Clubman style handlebars installed. I was ordering replacement cables, filters etc and this handlebar was just what I needed to get free shipping on the order. Essentially adding it to the cart resulted in free new handlebars. I’m thinking about firing up the CNC machine and making clamp ons for the forks for this bike but for now this is pretty good. I like the way the bars are pushed forward about 4 inches. I don’t like the downward sweep of the bars though. They would be better if it was about half the current angle. I also have some concerns with the front brake master cylinder sucking air if I’m not careful with this set up.
Along with the new bars, I installed the new push pull throttle cables. The rebuilt carbs were also reinstalled. My plan is to fire her up on a lil mini zacbuilt fuel tank to change the oil out post warm up and possibly ride her on the driveway a bit.
I started in tearing down the front end tonight. I’ve got a fairly firm plan as to what I will do going forward. The good news is the brake caliper is good and does not need to be rebuilt. Bad news is the MC needs to be replaced completely. I knew about having to do one thing or another to the front brake set up on this bike before I went to look at it so I am not surprised. I’m toying with clamp on on bars vs clubman style handlebars. Needs a bit more thought.
I went through, tore the parts down as needed and cleaned out the varnished fuel, freed up the floats and generally gave them a light buffing. I’m not going to polish them at this time because I might black out some or all of the carb bodies. The carbs are ready to go back on the bike for some test riding around the yard in the near future.
The Brake caliper in the left pic looks and functions well. Bonus on not having to rebuild that. I will clean it up a good bit and grease the pins prior to putting it back on the bike. The Right pic shows the handlebar mount. I’m not certain what I will do here. I suspect I may fire up the cnc machine and make a new top clamp piece eliminating the fuse housing to streamline the front of the bike. The bike is wired with ridiculously fat wire throughout. As part of the build I plan on addressing the excessive wiring somewhat. I’d like to have only one small gauge in a bullet style headlight pod if possible. Maybe have a small digital unit as well. I will make a small LED based indicator board for directional indicators, high/low/headlamp lights, etc. I’d like to have nothing but I want this bike to be easy to ride on the street with some rider conveniences.
After the first evening of working on this project I’ve got the back half of the bike somewhat torn apart. I’ve got a solid plan as to where the electronic components will go up under the seat pan. I’ve been looking at tail lights and I believe I’ve found one I like enough to “settle on” for now. It’s an all in one LED unit with a license plate mount and led plate lights.
The red line in the above photos shows where I plan to cut off the rear seat frame. I plan to fabricate a new seat mount to weld in place before I make the cut and finish off the end of the upper frame. The more I toy with the design in my mind the more I feel like I will either scallop the fuel tank at the back, or possibly fabricate a new tank entirely.
In other exciting news, I got the ugly factory air box off. The carbs weren’t drained when she was stored and the fuel varnished inside. They are coming out and apart. How much of a rebuild I do will be determined after I tear into them and investigate their condition. The right hand carb has the float stuck down and the fuel comes out at a good clip when she runs.
Sharing some of my projects and what I've learned along the way
