A kid who I taught at vocational school is now a hard driving business man. I think that sometimes the stuff of success does not lead to bike restoration.
The goal yesterday was to pick up a purchased 750 Magna--a really nice always garaged one that he got for 800.00. Well,we got it to my garage and the gas in the tank was not rotten,but had some age on it that required removal and the tank cleaned. There is really no good way to take off a Magna tank. The main tank empties into the slave tank to be pumped by a fuel pump and the best you can do is take the little feed pipe from the slave tank,jam a catch hose in it ,and empty that into a catch tank. we made our mistakes and spilled a little,but the tank survived intact and unscratched
When he first got the bike,I told John not to even think about touching the starter. No sense in pumping any dirty gas or air into the engine. That advice was not heeded as he told me that he got a new battery [the wrong polarity and he blamed the parts counter guy] then he got the right polarity with the posts still not correct. Instead of getting Pi$$ed at the parts counter guy, don't you just take the old dead battery in for reference? Well,anyway,I have a new battery for myself that he gave me...
So with the tank off,we looked in the air cleaner,and you guessed correctly that we found a mouse nest. Most was outside the air cleaner and we vacuumed it out,but some was inside and I just hope that it stayed out of the engine. There were [I think] velocity stacks that were above the level where the stuff could have entered the engine.
I about had a heart attack as he threaded the air cleaner mount bolts back in without the cover present. He had extra stuff in his hands and it is a wonder that something did not get dropped in to the top of the exposed air intake.
So we delivered the bike to a shop who will remove and clean the carbs, and I will clean the gas tank perfectly and with patience as I am very good at the job. Those crossover carbies are beyond my pay grade anyway and especially without a manual.
I did manage to show John how much good you could do with a little mothers aluminum polish and other things like OOOO steel wool. That bike could be a show stopper. I hope it goes well at the bike shop. Fortunately John lives six hours away so I will deal with the guys at the shop and keep things on an even keel..
I think the shop will put some new post connectors on the wiring so the second battery will work on the bike. Hope it works out OK
There are guys you can ride with and guys you can wrench with and I guess it is not always advisable to do both...
