Hey guys,
It's been a while between updates. Work's been busy and I'm pouring money into engine parts (new valves, springs etc) so I haven't been in the shed for a while. But things are moving nonetheless.
But first, I went to the Tyabb airshow with my little brother. Amazing old Spitfires, Kittyhawks and even an Australian built Mustang and Boomerang. Great sounds from those last two. But they had some old cars and bikes there, so I snapped some quick shots.
RAAF Kittyhawk, Spitfire, Boomerang and Mustang.
I've recently read Roald Dahl's 'Going Solo' in which he pilots a Hurricane in Greece. Seeing as there is only one Hurricane in the southern hemisphere and that's in New Zealand, I had to settle for the Kittyhawk.
Now that the pretty ones are out of the way, here's mine.
I'm going to paint the spokes and rim of this black. You can see the slight pitting left by the rust in the disc. The guy who did the reface and tidy up, 'Mad Max' at Planet Tooling in Wantirna South, said it wouldn't impact performance. What a great guy. Him and his old mate just doing motorcycle brakes. Max has got to be in his 60's. He drives a hotted up Subaru WRX STI with custom turbo and a million other upgrades done to it. He hang glides. Just a great guy. For someone my age (26), it's great to meet these old bike guys and marvel at the knowledge these guys have.
So my girlfriends Dad's mate Richard was able to get the busted bleed screw out. Fantastic work.
Richard even made a grease nipple to remove the stuck brake piston. He let me keep it. Such friendly and helpful people.
The brake piston. I'm not sure if this pitting requires a new piston, but it certainly doesn't fit easily back in the caliper casing. So I think I might buy a new one, considering the front disc is doing most of the stopping.
Did my best to clean out the caliper house. I'm still not happy with it, there's so much gunk in the seal rim. So I've had it soaking in brake fluid for the last two days, I hope that cleans it all out.
Makeshift spray booth. Second coats on my brake pressure switch holder (not sure if I'm going to use the stock 2-piece hose and switch setup but might as well paint it) and inside brake caliper. Using high temp engine casing paint. I really should be baking these, instead I've let them dry for a week and will give them a few coats.
Got my forks in with a bit of frustration. I had to loosen up the head-stem and grease and heat the triple tree clamps to pressure the forks in. I found it easier to push down on the handle bars with the forks against a block on the bench rather than trying to push up on the forks. It's a pity my wheel hubs and fork lowers are at the hydroblasters otherwise I might have been able to get this baby rolling. I'm going to replace the rusted screws with allen bolts I have coming. Eventually I'd like to clean the originals up and have them zinc coated, but for now I'm going to try the allen bolt route.
My forks have some slight pitting on then. I ran some 1200 wet n' dry over then, but it starts to cloud up the chrome. It's not pitted down near the seals, so I think I'll have to live with them until I can afford new tubes one day.
Headlight is on. So stoked on that. Now I have to sort out my wiring, which is intimidating. I'm going to try and do this a little cleaner than the stock wiring. That nest of wires near the horn has to go. Trouble is, now can't remember where it's all supposed to go. Switches I think. As soon as I get all the engine parts ordered, I want to get indicators and gauges and so I can get stuck into all these mess.
Rick.
