Uploading these - story to follow...
Spent the evening grinding out the lower headtube breathing hole, put there when the frame was originally brazed. It's now about 1/2" from its original 1/4" - and surprisingly enough, it's not sharp at all to the touch.
Some 80 grit sandpaper helped there, but getting my fingers in here with the paper is difficult enough, much less the Dremel.
As you can see, by 1980,
nobody cared about grinding out the bottom of the stamped welds on any Sports. Not that it was that much better in the 1970's.
If it wasn't for the fact that these are still nice riding and stiff frames, these 1980's models are a cheap handlebar stem and bad fenders away from being an AMF (and
not a Raleigh-built AMF Hercules).
Since I had some, I went ahead and smeared Plastidip around the hole. Can't hurt to protect the eventual wiring.
CRAFTSMANSHIP!
This is the exit hole I drilled in the BB. Lined it with a paint pen to prevent rust. Have to install a BB dust shield in here now.
Get a load of the terrible kickstand mount and BB tack welds that grace these later frames.
-Kurt