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Lord Gruntfuttock

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Everything posted by Lord Gruntfuttock

  1. Lord Gruntfuttock
    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...
  2. Lord Gruntfuttock
    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...
  3. Lord Gruntfuttock
    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...
  4. Lord Gruntfuttock
    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...
  5. Lord Gruntfuttock
    ^ 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...
  6. Lord Gruntfuttock
    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...
  7. Lord Gruntfuttock
    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...
  8. Lord Gruntfuttock
    Yeah will try that in the lathe first. See if it's badly scored or will clean up...
  9. Lord Gruntfuttock
    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...
  10. Lord Gruntfuttock
    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.
  11. Lord Gruntfuttock
    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...
  12. Lord Gruntfuttock
    Yeah think there is. I rewired the whole thing, will have to look at diagram. The old harley switches are a known point of failure. 12v straight to starter solenoid terminal should tell me something. Wondering now if it's just the battery failing, maybe starter motor draw drops voltage enough for pull-in coil to drop out...
  13. Lord Gruntfuttock
    Yeah I was wondering what they're for, currently one side is used for exhaust bracket mounting, I've also seen a factory pillion peg bar that bolts up to a plate on the rear engine mount bolts. Progress update: A mixed weekend. Made up new leads (had an MSD clamp former from doing my car) and connected ignition to coil and static timed, used the pencil in spark plug hole method. TDC on front cycinder lines up with dot timing mark, and set ignition to just turn off and locked down as per instructions... Then it got depressing, thought I'd spin it over on the starter to check spark, and just got a rapid clicking noise. The solenoid was banging rapidly in and out for some reason, annoying as I'd just buttoned everything up and thought I was good to go. Tried jumping from another battery and same result, so I called it quits for the day... Next morning after a think and a breakfast beer I pulled the clutch cover again as the only thing different was the thrust washer, and I wondered if it was preventing full throw of the solenoid? No difference, so I pulled the rear exhaust to check starter solenoid resistances again, and pulled starter motor to test, all looked good... Also manually pushed solenoid arm in and out and checked meshing with clutch ring gear, all good as far as I could tell. Decided to fix the things I could, managed to get heaps of clearance for kicker past rear pipe... And I tapped out the positive battery terminal to 8mm, as the 6mm post thread had become worn. Surprisingly on connecting things up again, the starter motor spun the engine freely? Quick test with coil connected and plug held against engine showed excellent spark, so I fitted everything again, plus battery cover, tank and fuel lines. Assumed I'd fixed the issue without finding anything obviously wrong (maybe a bad connection somewhere)...? Sadly, when trying starter again, same problem, solenoid banging in and out rapidly. No idea how this actually happens, it's as if bringing it in breaks the circuit so it rapidly cycles on the spring. Or the voltage dips below that which can bring in the coil, shouldn't be shorting as have fuses in the circuit... Really stumped at the moment. Sprockets move freely, starter arm moves in and out ok, solenoid coils test well, 12V at solenoid from start button, battery at a strong 12.6V. Not sure if it's binding mechanically or the electrical circuit is compromised somewhere. A few things to test yet, I'll try running a 12V lead straight to the starter terminal in case the starter button is faulty, and I'll remove the battery cover and try attaching another battery... So currently perplexed, but on the plus side I'm close, and really good at adjusting the clutch now...
  14. Lord Gruntfuttock
    Yeah suspect you're right. Priority now is just getting it going again. Can make do with it hitting rear pipe in the meantime. Rearsets will take some thought, esp as the ones I have aren't folding...
  15. Lord Gruntfuttock
    Last night after work I adjusted the valve clearances and re-routed the starter lead and oil line away from behind the rear exhaust... Had the day off today and had planned an early start on the bike, but it was snowing this morning so I stayed in bed... When the sun came out I hit the shed and: heat shrink wrapped the exposed starter solenoid terminals cleaned the carb, cleaned the air filter foam installed carb manifold, carb and filter, and connected accel cable cleaned genny, fitted oil slinger, new bracket and gasket installed and connected generator. fitted starter motor cover, installed generator breather tied up new ignition wires, fitted footpegs fitted exhausts, fitted kickstarter, discovered starter hits rear pipe removed exhausts, bent mounting bracket, refitted exhaust discovered kicker still hits rear pipe, swore loudly, will come back to this fitted rear brake cable, fitted battery cover traced old points wiring fitted seat hump, found new plugs and put battery on charge Glad I cleaned the filter foam, lot of grease and sand came out of it, just rinsed in kerosene, shook dry and reinstalled... and carb looks much better with the grime removed... So nearly there, big day and called it quits before I made mistakes hooking up the ignition. I looked at my old leads, thought I could use them again as they were good ones, but seems they are spiral wound stainless core, which may not be good for electronic igntn? (I'll read instructions). The kit came with new ones so no big deal, just not the straight plug in swap I was hoping for. So some hopefully simple wiring, static timing and we're almost good to go...
  16. Lord Gruntfuttock
    The bottom plate of the chain tensioner had come loose (can see it in pic above with 3 springs) and there's no way of installing it all together without removing the timing chain again, so I crimped it in place with vice grips, fitted new nyloc nuts on the clutch basket, a lock washer under the clutch locknut, a copper thrust washer and new gasket, and fitted the cover... Then adjusted the clutch as per manual, went well, and clutch feels and operates OK. So I loosely fitted pegs and pipes to check clearances etc... Got some issues with the rear pipe and cabling to sort... But main thing is the kick start arm will clear the pipes (by a few mm, pipe will move in a bit from here). Was really worried they'd hit and I'd need a new exhaust system... So getting there, really got no idea how I'll make rearsets work with the kicker, but that's a future problem...
  17. Lord Gruntfuttock
    Suns out guns shitty old bikes out... Winter hiatus over, thought I'd look again at this again, had parked it in despair after things got hard and I gave up. Biggest issue after sorting the starter solenoid was a weird electrical fault where putting the key on lit up all the indicator lamps solid. No idea how this could happen looking at the wiring diagram (all rewired by me) and assumed using jumper leads had fried the electronic flasher. To get at the wiring I had to remove the battery tray and oil lines (again) as the common earth point was a stud on the back of the regulator. Separating things and testing them seemed ok, and reassembling exactly the same seems to have fixed the problem? No idea how, assume a bad earth or something but I'll take it... Next was the clutch, I'd replaced the old twin centre spring setup with a machined multi spring system that was supposed to be an improvement... But the clutch lever was hard as hell to operate, wondered if I'd put the wrong springs in, had chosen heavy duty ones as recommended. Used my clutch tool again to remove the releasing disc... And tried it with 3 springs removed... Which felt about the same, clearly something was amiss with the release ramp system. Looked at it and I'd been assembling the cover with the ramp in the wrong position, rotating it further back fixed things, and finally could feel the clutch moving as it should. The ramp itself is in good condition, only been peened in place once looking at it... Slightly stiffer at the lever but I expected that, and it may settle in with use and the case full of oil. Encouraging though, and I discovered I'm missing a lock washer and thrust bearing that I'll install when I button things up properly. With this case back on I can start fitting pegs, levers, brake parts and exhausts again...
  18. Lord Gruntfuttock
    Never realised how much the early chain drive ones resemble the ironhead. Think they all went rubber band around 92...? Would be a fun city bike for sure...
  19. Lord Gruntfuttock
    Did someone say strippers and clingfilm...? And I've been caught out with incompatible paints too, or just being too impatient and spraying before grease and wax remover has evaporated off. Inadvertent wrinkle finish. It sucks but you learn...
  20. Lord Gruntfuttock
    Great looking car. Details on your vapour blaster build please?
  21. Lord Gruntfuttock
    Dig the carb lamp...
  22. Lord Gruntfuttock
    Great info. Cheers...
  23. Lord Gruntfuttock
    I like the red toolbox? reflection on the side of the tank...
  24. Lord Gruntfuttock
    I swapped from external reg to internally regulated new alternator in a '71 Ford. From memory I jumped between 2 connectors on old reg and it all worked. Except it drains if left. Suspect I need to install a diode somewhere too...
  25. Lord Gruntfuttock
    Love the swappable O2 sensor/gauge system. Cool piece of kit...
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