I bumped into my friend with the parts washer and ask if I could use it. He said yes but I would have to wait until he was back from Zurich at the weekend, flash bugger. We arranged to meet at lunch on Saturday. H came along too. H and my friend's wife have been buddies for a long time. We pitched at the appointed time and found lunch was to be Spag Bol and all the trimmings as well as nice spot of red wine. Very civilised. I was expecting was my usual Saturday lunch......a cheese sarny!
The ladies were "catching up", K had to make a phone call and I was left to play with the parts washer. I soon discovered that some of what I thought was ground in dirt, was in fact, black paint. I got the proper dirt off and set the carbs aside to dry off. I used K's big vice and tools to break the grip the set screws that held on the top cover. Job done. I cleaned and packed up and went back inside to finish off the wine.
The four of us got quite comfy as you do with old friends but both of us had appointment that evening with other friends. You will have to read my other blog to find out what the evening was about. It was not a boozy evening so I was up at my usual time. It had been frosty when we left the venue but then it blew a gale all night and rained so no allotmenting today [Sunday].
Never mind I will just have to fettle the carbs. I got some mini wire brushes that fit in the cordless drill. I send about cleaning the paint and tough dirt off the carb bodies. It worked really well and it polished them too. I took off the carbs top to find that the slides were stuck in the throttle bodies. Lots of WD40 and progressively less gentle tapping later the slides came free. I took them out and cleaned up the inner face of the throttle bodies which were gummed up with petrol residue. It took some careful cleaning to get rid of the residue. A carburettor is engineered to fine tolerances so one has not to be too heavy handed. Eventually both carbs were cleaned, inside and out, and reassembled. I thought I will just see if I have all the parts to mount the carbs. There are five jubilee clips, two rubber bushes and an air duct for each side. I found I had all the bit so I just cleaned everything up and offered the bits up to the bike for a trial fit. They fitted so well the parts are now fully fitted. So why not try the choke cables, that were fitted last week, to the carbs. Yep they fit. Another tick in the box.
H brought in a cup of tea. Whilst pondering what to do next I spotted the exhaust headed pipes. I offered them up and they just slipped on. I slotted in the balancer pipe and did up the nuts finger tight. I tried the silencers on but I did not have the brackets. I took the silencers off again and put them back in the store. I thought I would have another rummage in the parts box. I found the two tank mounting bushes which was an unexpected result. I could not find the nuts for the engine mounting bolts. The riders foot rest and the exhaust header brackets fit to the rear engine mounting bolts so the nuts do five jobs. Alas no nuts but I did find the silencer brackets and the rear mud guard brackets. They are filthy so I have to consider having them cleaned and power coated like the other stuff on the bike. I now have to find a powder coater locally. I also have to make a list of the bits to be powder coated.
I even had a toy with mounting the coils but stop before things got silly. I started making two lists. One for missing or replacement parts. Some bits are just too knackered to refit and a second list of bits for coating. Whilst looking round the bike I wondered if I had all the bits for the back brake linkage. I did and now it on the bike. The rear actuating arm needs moving round the splines but that is small job which I will do when I have the rear wheel off to do the bearings.
A lots of progress has been made with the mechanical elements but I am still short of the charging and ignition circuitry and without them the bike will never get a chance to start.
