Have you ever done a job that you thought would be a piece of cake and it turned into a nightmare? Or conversely, a job that you really don't like doing, but it went really well? Well I had the latter today. As confessed in my last missive, I inadvertently rubbed thru the paint in one little spot when rubbing out a run in the clear lacquer, and was worried that the decal wouldn't cover it.
Today I summoned up the courage to take the decal out to the tank and see if in fact this was the case, and was happy that it did, so no paint touch up (a difficult task with metallics, and damn near impossible with candies) required, woohoo! OK, so I'm standing there holding a decal and staring at the tank, and slowly the thought of attaching one to the other crossed my tiny mind. Ugh, I really don't like attaching decals, especially big ones, I still wake up drenched in sweat worrying about buggering up expensive decals.
As it turned out though, I had nothing to worry about, I used a plastic bondo spreader and a piece of foam to push any air bubbles out, and the decals went on easy. They're probably not quite even, but I don't care, I can only look at one side at a time, so I'm happy.
T500 Sunday 5 Sep 2021 1 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
I/ve decided to get my vapor blasting guy to blast my engine cases. The ones I bought from the US aren't filthy, but the OEM clearcoat is coming off, and it's much easier for me to get him to blast them than for me to waste hours with a scrubbing brush and degreaser. There's no rush, the oil dams haven't turned up yet, so the assembly can wait another few days.
My mate Pete, who had a T500 back in the 1970's rang me last night, they're trying to sell his brother (RIP) Dave's Harley Electra Glide for Dave's widow, Linda. It's a 1983 Milwaukie police bike, Dave bought it around 1985 or '86, and rode it right up until a year or so ago when his health got so bad that he couldn't. Dave moved up to Cairns in the late 80's and I only saw him a couple of times, which was a shame, as we got on so well.
Anyhoo, they've been trying to sell it in Cairns, but can't get the money that they want for it, so Pete's asked me if he can get it shipped to my place and for me to clean it up, get it running sweet, and sell it? Why of course, I always liked it when Dave was alive, so why not? I might even buy it myself if I can sell some bikes that I don't need and raise the cash, we'll see. Here's one of my favourite pics of Dave.
Davey Dobbo. by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
Anyway, Pete was talking about his T500. He'd never heard about the oil level issue, and I don't know if I convinced him that the oil dam is the fix to save your 4th and 5th gear. He was sure that his centre bearing oil seal had blown and was the cause, he reckoned that the engine was burning gearbox oil and starving the gearbox of oil, and that's what ate his 4th and 5th gear. I'm guessing it was a combination of the low oil level AND the oil seal problem, but he wouldn't have it, he'd convinced himself over the last 43 years that it was just the oil seal and had never heard about the oil level issue before, but then again, he'd never thought about it in recent years, certainly not in the age of the internet, and instant knowledge like we have now.
Regardless, I thought that as I'd really only given my gearbox guts a cursory glance I'd go take a closer look, and was happy to confirm that all my gears and bearings are in excellent shape, so while I'm not sure why the heads and barrels were off it, it appears that it was a low mileage engine. I think I'll wander back outside with a scalpel blade and trim the decals around the badge brackets as I'm concerned about soapy water being trapped behind it possibly causing blisters in the future, but that's about all I'll do for the day as I can't really do much now. More soon.
