Topic: What did you do to your bike today ?

[DohcBikes]

Couldn't source a 10X125X40 banjo bolt locally sos I could finish testing the hydraulic portion of my dual disc conversion.
Went to Lowes and found a bolt. Drilled bolt lengthwise and in two places on the side FREEHANDED, without a drill
press. Clamped bolt in a vice grip pliers, and c clamped vice grip to benchtop edge. (NEVER AGAIN) a few hours later tho, I had
front discs. I can't believe the thing doesn't leak.

Rear GS rotor layed out by hand with a sharpie marker and drilled with a cordless drill to match the EBC next to it.

Also recently drilled by hand with a cordless drill, a 1/2 inch hole the entire length of a steering stem that is made of solid stock.

Neither was any fun.

[DH]

Hats off to you sir. And you're right, it aint fun. I broke most of my drill bits during my little adventure.

[70CB750]

It also creates nasty and very sharp swarfs.

[madmtnmotors]

Rained most of the day today. On the way home from work the clouds parted and the Sun popped out so I rolled it out and ripped off a seventy mile ride. 

[Restoration Fan]

Rained most of the day today. On the way home from work the clouds parted and the Sun popped out so I rolled it out and ripped off a seventy mile ride. 

I'm envious.  It was actually warm enough for me to ride today but every time I would consider it, the rain would start again.  So I decided it's probably time to put Stella up for the winter and get back to work on the 500 to finish it up....so that I can start on the 550. 

[Terry in Australia]

What a day, I started by rebuilding the front brake master cylinder on my BMW R1100GS. It was a real PITA as the weeping brake fluid corroded the crap out of everything, and as the brake lever pivot bolt's internal hex was stripped out, I had to use a #40 torx bit tapped into the hex so I could get the bastaard out.

Then my brother in law brought his 1980 Suzuki RM100 over so I could clean the carb. I left the bike on the trailer, whipped the carb off, pulled it apart, cleaned out every jet and orifice, and stuck it back on the bike. I turned the fuel on and told the BIL to give it a kick, and it started first kick. He was 'rapt, last time he started it was 16 years ago!

Still working on Mike's CB750/836cc Cafe Racer. I was very excited today, I turned the key and hit the starter, and cranked the engine, good to know that after more than a year since I rebuilt the engine it still turns over! I'd filled the oil tank and was horrified to see nice fresh oil under the engine a little while later, but it only turned out to be a leak around one of the "Carpy" oil lines from the tank, so hopefully I'll get that fixed soon.

I Just need to hook up the Dyna ignition and coils, and I should be able to fire it up. This will be pretty cool as I built this bike entirely from parts I had kicking around my garage, it's a "Bitsa". (bits of this and bits of that) so I feel a bit like Victor Frankenstein, pretty soon it will live! Cheers, Terry.

[Jerry Rxman Griffin aka MuthaF'er]

I took it off the lift yesterday to test fit the Delkevic exhaust. First time it's had it's 2 wheels on concrete since it went together and I must say I like it  After I removed the new Delkevic exhaust I was able to install the oil pump and put the cover on. I realized I need to install the neutral switch before I can add oil. That is one #$%*! Back to it tomorrow. Anyone have any tricks up their sleeve? I rotated the shift drum to find the indent but it's still not going in properly. Just not much room to work under the bike. I really wish I had installed it while on the bench. Sonna#$%*!!

Obligatory boring pictures......

[Jerry Rxman Griffin aka MuthaF'er]

I CAN'T be the only dewd working on his bike!

Anyway......  I got that pesky neutral switch installed. Had to take off the shifter side cover and push the drum inward while slightly rotating to align the drum divot. Makes a nice sounds when it goes in 

Completed the Delkevic install  Very pleased so far. Thinking maybe one of those Crapy 2.5" X 5.5"baffles might be a good option LATER.



Notice the exit angle. Thats going to make a muffler/tail piece difficult unless Delkevic comes out with one l like. My Mac piece fits and it's angled but the mount rotates 90 degrees and I'm not sold on it.



It's mounted very firmly just by the head and doesn't need additional support IMO.



Ripped into the carbs for cleaning and re-jetting. Need to make a Honda run for 130's/135's, fuel hose, carb overflow hose, cotter pins for the choke links and 12mm vent hose. I have new boots for the tops as well as new needle jet kits too. Also new carb intake rubbers and air box rubbers. The 6mm wide hose clamps that have recently been mentioned are the real deal! Disassembled my air box to use the new center separator with it's new gasket.



Not too bad inside



I'm sure these air box boots were affecting air flow considering their shapes. Pretty stiff too.



I installed the new carb boots on the head before I quit. There were still 2 of the old ones on the carb rack. Rock hard. It took my heat gun to get them off.

Might get a little done tomorrow around other stuff. Stay tuned.
 

[mycoal]

Soak those badboys in wintergreen oil and xylene.

[DohcBikes]

Soak those badboys in wintergreen oil and xylene.

Considering the pics above i'm thinking he might soak those bad boys in trash can contents.

[gwallis]

Jerry,

On further investigation... I think that the Carpy 'SlipOn Muffler' would be a better choice.  It has a 12 degree angle so that you can turn it back towards the bike when using the Delkivic headers.

Here is a link to a video:

http://carpyscaferacers.com/shop/exhaust/exhaust-slip-on-for-2-5-headers-polished-stainless-steel-with-chrome-baffle-and-end-cap/

[Yoshimatic]

Painted it satin black and modified the exhaust.

[Jerry Rxman Griffin aka MuthaF'er]

Jerry,

On further investigation... I think that the Carpy 'SlipOn Muffler' would be a better choice.  It has a 12 degree angle so that you can turn it back towards the bike when using the Delkivic headers.

Here is a link to a video:

http://carpyscaferacers.com/shop/exhaust/exhaust-slip-on-for-2-5-headers-polished-stainless-steel-with-chrome-baffle-and-end-cap/

That looks good. No mounting tab so it's rotatable to fit your need. Just not sure if there is enough bend?? Bet it would sound MUCH better on a decent engine 

[Terry in Australia]

Soak those badboys in wintergreen oil and xylene.

Considering the pics above i'm thinking he might soak those bad boys in trash can contents.

+1, new ones aren't too expensive, and worth it.

[Terry in Australia]

Well this was another 1000 mile weekend so didn't have all that much time to work on the bikes, but seeing that Mike's Cafe Racer build is about a year overdue, I thought I better push on with it as my #1 priority, and I'm glad I did, as I actually fired it up for the first time ever!

I built this whole bike from parts I had laying around in my garage. It's all K2, but the engine and frame came from different bikes, and the engine itself was so bad when Mike brought it over (with the top end off) that I had to throw away the crank, conrods, pistons, cylinders, valves, springs, valve guides, most of the gears, the complete clutch assembly, the transmission mainshaft, all of the chains, adjusters, etc.

Basically all I kept was the cases, and only because Mike wanted me to keep them, which involved me buying a special MIG welder with a spool gun, just so I could weld up his cases where they'd been dropped and the upper rear engine mount casting had been broken off. It was a real labour of love, so to see it running again in a bike I built from the ground up from parts that I'd accumulated at swap meets, on eBay, Gumtree (Craigs List) from members here etc, almost brought a tear to my tough old eyes.

I filled my little temporary tank with fuel, gave each float bowl a rap with a screwdriver handle and turned the key, and as soon as I pressed the starter button the engine immediately fired up, with no burping or farting. The new gel battery, Dyna 3 ignition and Dyna coils and leads more than likely helped with their fat blue spark, and once the WD40 I'd sprayed down each spark plug hole burned off and it stopped smoking it idled away happily, with plenty of oil pressure, thanks to the rebuilt oil pump and all new main and big end bearings.

The only thing that pissed me off were the "Carpy" el-cheapo quality braided oil tank lines that pissed oil out of the inlet hose, hence the oil spots on the garage floor, and the oil pan underneath the bike. If anyone here was thinking about buying some (or anything else from Carpy, for that matter) don't, just like his bikes, his parts are half arsed as well. I'll take the hoses to Pirtek and get some proper ones made, that won't fcuking leak.......... Cheers, Terry.



       

[maduncle]

Thanks for the tip off Terry - I will go to Pirtec for new oil lines too.

And to think I nearly bought the Carpy ones last week too.

Not a lot of news on my bikes progress, I did the same silly thing again and gave the barrels to a local guy I know who does good work to re-sleeve and re-bore.

And as always - he takes FOREVER (!!!) to do the damn work.

This week is the last chance he gets - then I collect it all off him and go elsewhere.

[Jerry Rxman Griffin aka MuthaF'er]

Been playing with the carbs last couple days. Picked them up from Apex Sports after a gratis cleaning by the service manager! Blown away by that but it upped his beer fund by 20 bucks 



After breaking down the rack I wasn't satisfied with the cleaner-but-old look so I decided to do something about it. I put together the poor man's soda blaster to use in my cabinet.



I had a 13lb bag of baking soda to put to work. It is powder fine but I didn't want to spring $40 for a 50lb bag of coarser grit. I've never done soda before so WTF! Between my homemade blaster and the fine powder I wasn't satisfied so they got bead blasted then I re-did them with soda to smooth out the finish. Once blasted they got blasted with air and soapy water soak. Still wet I decided to bake some carbs to dry them in prep for the rebuild. Next time I'll spring for a bag of coarse soda.



Came out really nice but not as good as the wet blasting that is now going on. More of a flat aluminum finish.



Installed 125 mains, NOS needle jet/needles kits with the needles clipped at next to bottom, set the floats at 26mm, polished the top rings a little, installed new 2 X 8 O-rings in the fuel connectors and 2 X 5 O-rings in the drain screws. Dropped one of the air screw plastic covers. It'll eventually come out of hiding.

Here's the needle jets I replaced. Went to Lowe's and got a 1/4" oak dowel. Tapped out from the top flush to the air passage then used a small Phillips to take them out the rest of the way. Tapped the new ones in from the fuel tube/bottom after removing from the freezer. Pretty easy to tell when they bottom out.

 

Gotta put the rack back together but I've run out of time for the next week. Just got called in to work all week. Yahooooo, more bike or vacation $$. Booooo, working on the bike is more rewarding 

Next up: re-rack, install, clean up and install the air cleaner and hook up all the breather hoses once my 40' roll of 12mm hose shows up

 

[Terry in Australia]

Hey Jerry, I hate to break it to you mate, but you've just fcuked your carbs. The reason we soda blast them is because the soda is water soluble, so when you fill all the tiny circuits within your carbs with soda particles, they'll wash right out. Glass beads don't, and you'll never remove them all from your idle and mixture circuits, and your bike will run like Shiite. How do I know? I did it too........

[Jerry Rxman Griffin aka MuthaF'er]

Did both and flushed them out with brake cleaner and air I'll hope for the best.

[Terry in Australia]

Nothing wrong with living in hope Jerry, I did too, but in the end I had to throw them away and replaced them with a set of dirty, but serviceable carbs.

 The problem is that the grit is forced into the tiniest of circuits and is too big to go all the way thru, so blocks air/fuel from passing thru, so while your bike might start and idle, it won't accellerate, or will just run roughly.

You might be able to drill out the little jets at the back of the "air horns" on each carb to poke/blow all the grit out (if you can buy replacement jets?) but otherwise you've now got a statue of a set of carbs........

[Kenzo]

Fabricating the under seat electrical tray and cutting off frame tabs. Don't worry my $700 bike was not a good candidate for a restore and that's not what I bought it for... :p

Cheers,
Kenzo

[Kenzo]

My goal is to relocate the electronics under the seat using the stock harness. Later I plan to rewire the bike.

Aluminium electrical tray cut from recycled street sign a hurricane got the best of...

...mounted flush to the rear cross member, 1" nylon spacers up front.

Test fit the stock harness and components. Battery below in aluminium bracket I fabricated and will hard wire(solder) in-line marine fuse holders.

Can't really tell from the pic but tray sits 1/8" below the frame tubes and only visible with eye level below the frame rails. Will undercoat it black and with the seat installed it will be all but invisible. Wingnuts will be replaced with nylocs.

[Kenzo]

It's mounted very firmly just by the head and doesn't need additional support IMO.

I wouldn't run it without a mid-pipe or end-pipe/muffler support bracket. Between the exhaust weight, cantilever effect and bouncing down the road that's way too much stress on the mounting flanges IMO.

Cheers,
Kenzo

[Desert-SOHC]

Went for a nice ride this morning to burn some fuel...went onto reserve and came home. Installed the Honda NOS petcock that I've been procrastinating on. Getting the old screen out was a PITA and it was dirty! Cleaned the tank out and now I have a valve that doesn't get fuel all over your hand when operated!

[madmtnmotors]

Getting the old screen out was a PITA and it was dirty!

LOL

Yep, the neglected screens can be difficult. Much easier when they get replaced once in a while! Every later model tank I've ever laid hands on looked like they still had the original filter.