Topic: Terry Bob's redneck F-ing K2 bitsa project!

[BobbyR]

Yeah Terry Bob she is a looker hell yeah. Now old son, how you gonna git that there machine offen that desk?
 

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks everyone, well Jerry's suggested that I jump it off the bench "Evel Kneivel Style", and while I'm sure I could, there are too many obstacles in the way (including common sense) for a happy landing, so I'm hoping my little "patient lifter" with it's fully charged batteries will have the gumption to safely lift it off the bench one last time.......

Ron, that bench has proved to be extra sturdy, with both the bike and me sitting on it at times. The exhaust comprises stock headers, and a set of those old bolt on 4 into 2 "Turnout" mufflers. I lopped off the "turnouts" just ahead of the baffles and machined up those alloy "cones" to give them a more attractive look. The propane cylinder is indeed possessed, and I'm well known for my "wicked" annual Christmas Eve BBQ's!

[Terry in Australia]

Well it's Friday here and I had to take a day off work as my poor old battered back had me doubled over like the Hunchback of Notre Dame, and even though I'd taken enough ibuprofen and paracetamol to kill a small elephant, I was still feeling poorly. Still, it's hard to keep a redneck down, so by the time I'd had some coffee and toast, I crawled out to the patio in search of adventure.

Another little job that I needed to do was replace the 45 mm bolts at the back of the swingarm with 65mm bolts and nyloc nuts, as the thread on one side of the swinger was a bit suspicious, and as the lowering blocks rely on a nice firm bolt holding them in place, it was an imperative. I didn't buy new bolts, no-sirree-Bob, I found a couple of 75 mm bolts, ran a die over them to thread them further along, then lopped 10mm off the ends of each.

Redneck Friday Test Ride 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Redneck Friday Test Ride 2 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Redneck Friday Test Ride 3 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr 

Ron was saying that my bike needs more chrome, and he's right of course, so I was happy that the auto door edge protective edging I'd bought arrived in the mail this morning, so I cut off about a dollars worth, and I think it now looks a million dollars, what a great investment!

Redneck Friday Test Ride by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I very carefully lowered the bike off the bench, and I'm happy to report that my little "Patient lifter that could" happily lifted the bike and allowed me to pull it away from the bench and lower it onto the patio floor, without it smashing into a thousand bits. Thanks motorcycle building Gods!

Redneck Friday Test Ride 4 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Well, what's left? I hooked up the fuel lines, stole some more fuel outta my big black BMW, added some Lucas upper cylinder lubricant, lead replacement and some Pro-Ma fuel system cleaner, and dumped it into the tank. The engine fired right up, and I was pleased that with that idle mixture screw adjustment that I did the other day, it doesn't feel so lean. 

I installed a pair of mirrors, and called it good. Hmmnn, so was it time for it's maiden voyage? Fcuk yeah! Now of course the "Elephant in the room" from almost day one has been that gear tooth that I found in the oil pan when I was giving it a once over.

K6 engine prep 14 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I knew that least 1st gear worked ok, but was expecting at least one extra neutral where a gear should have been, but no, it's got all 5 gears, and goes great! I only rode it around the block a few times, but went thru all the gears and had no issues at all, woohoo! Well, I did notice a little drip of oil from the alternator cover when it's on the sidestand, but otherwise, no problemo.

I've still gotta paint a tank and sidecovers for it, but apart from that and getting the charging system working, I think it's pretty much done! Cheers, Terry.  

Redneck Friday Test Ride 5 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr     

Redneck Friday Test Ride 7 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

[PeWe]

Congratulations Terry!
All electric stuff work too? Hi-Lo light, rear + brake light when braking with front, rear. Blinkers and all pilot lamps? The red Oil pressure most important though.
Meter illumination too?

I have to leave my job earlier, changing wheels on my car, from low profile summer to winter tires...brrrrr I'll change back in about 5 months from now

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Per, yep, everything's working, but I need to see why the "High Beam" light in the speedo comes on when I turn the ignition key on, even when the lights are off? Also, the charging system doesn't work, so I'll be checking the only old harness that I used, the short harness from the AC wires, in the hope that it's just a dirty/loose connector. Hopefully it won't be too much of a hassle.

Best of luck with your winter driving mate, our winters are probably like your Spring/Fall, the thought of needing to change tyres depending on the season actually scares me a little! Cheers, Terry.

[PeWe]

Your winter is like our summer!
About constant hi indication... I have had that too..  I do not remember why... something simple..

[BobbyR]

Thanks Per, yep, everything's working, but I need to see why the "High Beam" light in the speedo comes on when I turn the ignition key on, even when the lights are off? Also, the charging system doesn't work, so I'll be checking the only old harness that I used, the short harness from the AC wires, in the hope that it's just a dirty/loose connector. Hopefully it won't be too much of a hassle.

Best of luck with your winter driving mate, our winters are probably like your Spring/Fall, the thought of needing to change tyres depending on the season actually scares me a little! Cheers, Terry.

A true counrty boy would jut put some tape over the light and be done with it.   

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Wow! Just in time for summer riding.  The bitsa looks great.

[nvr2old]

This has been a thoroughly entertaining build to follow.  Congrats on riding it.  Couple of bugs are always expected.  I'm sure you'll get it dialed in and ready to enjoy.  Thanks for the almost daily posts.

[Jerry Rxman Griffin aka MuthaF'er]

Yeah bwa, great nuews.

[PeWe]

About the elephant....
Can it be caused by too long bolts? I have marked on top photo with yellow arrows were a long bolt can reach a gear.
Bearing holder  4 x Countersunk M6 or the M6 tighten the upper case in front of the front drive sprocket.

Bearing holder has open holes, the latter can easily pop the thread bottom by a too long bolt. It pops before 10Nm is reached. I know, changed bolt and thought bottom was popped years earlier and therefore no alu debris in engine. Wrong, I found it in oil pan at first oil change with a oil pan clean. Lucky, no bad consequences and alu bottom was in one complete piece and a small mark only.

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks everyone, I really don't know if I would have finished it as quickly as I have, without your encouragement!

Per, it was good to look at your gearbox pics. Peter, the guy who sold me the engine said that it has never been apart and unlike every engine I've ever owned, it still had all of the original screws, so I don't think it's a case of someone using a bolt that was too long.

There are two possibilities. At one stage it's thrown a chain as the cases have been welded, so there's a good chance that was what did it, or, Peter told me that the engine was locked up when his mate bought the Seeley that it came out of, so perhaps they tried to bump start it to unseize it?

Either way, I think I'm on to something. Obviously Honda put too many teeth on their gears, so in the interests of Redneck performance, I'm going to break off every second tooth on every gear in my gearbox, which should reduce friction exponentially, and with the obvious weight savings, should give it several more rear wheel horse power!

Redneck Friday Test Ride 8 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr 

[seanbarney41]

whatevs terry...these engines are magic, they just keep going. I Think of all the times I have beat the #$%* out of these lumps chasing my bros on much more powerful machinery, next oil change nothing but glitter, and it does not seem to phase them one bit.

[Terry in Australia]

Ha ha, that's true Sean, and the key to their longevity is that you actually do an oil change. What does kill these engines long before they would wear out if well maintained, is people not doing regular maint.

I've no idea how many miles the f-ing engine in my bitsa has done, but it was super clean inside, compared to my 1969 K0 engine that has been apart several times, was filthy inside and had half of the piston rings missing! Some folks shouldn't be allowed near motorcycles.....

[jgger]

Congratulations on the build Terry. Plus thanks for the entertaining/encouraging thread, your rust removal on the pipes got me motivated to start cleaning stuff for my 650! I will no way match the speed of your build..........but at least it got me off my arse! I hope you enjoy that bike as much as the rest of us have so far.

[edwardmorris]

Congratulations Terry Bob! No matter how hard them shiny new parts or sciencing got in the way, you persevered Great feeling when a 750 comes back to life, be it mine or not

[PeWe]

Terry, you seems to have the answers about the elephant.
The reason of the oil strainer on oil pump is to protect the oil pump from gearbox teeth.

That's really fine if the bike runs smooth on all gears despite an eventual missing tooth or half of a tooth. The photos as comparison to guess which sprocket that might have dropped a tooth.

What's next project? Building a spare engine of all parts you  might have in boxes? It's just a way to make order of the parts, put them together

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks guys, I've really enjoyed being a "Thread Creator" and will start another one, or, more likely breathe life back into my 1969 K0 thread that I started around the same time as this one, when I lost my mind and thought I could actually do two bike builds at once, what was I smoking?

I've got most of the large lumps of another K2 kicking around the garage, and probably enough bits to build an F2 as well, but I think I better re-start the K0 build, I don't have an emotional tie to it yet, but who knows, by the time I get it built and on the road, that might change? If not, I guess I could sell it to finance something I like better.

I'm also thinking about souping up another engine for the bitsa. I know I don't need to, it's running well and anyway, I've got several bikes that are wickedly fast with excellent brakes, but I can't leave things alone, and a mild performance build (836cc, ported head and mild cam) with a little bling thrown in won't hurt? What say you all?

[MoMo]

^^I say leave it as is, paint and all.  Engine mods will defeat the definition of a bitsa bike.  You already have a couple bikes waaay faster and better handling, why dump money and time into a bike that won't perform as well as your others ?  My .02 for the day...LBB

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Larry, yeah you're right, I really don't want to pull this engine down as it's 42(?) years old and has never been pulled down before, and I like the "patina". I may replace the external screws though, as some are pretty crappy with rust, and I can buy new ones from Yamiya.

I bought a really cool JIS screwdriver set offa Ebay, each screwdriver is also an impact driver! I'm trying not to spend any  more money on motorcycle parts so I might just pull those rusty screws out and clean them up on my wire wheel, but new screws would look better again.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/VESSEL-JIS-Screwdriver-Set-Impacta-Megadora-for-Japanese-motorcycle-repair-Japan/361716536278?epid=2145073016&hash=item5437fc53d6:g:LswAAOSwzaJX4a71

This weekend was my fortnightly 400 miler to visit my old Ma, when I came back my wife had to go to a kids birthday party so I put some air into the front forks of the bitsa and did a couple of laps around the block, it's just going better every time I ride it, and felt way better than it did a couple of days ago with saggy forks. I just checked the gauge and am happy to report that 5 hours after I pumped the forks up, they haven't lost any air.

Redneck Sunday Air Gauge by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I thought I might also take my Sportster for a ride after sitting for 6 months, but nope, the Gods of electrickery had other plans, the battery was too flat, so I hooked up my optimate charger and called it a day. Leo, the latest addition to our furry family decided that I looked like the comfiest piece of furniture in the room, so took advantage of my redneck hospitality.

Leo the Redneck Lion by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr   

[RAFster122s]

Terry, yes, Vessel screwdrivers are fantastic/the bomb/incredible tools...wish I had known about them 20-30 years ago!  Going to have to buy a set of tools/screwdrivers for work and I believe I will be investing in Vessel instead of Snap-On.
Really makes more sense when dealing with Phillips screws also...

Do a ebay search or Amazon search on Bessel #220w-3
Nice set of screwdrivers, but I rarely run into Posidrive screws so one of the 3 interchangeable screwdriver double ended shafts is not very useful.
Amazon shows it cheaper than ebay at $15 on a weekend

Congrats on getting her running.

[strynboen]

oh you have killed the nice littel cat...be more care vith that co2 exhost fumes..

[Terry in Australia]

Hey thanks David, I was actually looking at that set until I saw those ones with the built in impact drivers, and I had to have them! Cheers, Terry Bob.

Ha ha, thanks Lars, actually Leo farted in my face just after that pic was taken, and almost killed me!

[PeWe]

That's a Cat-a-strophe!
Can be the name you looked for?

[strynboen]

leo- pard