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Lord Gruntfuttock

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Everything posted by Lord Gruntfuttock

  1. Lord Gruntfuttock
    Cool colour, should be easy engine to work on. There will be heeeaaaps of information on MGBarryforums...
  2. Lord Gruntfuttock
    dreamy...
  3. Lord Gruntfuttock
    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.
  4. Lord Gruntfuttock
    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...
  5. Lord Gruntfuttock
    Night stage lamps test fit... And coming together...
  6. Lord Gruntfuttock
    Oh it's very red... Actually truck paint, from a local transport company, hard as fuck, painter couldn't buff it, will be interesting to see how it goes... Cockpit pic... And I'd made a brew for the crew some time ago, got bewbs...
  7. Lord Gruntfuttock
    Some random progress pics I found on my phone...
  8. Lord Gruntfuttock
    Best bits of both bodies put together and sanded for paint. A really good shell in the end, straight and very little corrosion.. And done... Taking it back to workshop tonight to start putting things on properly, which is exciting. Had to keep reminding ourselves it was a rally car during paint prep. Southland rally in June is first race target, will be road legal so hope to get it running way before then for shakedown, should be fun...
  9. Lord Gruntfuttock
    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...
  10. Lord Gruntfuttock
    Barra swap...
  11. Lord Gruntfuttock
    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...
  12. Lord Gruntfuttock
    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...
  13. Lord Gruntfuttock
    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...
  14. Lord Gruntfuttock
    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...
  15. Lord Gruntfuttock
    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...
  16. Lord Gruntfuttock
    Nah no spare bits sorry. Need everything I've got. Let us know what tyre you end up getting...
  17. Lord Gruntfuttock
    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
  18. Lord Gruntfuttock
    I've got a couple of these, tyres are a weird size and almost impossible to replace.
  19. Lord Gruntfuttock
    Got the other side done over the weekend. Started by drilling a locating hole in each bar for the Kawasaki switchgear... Not sure what ink the wrecker used, but it's good stuff, hard to remove the writing... Took tank off to fettle the new accelerator cable. had to drill out the ferrule holder on the carb to accept the new cable, and toyed with installing the return pull cable as well, but decided againt it, maybe in the future. Cut cable inner to length and soldered in a new brass lug, all works well... And installed new master cylinder, no dramas, bled things with m/c below the caliper and nice easy job, bleed screw wasn't stuck and the cheap SCA green Dot 4 fluid made it easy to see when new stuff came through... And I wasn't certain what size the new bore size was, but it was cast in as 5/8" on the Nissin m/c... And all in apart from wiring, fitted new Biltwell 7/8 Kung Fu grips, think it looks pretty good... I was going to wait for the connector plugs to arrive but it was a beautiful day so I made some temporary connections with strip connectors to check things work... And it works well, nice not having to worry when the switches will let me down next, and I find them easier to use. Took her for a few rides over the weekend, clutch is still too hard to use easily, but brakes feel better with a slightly different ratio. There is a slight oil leak that is nothing compared to the Exxon Valdez of old, but I'll wait till I've replaced the clutch springs and primary cover to look at that... Pretty pleased how things turned out though...
  20. Lord Gruntfuttock
    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...
  21. Lord Gruntfuttock
    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...
  22. Lord Gruntfuttock
    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...
  23. Lord Gruntfuttock
    And it made a huge difference, cranked into life almost immediately, and idled ok. A quick trip round the section showed the clutch needed sorting, re-adjusted it (a little more screwed in) and it acted far better, no more 'creeping' in gear. Still terrible of course by normal standards, but tolerable... So I took her for a ride... Spluttered a bit on a back road but flicking petcock to reserve fixed that, I'll fettle the lights and try to get her in for a WOF next week to make things legal'ish...
  24. 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...
  25. 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...
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