https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw...&ul_noapp=true

Good stuff.

 

Yeah but I'd hate to have to carve up a set of OEM mufflers for the sake of my neighbors ears. I think I'll enjoy them as-is for now (most of 'em are harley riders anyway, so I'll still be well-within the realm of respectability on these streets)

Peeked into the carbs and they looked pretty clean. No gunk, and the rubber parts looked pretty fresh. I'd guess that they were recently rebuilt. One of the previous owners was even kind enough to leave the limiter caps off. Seems like whatever he did is working, so I gobbed a couple cracks in the airbox and re-set the idle. She's running nicely now, though I'll still want to balance the carbs when I have a chance. Hopefully I don't have to do the pilot screw adjustment, but as I say, it runs well so I don't have any immediate concerns

Aside from some light reassembly, that's basically all the mechanical stuff done, so we're down to paint and body - familiar territory

 

OEM Mufflers are a pile of junk anyway so why bother? Interested in the the "limiter caps" though. HUH? WTF, pics please, and pics of the 'body' repairs too or your short changing us bud ;-) .

 

Well nothing says 'Salvage Title' like a set of non-matching aftermarket cans on an old bike I want this thing to look retro, so we're keeping it period-correct and OEM if possible (especially if it's visible on the outside)

Call me crazy but I like the look. Plus if I wanted to chase horsepower I'd throw money at one of her stablemates. The only things I've modified on this are the springs (rideability) stick coils (reliability) stainless hydraulics (necessity) and I'll probably delete a couple of the smaller decals to clean up the look a bit

The limiter caps are on the carbs, over the pilot screw. They come epoxied shut from the factory, for pollution control, and to prevent tinkerers from messing them up. When you rebuild the carb, the pilot screw is replaced, and you're theoretically supposed to glue new caps on after the initial adjustment, but noone really does. All it means is that I have the freedom to adjust them to run richer than the EPA would like, but it also means I might need to redo the initial adjustment if I can't get them to balance properly

The bodywork's still in the structural/roughout stage, but if you really want to see the carnage I'll get some pics this week. As far as I can tell, I'm the third person to take a go at the bike, and person #2 decided to skim with bodyfiller on plastic panels

What are they teaching in schools these days?

 

To me, it's a wasted opportunity to get rid of exhausts the original designers of this bike MUST have hated. There are many Full flow stainless systems to chose from BUT i'm not interested in arguing with you about that as the Engine rebuild vids are fantastic and everyone's different (thankfully). We didn't have the stupid caps this side of the Pond and would have removed them anyway for the reasons you stated. Looking forward to the finished article. Great work Sir and thanks again.

 

Oh sorry no offense meant. There are some great systems out there, but I'm going a different direction with this bike. Plus I keep telling my wife that I'm done buying parts and I'd hate to make myself a liar yet again

I picked up a nice chain/sprockets though. I'll be glad to be rid of the ticking time bomb that was on it

 

She's a mess alright...

Progress Report:
-Structural repair complete (ie., mostly everything fits together, mostly)
-Cowl and cowl filler pieces in primer
-Fender, tail, and mid-side panels ready for prep
-Side panels need lots of work
-Belly pan is a mess
-Need to get the wheel bearings out and detrim the rims for paint too

The cowl was first in for primer. Interestingly, under the black paint was a bc/cc in blue. How many times has this poor bike been wrecked??? I like red/black better though

Blocking it out is a bit of a history lesson. From what I can tell, the first person to do the bike did a decent job of it, but he used fibreglass matting/resin to fix abs panels. Don't do that. The resin gets hard and brittle and the matting is too thick for the resin to properly penetrate. The flexing of the panel will work the patch loose. Then it's just a matter of time until the crack reappears. I peeled three patches off with my fingertips and chipped the resin off with a putty knife. Redone with nylon tape and flexible urethane adhesive. Still distrustful of plastic welding, but maybe I'll try it out next time

The second person to paint the bike seems to have been in a hurry. He must have painted it while the bike was complete, cause there's black spraypaint on everything, including the windscreen and lights, which was super annoying to deal with. He also relied on bondo for filling, which is a very bad idea on plastic panels. That said, it hasn't been peeling very much, so he staged it out properly, even if he left a lot of sand scratches on the panel edges. He must have done about a hundred coats of paint, which makes it nice to block. It's like having an extra two coats of primer

For filler I'm using Dominion Sureseal Plastic Surgery (flexible). First time using it, and initial impressions weren't good. Very thick, too sticky, smells like an outhouse, pink like bondo, super fast set, brutal cleanup - but holy hell, once it dries, it is beautiful stuff for sanding. Primer seems to like it too. It's no Fusor, but a close second - probably on par with 3M Automix, except way cheaper

Brakes and final drive are waiting on wheels, so they might jump the queue. Temperatures are unseasonably warm and the sun teases us with her empty promise of an early spring

Getting impatient now

 

Great progress! You're doing a fantastic job, well done.

Cheers, SB

 

Thanks Seb. Jury's out til we get some paint splashed on 'er, but hopefully I get something that looks decent in the daylight

...or the nightime at least

 

Yes, I agree with Seb, a great effort.