Bearded Baldy

This week i decided to get it to at least start and run nicely so took it into work to play with it at over lunch. New manifold, choke cable (was siezed), and a diaphragm for the carby was the initial idea along with obviously cleaning the years of shit out of the carb. There is a rubber bung that plugs the pilot jet tube that was perished but not available locally so i put it back in and reassembled the rest. Took the tank off and gave it a rinse out too. So of course after that the fuel tap leaked out its base. New gasket in there and no more wasting the liquid gold. Started on 3rd or 4th kick so not bad. Still wouldn't rev out, smelled and sounded like it was flooding itself. Brought it home to have another look over the weekend. Float height is good, jets and ports are clean. Hmmm pulled the pilot jet out again to check the oring at its base. Not looking too flash, so pulled a box of dhla spares off the shelf and found a suitable replacement. Had another look at the rubber pilot plug. If it wasn't sealing properly then nothing will work right. No fuelproof rubber in the shed so came up with a different solution. Cut a thread inside the tube and cut down a countersunk machine screw to plug it up. Put it all back together and everything works as it should. Youngest daughter heard it start and wanted to go for a ride so i swapped my shed slippers for boots and we rode around the house and backyard a few times. Now i have ridden it a bit further i have a bigger list of things to do. Swingarm bearings, unbent footpegs and a clutch job are in the future.

Started to give it a quick wetsand to tidy it up but ran out of paper halfway through. It wasn't able to draw any fuel through with the split manifold so i dribbled some old lawnmower juice down the sparkplug hole and kicked it over. Started up and kept running so idled it round the backyard to check the gearbox out. Made it to 3rd but couldn't pull any revs. Then parked it up for a couple of months.

Which brings the quad up to date. Still need to get some new carpet for the tray but otherwise ready to go. Which brings me to the ag200. Mates family had it in the woodshed and for a high price of $100 i picked it up. First impressions. Inlet manifold was in 2 bits, fork seals leaking, broken speedo and cable, missing starter motor, oil leaks from a few places. Good starting point though.

Got used for everything from hunting and moving fallen tree bits to pushing the boat around. But after 5 years of getting parked outside without a cover it was looking a bit tired again. So a few months i stripped it down to give it another birthday. Found 4 or 5 broken wires in the headstock loom and replaced the set of wires from the 4wd switch to the loom plug as they had broken internally. So now 4wd works off a switch not just left stuck in 4wd with the servo unplugged as my trackside fix that i never got around to fixing. Upper headlight works, and the speedo which stopped on my 2nd trip away is now functional too. Made a new grab rail for the rear tray so the kids can actually hold onto something now too.

Did a couple of trips away and while it drifted well the tires were lacking where they shouldn't. Turned out a mate had a set of muddies the right size in barely used condition. So on they went.

Had a customer come in one day talking about the new quad he had just ordered, the bike shop wouldn't give him anything for his old one as it 'needed too much work' etc etc but they would dispose of it for him if he dropped it of... yeah right. Asked him what he would take for it if i turned up with a trailer, a big chocolate cake was his answer (good thing my wife is a baker/cake decorator for a living). At this point i didn't even know what breed of bike it was, but i wanted a quad for hooning and hunting missions so a couple of days later i went out to the farm after work. Talk to old mate for a bit then he tells me the bike is waiting by the hayshed. Only bike i can see over there is a big late model looking thing so i park up and wait for him to wander over. He looked at me like i was an idiot for a few moments then pointed to the one i had seen. 'Yeah it needs all the brakes done, wheel bearings, bullbars and handlebars got a bit twisted after i rolled it the 4th time, but it's your problem now hahaha'. And that is how i became the owner of an '07 vinson 500!!! (not quite 10 years old at the time) Big strip down and inspection followed. Had to remake some of the frame. Clean up the faded plastics. Rebuilt the brake calipers with new pads, new wheel bearings and a balljoint. Then a few fiddly things. For future reference, vinsons use datsun 510 universal joints which are cheaper than suzuki branded bits.

Yeah lost a bit by doing that over the years. Few shed beers before finishing leads to going out next morning to keep playing....hmm i didnt turn that back on.... doh.

I run a D bottle on my little home mig, ezyswap argoshield 90/10. Just had to swap for a full one last week. 170 bucks. Best thing about ezyswap is if you have a couple of years with doing f all welding the bottle doesnt cost anything extra. Think when i bought mine it worked out to 3 years rental or thereabouts, had it for nearly 6 years now, filled 3 times but built some trailers n shit too in that time.

I like the rapid deployment tapemeasures.

Rock auto to the rescue?

Overdue update to seal this up. Found the sheath in the shed, was dried out and crumbly. Managed to revive it partly by applying half a dozen coats of leather boot grease. The old boy made a kwila stand for one of my motorbike models back in the day, when i track down what box my model collection got relegated to i plan on repurposing it as a base for this. How it has turned out.

Car got relegated back outside so i could use shed to build a kids playhouse then mucked around with the ute a bit. Quad bike is next for a quick refurb before winter missions so car will be outside for a bit longer yet. But i did a deal the other week for some spare glass. Now i have 3 spare rear screens, 2 spare sets of rear screen chrome, and 2 spare front door windows. Need to find a set of rear door glass then i will be happy. Ish.

Test drive report is a success. Left wheel was grabbing slightly on the brakes so backed it off a touch and primo. Rh side backing plate must have gotten a tweak on the way home and was catching on the drum when turning sharp. Drum off and found the highspot nice and shiny. Fixed via percussive maintenance. Currently blocked in with wifes car so will test drive again tomorrow with gps to verify speedo. Fingers crossed.

Got the diff and driveshaft fitted up, new brakes and back on the ground. Made mk1 bracket to mount fuel pump and wired up nicely with relay and hidden trigger feed as an immobiliser. Have a few days off this week coming so hope to get it plumbed up and testdrive it by the time i go back to work.

New uni joints and a coat of paint for the spare driveshaft.

Cut new gasket from a manila folder and ready to go. Whole lot is now assembled on the bench, was a bit of dicking around setting the axle float with limited shims. Ended up blocksanding one of the thicker ones to get everything right. Now to get the ute into work and fit everything up.

Lom83 is the magic number. Googling shows it fits from first gen through to second, in 4 cylinder diffs.

Big thanks @MaxPower, sorted me an lsd head from a gen 2 to play with. Quick measure up and they are interchangeable. Stripped it down, washed in old 2stroke mix, dried and now ready for reassembly with the 3.9 gears.

Housing, head and backingplates got waterblasted, wired brushed, wiped with petrol and coated in paint.

Like the sound of that idea. Will get this diff sorted then see what i do next.

Well shit, that escalated quickly. Got it on the bench at work and took the axles out. Looked like relatively fresh grease on them, feel smooth enough too. But what can only be described as mud on the splines. Hmmm Looked at the pinion trying to decide whether or not to spin it and ruin my day. Pinion bearing growly as the dog. Pulled the head out and checked it over. Bit of wear and pitting on the teeth, all bearings rooted. Have it all stripped down waiting on a waterblast now. No rush as the first place to price bearings came in near 460 dollars which ain't happening this xmas. Will let my fingers do the walking tomorrow.

Love working at home. Rules can suck it. Loaded up ready for a ride to town.

Have been putting off doing anything to the utes for a long time, funds and inspiration are lacking. Pushed bluey onto the mowed part of the lawn tonight and lightly buffed the label on the diff. 3.909 ratio! Will jack it up this week and pull the diff out, put it on the white ute and take it to work for the xmas break. Be nice to work on things without interuptions. New axle bearings, brakes, and a rattlecan resto on the housing is the plan.

Haven't looked for mounting points yet. Need another storage shed before i take the rest of it apart. Can't rush these jobs. Cheers for the info.

1978 falcon. Never had rear seatbelts. If i was to cert for efi upgrade on the 6 cylinder, later diff with discs, aside from brake test and driveshaft hoop is there anything going to trip me up? Will i need to fit rear belts? Reg on hold not lapsed.