June 2, 2009, 10:14 pm Post subject: Re: Meet Cain....1979 Special.....

Great buy! It has a good title I hope?

jfinnan · Posted: June 2, 2009, 10:47 pm Post subject: Re: Meet Cain....1979 Special.....

yeah..it's an '80. I ID'd it by the frame and engine codes. What threw me was the manufacturing sticker on the steering stem. It shows a manufacturing date of 08/79. It also has the electronic ignition, which was also confusing me, since I was pretty sure they still had points in '79.

IAmGrowler · Posted: June 2, 2009, 11:07 pm Post subject: Re: Meet Cain....1979 Special.....

My '79 SF was manufactured in 06/78 and like you say, to the best of my knowledge, the '79's were the last to have points.

Any idea how long it's been sitting and why it was parked?

jfinnan · Posted: June 3, 2009, 9:02 am Post subject: Re: Meet Cain....1979 Special.....

It's been sitting for a few years at least, but I don't know why it was parked. The engine turns over just fine, but I haven't looked into it much more than that. I removed the carbs last night, and nothing moves internally. It's pretty badly gummed up, but then my '81 had that problem initially, so I'm not too worried about it.

I removed the gas tank, and it look very bad inside. Guess I'll have to try the electrolysis treatment and see how it does. The petcock is also frozen. Other than that, and the dirt, it looks fairly good.

I was going to clean up the carbs, and swap the tank over from my '81 just to see if I could start it, but I won't. I plan on rebuilding the top end on it anyhow just like I recently did to my '81 engine. So, there is little point in bothering to start it now.

It will probably be awhile before I really start playing around with it. But when I do start, I'll be sure to post the progress here. In the meantime, it has a pristine front fender that is going over to my '81 whose fender is dented and scratched. I wouldn't mind swapping that rear disc and swing arm over to my '81 either, but I hear I would have to weld on some mount points for the master cylinder. Also, the '81 wouldn't be stock anymore.

jfinnan

Well, I decided to see if the '80 would run, despite what I said about waiting. Last night I moved the carbs and battery from my '81 over to the '80, and setup an umbilical cord between the '81 and '80 for kill and ignition switch duties, since I was too lazy to move them over as well. The ones on the '80 are frozen and I don't have the ignition key. I also moved the fuel tank over.

Nothing else was changed. In two kicks, the bike started right up! WOW! There was a bit of tapping in the top end as the oil started flowing, but that soon quieted down. It sounded great. I think this one is a keeper. I don't know what the difference is, but the '80 just looks more aggressive than the '81. Maybe it is that rear disc brake.

These bikes continue to amaze me.

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