Making progress on the build. I did a mock up before I took the bike down off the platform to install the engine.








Then I worked on prepping the engine for installation. The engine is flat black which is keeping with the RR colors. It looks a little boring, but that is because you won't see much of it once all the fairings are on the bike.

 

The engine looks great! I like the contrast between the side covers and the block/head, it really makes them stand out. The stainless bolts are a nice touch as well.

 

Thanks Tahoe. I am really chomping at the bit to get this bike finished. It's a lot of detail work at this point though. Hope to put the engine in the bike in the next few days.

 

It all looks amazing. Good call on those side cover screws, they look really nice. And I continue to marvel at your painting skills.

I'm finally getting a break from travel and hope to live in the garage a bit myself. Been succumbing to upgrade-itis via ebay while on the road. Ordered some stick coils, a MOSFET regulator and a Nautilus compact air horn, all good/used.

The horn got me thinking about the oil cooler mounting. I was going to fab a new bracket, but as I started to think about the need to attach the fuse panel and find a new home for the horn I picked up the old upper fairing mount for ideas. I'm thinking now that I might be able to cut off the upper brackets from the old mount and leave just the lower part. If I trim the upper bracket off clear back to the ears of the frame mount part of the bracket it might fit under the aluminum plates that hold the RR upper bracket, with the remaining lower arms giving me an oil cooler mount, fuse panel mount and a place to hang the big horn under the headlights. If this idea actually works I'll take some pics.

 

I'm working through the same issues. I thought about cutting off an old Hurricane stay but there are other issues with all the stuff that needs to fit in there. Gauges, oil cooler, fuse block, wires, etc.


I think I will fab brackets for the oil cooler and try to get it close to the original location...it has to fit up in there, but the forks still need to turn without hitting it.


The problem with the old stay is the RR stay is in the bracket...


On the paint, I really like how clean it looks with the black edging. That was a good call on my part.

 

I'm still cogitating on the idea. If it was just the cooler to mount I would fab a bracket, but I am thinking about other stuff that needs to fit behind the fairing too - fuse panel, horn, and maybe that steering damper I bought. I have a new, small cheapo Chinese digital dashboard so I don't need to worry about squeezing the original instrument panel in.

I think the old bracket's mounting ears will fit under the new alu plates OK if I can cut away enough of the front of the old bracket to clear the RR upper stay. The RR stay needed some fiddly spacer stuff done to get the plates to clamp it well anyway and I figure I might just need to add a washer on each spacer I made, to match the added thickness of the old ears and keep everything flat and true.

The big question is whether I can preserve enough metal on the old bracket to keep it as rigid as I would like it to be. The old mount had been broken and poorly repaired on the upper stay and it was going in the trash otherwise so I think I might as well have a go at it. At worst I will gain some knowledge for fabbing my own bracket.

 

Okay...you talked me into it. Going to have a look at it. I have 4 old Hurricane stays.

 

Major progress today. Engine is in...most of the wiring is done. Dang that engine was tough to get in there...lot's of swearing in the garage.

 

Woo Hoo! That's a big step. Looks really good. A little unsolicited advice a little too late - I ended up hanging the chassis sans front fork from the rafters with two motorcyle straps and putting the engine on a furniture dolly. Lowered the chassis over the engine, then started the swearing and wiggling of both the chassis and the dolly.

So tonite I bought the new (to me) Dremel EZ lock metal cutting wheels. Very nice! Buzzed through the top part of the old bracket fairly easily with a single cutoff wheel instead of half a dozen of the old brittle ones. I still need to work the opening up a bit for the RR stay to fit through, but it's late and I know I start to screw stuff up after about 9:30. Suggest you wait until I at least have this thing test fitted. If it looks like it will work I will post images. The welds on the old bracket are pretty spotty around the mounting area. If it fits together OK I will probably weld up the gaps for a little bit more rigidity.

Not sure about this "Compact" Nautilus horn. Might be able to stuff it under the right trim panel, as it just doesn't want to fit anywhere else.

 

I have jacks and dollies and an engine hoist. I lifted the bike over the engine and then could not figure out a way to lift it up there. I finally strapped around the cylinder head and under the transmission so I could get a straight lift with the engine hoist and lifted it straight up. There are no real lift points on these engines. I thought about buying a hog ring and using the starter bolts but was afraid that wouldn't be strong enough...but I got it in. My biggest problem is I have a bad back and can't really lift much...I need to use mechanical means more than most people.