Friday, January 18, 2008

While they had the head I decided to let them take care of the valve guide replacement as well. It’s a simple enough procedure, if you have the time the tools and the know-how. My wife wouldn’t appreciate me heating the head in the oven to attempt a valve guide removal. Drilling them out is another option I would prefer not to contemplate. It’s great to have experts do what the experts should do. Just like the wheels. I could buy or make a truing stand. Polish the hubs, rims, and spokes. Attempt to correctly gauge the offset on the rear hub, string and tighten all the spokes. True the wheels round and eliminate the side to side wobble. Take them down to Joe Monkey bike shop. Entrust them to some 17 year old ham fisted tire changer on his third day of a Meth binge. A guy whose entire tire changing training involved him watching “insert mechanics name here,” do it once on a dirt bike. If he actually gets the tires on without ruining the rims, I still stand the risk of improper tire balancing to correct for flaws in mounting technique. I would rather have the experts do it thanks.


I have been continuing the work on my primary cover as well. I am trying to get to a show polish on the inner and outer covers. The front was already polished fairly well. The back side however was in need of some serious attention. The casting was very rough. It was a sand casting, not a finished cover. Polishing something so rough can be a challenge. The first step is 60 grit sandpaper. All done by hand. No machine sanders here. I started with the 60 grit and worked my up to 1500. I began by eliminating the large pores in the casting surface. You can start with 60 to 80 grit for material removal. Don’t get too aggressive. I used a hard rubber sanding block to help keep the plane of the surface. After using the coarse paper to remove the gross irregularities, steadily increase the grit count with successive passes. I used 60-80-200-400-1000-1500 Between 400 and 1000 I used my buffing wheel to bring the piece up to a rough shine. The scratches left by the sanding are much more visible in the reflective surface. If you highlight them by shining the piece, you can much more easily narrow your sanding to the remaining rough spots.


The hubs, rims, and gearbox cover will be polished by CNW during their upgrades/modifications. The fork tubes, timing cover, primary cover, fenders, and all other parts will be done here at my shop. I enjoy the polishing. It can be tedious but the results speak for themselves.

I need to prepare the gearbox for shipment. If I miss the window I may end up waiting months for my rebuild. CNW likes to set up a whole group of gearbox rebuilds to do at one time, assembly line style. It allows for better quality control and much improved time economy.

I am also planning to have CNW do a swing arm needle bearing conversion, MKIII isolastic conversion, and powder coating of the rear end. They use all stainless end caps and hardware. I know how to do it, but I don’t have the time.

My oil tank should be here any time. I thought it was going to arrive the same time as the head but it has not made it yet. I have also been toying with the idea of changing the electrics over to negative ground. With the high powered coil I am planning on the spark should not be an issue. I need to figure it out before I start buying parts though. My main motivation for doing this is to allow the use of a particular LED tail light that is not available in positive earth.


3-1-07

The oil tank upgrade from CNW arrived today. It looks great. The modifications are subtle and appear to be very well done. Still need to send that gear box in. I’ll find time this weekend to make sure it goes out in time.

6-3-07

I have been slacking. The project has not come very far in the last three months. I have acquired some cool new goodies for the bike though. The wheels have arrived from Buchanan’s, Via CNW. They look incredible. The bearing machining and hub polishing have made the transformation of the wheels complete. I opted for the best of everything. The hubs were show polished. The rims are show polished. The stainless spokes are polished. I went with the heavy gauge spokes. They just look a little beefier. The rear rim was reduced from the standard 19” to an 18” which is also slightly wider than stock. The 18” rim size allows for many more options when it comes to buying tires. I had Buchanan’s mount the tires as well. It seems like a shame to let someone else brutalize my wheels.

I have also ordered 90% of the remaining stainless hardware, silicone gaskets for the rocker covers, new axle, spacers, etc.

My latest find was a complete Dunstall 2-1-2 exhaust system with Decibel silencers. It is in used condition, with quite a few imperfections. The majority of it will be hidden when the system is mounted. To have a cool period accessory is worth the condition issues. I can always replace the mufflers with better Dunstalls if I need to. The pipes look pretty good. They are very well made and feel quite heavy. The welds are beefy and do not appear to have any issues.
Having the new exhaust system is going to require some modifications to the center stand unless I can find a Dunstall stand. The new exhaust route eliminates the possibility of using the stock center stand. I would just use the side stand but I fear the damage caused to the isolastics if I leave it parked on the side stand all the time. It is much better to raise the bike up on the center stand which takes the weight off the rubber. Never did send that gear box off to CNW. I guess it will have to wait.

My next step is going to be a trip to the powder coater. I have found a local shop that seems to do great work. I need to find someone that will let me do the hardware blanking after they clean it and before they powder coat it. I purchased a complete blanking kit from Old Britt’s. The kit allows you to blank off all the areas which need to be free of powder. I debated buying the stuff locally. They do provide a full list on their website. But for the same money it was much easier to have them assemble the kit.

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