Lord Gruntfuttock

I've got a couple of these, tyres are a weird size and almost impossible to replace.

Me neither. Oil spill hazard...

That 1800/Maxi? thing almost looks like the SUVs predominant today.

Maybe it wasn't a POS, just ahead of its time...

2 hours ago, Indiana_Jones said:

Might go look at a Tiger tomorrow with 75k on the clock, what could possibly go wrong....

Made a start on swapping controls over, I like the industrial look of the existing setup, but the switches fail often, and the front brake is pretty useless...

I'm waiting on connectors to arrive so didn't start on the wiring, but unclipped everything so I could see what I was dealing with, handlebar wiring is soldered directly to wiring loom...

Started on clutch, was hoping it'd be easy but the cable ends are different and the Kawasaki adjusting nut socket is too small to fit the Harley cable end ferrule...

So drilled out the adjusting nut another half mm, and machined down the cable end ferrule to fit...

Machined down a brass bolt to fit the new clutch cable end fitting...

And shown cleaned up after being drilled and chamfered. Also cut cable sheath back to suit new lever geometry...

Splayed out wire ends, silver soldered in place and filed back to size...

And lever works, still stiff but I'm waiting on new springs that should help with that...

Switchgear loosely installed and worn old grip in place gives an idea how things will look...

Happy with how things feel straddling the bike. Will do RHS next then wiring when bits have arrived...

Yeah it's really wooden now, works but no feel. Can't find my notes but there's an optimum m/c to brake pad area ratio. Will improve with new m/c and be spot on with Kawasaki twin calipers...

Got 3 BSA dandys so in no position to judge tbh...

Model 18 is a cool looking bike but I always think Norton guys are weirdos for some reason, so have resisted getting one... 

Tanks, guards, toolboxes etc...

Oh yeah nailed WOF and been using it. Electronic ignition is sooooo good after wobbly old points system. Seems to be going ok. 

The clutch is operating well but a bit stiff, it's usable but I cramped up holding it in at a roundabout in town so I've ordered new springs. The ones in it are heavy duty 68lbs and I've ordered 50lb ones. Slightly dubious as freight free from US, will see how it goes.

And making progress on control swap. The old harley switchgear is garbage so I'm fitting Kawasaki units. Will mean a bit of wiring faff but I've found Sumitomo connectors on Ali that will plug straight in. Be interesting to see how new M/C will go with harley FXR caliper. Ultimately going twin disc with Kawasaki calipers but that's stage 2...

I miss when cars were distinctive...

Gave cleaning the carb a go last night, I knew the accel pump wasn't working so needed looked at, diaphragm looked ok...

But other side showed some rusty debris, started cleaning it but ran out of carb clean so left it till today...

Float and valve worked fine, checked main jet size while it was open, 165...

Got into it early this morning, cleaned everything up with a toothbrush and good squirts of cleaner...

And with fuel in the bowl pressing a small allen key in place of the operating rod gave a good squirt of fuel (better then pic illustrates, was a good gush, hit the wall of the shed). There's a ball in here that acts as a valve that I could hear moving after being cleaned, assume that had stuck...

The accel pump rod was rusty so I cleaned it up and gave it a light coating of grease and refitted the rubber boot before assembly...

It's a Keihin off an 86 FXR or similar, they have a reputation for being a bit sneezy, but it goes ok usually...

And cleaned up back on bike, cleaned fuel filter too, and fuel flowed straight away which looked promising...

And I oiled the air filter foam before putting it back on, just a little oil in a plastic bag worked in, and excess squeezed out...

5 minutes ago, yoeddynz said:

Holy shit Stu. You seem to check all of the oldschool boxes!!! Welcome along.

Please start build thread for power pony clone, with added pics of pussies.

Alex

@Flintlocker615

I may have a black powder shotgun in the cabinet I've never used, but would love to know how to.
Another OS box ticked...

Yeah struggled to bleed it till I took the MC off and elevated it, been ok since, but ineffective for what is quite a big disc. Got FXR calipers on it, not OG ironhead so probably wrong size piston or something. Gets a WOF tho so will run it till I make the change.

I bought Kawasaki 600 twin front end calipers as they are slim enough to fit, and a twin disc hub I'll lace up to the original Borrani alloy rim. Bought Buchanan spokes from US, sent hub over and they made spokes to suit (they didn't trust my measurements, prob cos in mm). Got discs too. biggest issue will be making adapter brackets for calipers, which is why I've put it off, plus will have to change handle controls to Kawasaki which will be a bit of a faff, but much better to use, and will get rid of shoddy HD switches.

Look fwd to learning how to kick her over, can stand with full weight on it atm so can see how others will struggle. Pretty sure you just kick over slowly till on compression and swing through the arc. I've got a few kick only old brit bikes with advance/retard which makes it easier...

I'll hang onto the old springs in the meantime till I see how things go, they actually worked fine but I wanted to try the fancy multi-spring setup. Bought heavy duty springs so might swap them to medium down the track if they prove too awkward...

Got her going, of a sort.
Gave the starter a real good workout as fuel wasn't making it through, the brushes will be bedded in now anyway. 

Had it running by pouring fuel in the carb, so sat it on charge/let the starter cool down while I had a beer/dinner hoping things would free up after a soak. Went back and could smell fuel at carb and it burst into a stuttering sort of life. Accel pump doesn't seem to be working yet but it ran enough for a ride round the block to see how things were going.

Issues to sort:

• Clutch is pretty heavy, much heavier than stock springs, and a bit of creep in gear. Have to check oil level in primary yet and will give clutch another adjustment. Not a biggy to change springs anyway if I need to.
• No lights, I knew the low beam had shaken itself out, but no hi beam either, so couldn't bring it to work today.
• No brakes - pretty normal. Have all the gear for a twin disc, Kawasaki caliper front end change but that's a next winter project.
• No brake lights, need to fix brake switch in place (a high tech hose clamp).
• I'm on curve #1 on electronic ignition (Ultima, a copy of Dyna 2000). No idea if this is right, can change this with dip switches, and will make a cable so I can tune via curvemaker software.
• Fuel, carb not right, hopefully soaking and natural ironhead shaking will free things up, otherwise it's a simple clean and fettle. I am using lawn mower fuel too though, fresh may help.
• Have kicked over but not started with kick yet, pretty sure it's set to fire after 3 revs to better suit electric starter, can change that to zero via software.
• Still a bit of smoke coming from cylinders, hoping it's paint curing, might still be oil leaks. Oil puking out of generator breather, but that's normal.
• Only roughly timed, when it's fuelling better will try adjusting.

good tho... 

Yep had a win after a failure last night, assembled it after filing and shaping brushes, and applying power just made sparks, no rotation...
I did bevel the commutator bars and filed one brush down a little more today, but suspected I was shorting out on the case after checking with a multimeter (hard to detect as series wound DC windings are so big there's practically zero ohms, all I could pick up was brush resistance). When it was apart I'd noticed the insulating washer was crushed and there was a bit of exposed copper near the edge at the field windings...

Machined up a nylon insulator bush and added some hot glue heat shrink to exposed copper sections...

And assembled motor ran strongly with 12V applied...

Fitted to engine and bike winds over with good spark, could probably fuel up and start her but I'm a bit tired and likely to make mistakes. Will sleep on it and try tomorrow... 

^ proper old-school machines those things...

Been away for the weekend but did a bit last night as parts had arrived, cleaned things up and soldered new brushes in, first one done here. A straightforward job with a larger (hotter) tip fitted in the soldering iron...

Of course did this before I dry-assembled things to check fit, and they're all a tad too long, so will need filing/sanding down...

Would have been much easier pre-soldering. I need to take around 2-3mm off each one so the springs will fit over the end. Will see how I go tonight, if it's too tricky I'll just unsolder and re-fit. Want to shape the concave surface as well to aid bedding in, might wrap a small round file in sandpaper to do that...

Cleaned up after work, scraped slots out and put back in lathe to sand scratches out, looks ok after a clean...

And testing doesn't indicate any major problems, tested each segment to iron frame, all ~ 18 Megohms, and tested each segment to the one next to it, and each segment to the one directly opposite, no open circuits, hard to tell if there are any shorts as reisistance of these windings is so low.

Will clean up brush holder and solder in new brushes when they arrive, and test operation...

Had a quick look at the armature before work, put it in the Myford and tried sanding first, but was beyond that, so skimmed it lightly to get a uniform(ish) colour across the commutator...

Looks better, the chips at the end were there before...

And a bit of work to do scraping between segments to clean things up. I'll make a tool out of an old hacksaw blade for this. 

Still a few dents in the comm but I'll scrape it and clean with solvent before testing to see how things look before making a call on skimming it again. Looked at refurb kits, lots out there but once again I'm looking at $20 cost and $60 post to NZ. 

Being Hitachi there are a few brush options available locally. I measured them at 6.75 x 10.8mm, and 7 x 11mm brushes are a readily available size, with decent sized side entry leads and notch for spring. These should fit the brush holders ok...

For $14 it's worth a punt...

Yeah will try that in the lathe first. See if it's badly scored or will clean up...

Yeah found the problem. Commutator is boogered... 

Tried starter again with a solid earth direct to starter motor case and was no different (more smoke at motor terminal) so I pulled the motor and applied voltage directly to the terminal with case connected to negative. Just a spark and no rotation, 2 days ago it spun away good as gold.

So opened it up to inspect, turns out it's the Hitachi not Prestolite starter going by dimensions, weight, and brush connection type...
 

The brushes are just out of spec, Hitachi limit is 7/16" (~ 11mm)...

Not quite sure how the commutator got so damaged but there was a lot of greasy gunk that possibly stopped them making solid contact? They were quite sticky in the brush holders, maybe enough to overcome the springs...
 

So I'll look into replacing the brushes/a rebuild kit. In the meantime I'll see if I can dress the commutator, maybe skim it in the lathe and manually undercut the mica slots...

Glad I found something, if the parts will take a while to arrive (normally the case) I may see how it goes with old brushes cleaned up until they arrive, the starter motor is probably the easiest thing to get out to service... 

Yeah I think I've had it apart before, can't remember if I replaced brushes. I'll start with checking it out as at least that's another thing ticked off if it's OK.

And yeah earths itself through tiny bolts to the case. Could try another earth via jumper lead as an easy test.

Update, tried the following after work.

[1] Ran a lead from battery positive to the starter solenoid terminal. 
Exactly the same, solenoid bangs in and out, nothing rotates. Battery voltage drops to around 5V...

[2] Hooked up spare battery in parallel with big jumper leads.
Doesn't chatter, bangs in but no rotation, smoke from starter motor if I hold it in. Faint whine from somewhere...

So have ruled out starter switch and relay as an issue, but unsure on diagnosis. It's like something is mechanically binding, or there is an issue with the starter motor.

The starter motor spun up ok when I had it out the other day, but I'll pull it and check brushes as that's probably easiest to start with...