Idiot v. Motorbikes, Rounds 3, 4, and 5

[melville]

Edgar was nice and dry after that fix for about 500 miles but started marking his spot again this week. I was suspicious of the other galley plug, which is accessed from the side. But the frame is in the way, so there was a bit of this going on:



Pulled it, cleaned it, and put it back in with sealant:



Then I set about checking everything else. It was only moist on the left side, so I cleaned up everything, used my pushrod tube seal seating punch (which may not be a thing on a 1978 model like the earlier bikes), and checked the torque on all the sump bolts. As it turns out, they were a bit slack. More than half of them moved significantly at 78 in/lbs (min torque spec per Haynes) so I went around the pan a few times and ended up at 96 in/lbs.

Anyway, all back together and I went out for a wee test bimble. There's still some weeping action at the left rear corner of the pan so I will revisit the torque and maybe add some thread sealer on that bolt.

[SteveD]

Duane always advised care with torquing those bolts. Maybe just add some sealer, torqued to spec which would end up being a tad higher anyhow. Judicious...

[melville]

Yeah, out for 30ish miles today after cleaning up the whole area and the neutral switch appears to be the culprit. PRT rubbers are dry, as are the OP switch and the galley plugs.

The motor oil I use is greenish and the oil I'm wiping up off the clean case is not greenish. That, and the terminals of the neutral switch are moist.

I'll be placing a modest parts order in the next week or so and now there will be a neutral switch included.

I do expect there will be a pillion fitting (gear and bike) in a couple days. Probably not a ride quite yet.

[melville]

Edgar has had an interesting transition from ON to RESERVE. I'm using angled taps that were not originally on this bike. They'd been on Ernst, my /6 with a big tank, and I'd get 180 to 200 miles on the right tap, another 20 on the left tap, another 25 on the right tap moved to RESERVE and I never quite ran the thing dry after going to RESERVE on the left tap.

On Edgar, with the big /7 tank, I'd get 180 to 210 miles on the right tap and then flipping the left tap to ON I'd get three miles at the most. Usually zero! Not a big deal, just means the low shared spot in the tank was still above the ON straws on the taps. What was an issue was going to reserve. Last year, coming home on Halloween over Siskiyou Summit I was on reserve going up the hill and things were fine but the bike sputtered out less than a mile after starting the 6% descent. I grabbed the clutch and coasted over 5 miles, drafting big rigs to keep my speed up. I pulled off at the first exit, coasted to a stop, and was about to call my son to come with a gas can when I tried the starter button and it just fired right up! I went to the first gas station, just a mile away, and it only took 5.1 gallons to fill the tank. The 6.7 or 6.8 gallon tank. I do a lot of riding in the mountains and it would be nice to be able to descend on reserve, accessing that last gallon and a half. That said, the behavior didn't repeat until a few weeks ago, where I was on reserve and the bike sputtered out going downhill, had a lean miss going across the flats, and had full power going uphill. I filled the tank and it was right around 5 gallons to fill again. So when I finally got that tank down to reserve this week it was time to check on things. Tank off:



Tap gauze out:



And there's the issue. Bits of liner and rust blocking the screen. I blew it out with cleaner and put things back together, but not before doing a couple small mods:



That's the right tap. In case that's still above the low saddle point I took a bit more off the straw on the left tap. Two full gallons of reserve is a bit much, I think.

I put it all back together and ran out to fill it with ethanol-free and we'll see what happens next time I flip to reserve.

[melville]

So today I invented an errand to get the trans oil good 'n' hot before I drained it. Back home, oil drained, and then I slid the rear mount stud most of the way through the frame and used an ugly carpenter demolition tool to pull the spacer out of the engine case to get access to the neutral switch. Success, and the neutral switch came right out.

The new one went in just fine. I sanded the ends of the spacer just to clean them up, round and round on a piece of 220 grit on a glass plate. Then the spacer went in the freezer while I refilled the gear oil and cleaned up the area. According to my dipstick thermometer, the oil (and presumably the engine case) were still at 150 deg F when I pulled the spacer out of the freezer and it went in just great with a few taps of the hammer.

Speaking of things in the freezer. I saw this in the freezer a couple months ago and thought it might be some exotic gourmet thing one of my kids brought home (they both did the culinary program in HS). Then I moved the bag and it went CLINK! Turns out they are Chevy freeze plugs, in training:



Anyway the bike went back together just fine but the ride to warm the oil showed that there's a charging issue. So more fun with electrickery coming soon. But it was kind enough to wait for the snow to come back to the high elevations yesterday so I'm likely to be a valley rider for a bit. I do need a charging system for the next round of Pillion Auditions. One could say, "She's a keeper" if she pushes for a bump start but I'd like to think I don't need that test to tell.

[melville]

Charging issues resolved quickly, once the part was on hand. The rotor had failed. So a few minutes with some Allen wrenches and the special rotor tool and it now buzzes the system with 13.5V at 3K rpm.

Before rotor replacement the battery read 11.98V and running it (after a s l o w start) showed 11.5V at the terminals.

Back to Pillion Auditions!

[melville]

Oh God, it's been a while! I've been picking at Elsa's wheels the past several months. First, there was repacking the bearings and setting the preload. I pressed the bearings back into the powdercoated wheels:



Then I built a fixture to hold an axle in my vise so I could check freeplay and preload:









There was some work measuring the various wedding rings I had on hand:





All of this to get the bearing preload Just So. And new axle seals and top hats all around.

Next up was prepping the brake discs. First, a good cleaning:



Then, some masking so I could get some details Just So:



A little paint:



To get to here:



Rolling out to get the slightly used Michelins mounted tomorrow:



Truthfully, all this so I can get Ernst's spoke wheels back from Elsa to get him going this summer.

[melville]

A short break for an Elvis (#5) update. A guy had an airbox clamshell and starter cover for sale and I pounced on it as Elvis was missing those pieces. Curiously, they actually matched up with my general aesthetic plan for Elvis. Anyway, I had an epic pickup at the post office today--all this stuff was there:



Say, Mel, what's in the box? Hmmmmmmm, let's see:



Unwrapped:



I would like to express my utter appreciation to the seller for the bonus bits as they are all things I'll be needing on the projects. Thank you.

Anyway, here's a quick offering up of the new bits:



So ends this short Elvis sojourn. Back to Elsa and Edgar as things happen.

[melville]

I have actually been riding a bit at night lately after taking up West Coast Swing dancing. Strictly commuting and keeping it to slab when available after dark because we have deer ALL OVER here. Like this one in my front yard:



He's getting all hopped up on my crabapples for the rut. I've seen him since this, the velvet is off the antlers and he looks pretty serious about reproducing.

So this is what Edgar casts forward with a stock H4 and the aux lights I added earlier in this thread:



In the daytime the aux lights add a LOT of visibility for the cagers and other road users. I actually had another rider find me at a gas stop to ask me about them after I'd passed him 20ish miles before. "Those things filled my mirrors!"

At night they are flooding the near space (even on high beam) but not penetrating for distant viewing for me. A friend just got his dream bike (Honda 750 twin cam), 40 years later, and he picked up one of these from El Amazon:



Yes, it comes with a pair of cotton gloves! They stretch nicely to fit my fat XXXL hands.

The bulb is H4 mount style and doesn't have a big heat sink sticking behind the reflector, which could cook the wires in a crowded /6 or /7 headlight shell. Here's how it looks next to an H4:



I will warn that today's installation is in an empty headlight shell on Edgar's Luftmeister fairing but I bought a couple more and will try them on Ernst (R75/6) and Elsa (R100RS) when the time comes. I don't expect a problem.

Here's what it looks like on low beam, by itself:



And here's high beam, with the aux lights:



The main headlamp finally looks like it's keeping up with the aux lights! I'll report back on the pattern it throws out in the wild as I think I'll be riding to dance this week.

[Ron Baker]

Mel, I was looking at your powercoated wheels. I am thinking of doing the same with my 79 RT snowflake wheels. Did do much prep work before sending them off to coated?