Life was busy around that time so not much happened for many many months. I've never owned an older bike before, and come from working on diesel mercedes so the whole machine has been quite intimidating. The bike came to me in pieces and in unknown running condition, so I never got a chance to see how it all went together to begin with!
The fuel tank was heavily rusted inside, so I put together a little reverse electrolysis system to remove as much as possible. It worked quite well but will probably need to be repeated before using.
The carburetors were extremely varnished, so I ran them through an ultrasonic bath filled with mineral spirits. After several trips through with the assistance of wire brushes and toothbrushes they ended up reasonably clean. I cleaned the jets with various gauges of thin kanthal wiring, replaced the gaskets and float valves, replaced the worn and mashed screws with new JIS screws, replaced a bad choke rail with one from a donor set of carburetors, set the float height, and bench synchronized them with my calipers by checking slide position from behind.
the wiring harness appears to have been modified by several different monkeys at several different points for reasons unknown. The #2/#3 ignition coil has no continuity on the secondary windings and is presumed dead. The rectifier is also missing in action. The starter solenoid has been tested and works, the starter has been tested and turns although it is unknown if it is going to be within the parameters necessary to start the bike. I intend to replace the missing rectifier with a Vishay VS-36MT80 800 volt 35 amp bridge rectifier. The state of the voltage regulator is currently unknown.
My next task is sourcing a replacement coil. Once I have that, I can jump the ignition system together enough to see if the engine will start at all before proceeding further.
As I'm not intending to try and return the bike to factory condition I am strongly considering building a simplified wiring harness.
Another issue to sort out is the rear brake. A previous owner started on a disc conversion but did not finish. The wheel is ready to go but the swingarm lacks an attachment point for the brace to the caliper. there is also no attachment point for the master cylinder. For the moment I believe I will work on getting the engine to start and sorting out whatever gremlinds present themselves. After that I will attempt to get the wiring sorted out either with the factory harness or a DIY minimal one. In conjunction with the wiring I will come up with a solution for head/tail/turns. Once these things are sorted I will revisit my options with the rear brake - lacing the drum hub i have into the existing rim, or completing the disc swap with the existing rear wheel assembly.
