Lord Gruntfuttock

'Should've been here last week' etc...

(except it was pissing down last week)

Lots of bikes in town already for the Munro. Always like seeing them roll in.

Course it's hot and dry atm, will prob he hailing when racing starts...

dreamy...

Yep. Pump under the engine, been on HD forums and you can machine one side of the pump housing and install a seal, but it's an engine out job so it can wait.

I think I'll check if it pumps itself out when running by checking oil tank level after sitting first.

So after falling for a parts scam, I wrote it off to experience and looked at ordering gear from eBay, from a seller I'd used before. Parts are pretty cheap but postage can be a killer. Before xmas I decided to see if removing 3 springs would be a viable interim option. Whipped out the clutch tool, but disappointingly the primary case was again overfull of oil. I'd seated the pump check ball, replaced the engine main seal, fitted a generator oil slinger and installed the starter solenoid rubber boot that was missing, so a bit baffling. Someone here suggested it may be a worn oil pump shaft, I dunno...?


I pulled 3 of the 6 springs and buttoned things up again, was quietly confident until this happened...


Arse. Completely my own fault, was rushing to get a ride in to test things and instead of using a small spanner I'd wailed on these 1/4" nuts with a socket, just missed the point when it snugged up to the spacer, so bent it and snapped a stud... 


I looked at machining up a new stud and spacers, but decided to add a new basket and spacers to my spring order, parked the bike, and went camping with the kids over xmas/new years.
Was a good break, and I got to wear my new clutch spring/sunglasses... 

Anyway, parts arrived yesterday...


And was nice installing new bits...




Quick ride around the section showed a good improvement, clutch seemed to operate cleanly, and less effort required at the lever. Won't know till I give her a good run through town, but encouraging...

16 hours ago, cubastreet said:

shadow looks like a jubilant wheelchair-bound squirrel...

Night stage lamps test fit...

And coming together...

Some random progress pics I found on my phone...

Update, been helping with this a little lately, much work done by others.
Engine built, block skimmed, roller rockers, new throttle bodies, heads etc, should wake it up a bit...

Exhaust done, fuel tank, boot mounted battery tray, rebuilt diff etc fitted...

Interior and engine bay painted, and body taken away for prep/paint...

14 hours ago, RUNAMUCK said:

Somebody tell me whats best to clean my cooling system. Long ago someone suggested white vinegar? 

Barra swap...

Fuck knows. Just what someone would pay really. Just had a xmas lunch conversation with my brother about cafés being worth less than what the donor bike being tidied up would be worth now. Particularly 70s Hondas etc...

Put in a line stating buy new project bikes...

I hooned the CT90 today. It went bad. Hopefully just low on fuel but it was too hot for all that kicking...

Pretty sure they're trucks...

Oil filter...
These have a drop-in filter but I preferred spin-on types, so made up an adapter to bolt to an engine plate. Started with a chunk of 10mm plate and was pretty labour intensive with my limited tooling, came out good though...

Misc...
Fully rewired it, pulling cables through main spine of frame and mounting things to a stainless plate...

Made a new instrument cluster plate out of stainless too...

and cleaned up generator and starter motor etc...

Everything is pretty much bolt-on so could be reverted to stock (unlikely), like the front tank mount bracket...

Just thought I'd chuck these pics on so I don't lose them again, most were on photobucket so long gone... 

Tank...
I'd scored a Suzuki T500 tank cheaply, so gave it a spin full of brass nuts in a shonky setup to remove internal rust, worked mint...

And brazed in a new petcock bung, capping the old hole with a frost plug from memory. Also brazed on the brass neck fitting for the monza-styled filler, and sealed it with a kit...

Front hub...
Was a bit crook so I spun up an alloy bearing retainer...

Found some low-res pics of build that may be of interest.
Forks...
Dropped around 8 inches from front end with new tubes and installed taper roller bearings and modified later model triple tree to suit... 

Seat...
Cut the seat section out of a spares Honda to use, and as I didn't have a pipe bender the rear section was made up from a dump shop lawn mower handle...

Made up an MDF seat and cut a generic glass seat hump to suit the lines of the tank...

Added steel locator tabs, glassed the MDF, sanded back and painted before adding foam (with a cut-out to take a gel insert) and a smoothing layer before upholstery...

Yeah found metric stuff on my 30s BSAs. Old bikes are interesting like that. Maybe just availability? Best bearings made in Germany or something?

Connectors arrived on Friday so thought I'd fix the temporary bodge I'd done to get things running. I set up outside cos it was better light...

RHS done before it started raining so I called things off. Went with 6-pin Sumitomo sealed automotive connectors, part numbers 6189-6171 and 6180-6181 as Mr Kawasaki used these on the donor Ninja, so assumed they were decent quality...

Was sunny today so set up again...

Far more wires on this side so decided to use 2x 6-pin connectors. Looked at 12-13 pin connectors but they were pretty big physically, and I want to hide wiring as much as possible...

Quite enjoyed these connectors, used the correct crimping tool after sliding on the blue seal first...

And you just click them into the connectors in the right place, weather seal is obvious from this angle...

And I'd slid on heat shrink tubing beforehand to tidy things up, didn't really want red but was only colour I had in this size...

And tidied up with cable ties with headlamp screwed back on, pretty happy how things went, I'd use these connectors again...  

Nah no spare bits sorry. Need everything I've got. Let us know what tyre you end up getting...

A shunt resistor will let you run the 20A ammeter, just be aware of parasitic load if it's connected all the time?
Will depend on value of shunt resistor, only 12V pushing it so anything over 1kohms total resistance (including parallel meter resistance) means you're looking at milliamps...

https://www.rohm.com/electronics-basics/resistors/shunt-resistors