March 7, 2012

I know this sounds like a broken record, but it really has been a long time since I worked on the bike. But I am determined to get the bike running and legal before the summer.

In October 2011 I put some oil in the engine and cranked it a bit to keep things lubricated. I'd hate to try and start the bike and find that I left it too long.

But this month I'm finally taking action. I've started fabricating brackets to hold the speedometer in place and they will work great. I still need to paint them, but they're ready for that. I'm buying proper replacement screws and nuts for various things as I get to them. This week I've ordered some tail lights off of Ebay and today went to Allen's Cycle and rummaged around to find a blinker/lights/horn switch for the left side of the handlebar and a kill switch for the right side. I've cleaned them up and will get them painted too. The tail light is a bit of a problem because I can't find an original one or something even close. I may have to buy an aftermarket one just to get it legal, then keep looking for an original one later. I'll have to fabricate a license plate holder too.

My immediate goal is to get the electrical components that I need so I can get things connected to the wiring harness. This means that I need to get the new handlebar and also get the headlight & fairing on the bike. I found the lower bracket for the fairing at Allen's, but I ran out of time getting it off the junker bike. I'll go back tomorrow.

It feels good to actually be doing something on the bike now!

March 11, 2012

The rear blinkers came in on Friday, so the only thing left lights-wise is the tail light which will be a bugger to get. I went back to Allen's on Thursday to pick up a bracket I found for the bottom of the little fairing/headlight housing. I spotted it while looking for the controls I bought. So that's one less thing I have to try and fabricate.

Today I worked up a couple of brakets to hold the upper part of the fairing/headlight housing. Those of you with real skills with metal would scoff and what I've made, but it will be functional and when painted black, hidden from sight. You can see them in the picture on the lower right. I put the front fender on because the lower fairing bracket fits in between the fender and lower fork bridge. I need to buy a new set of handlebars because as you can see in some of the pictures, the old ones are bent. Fortunately they're not very expensive.

March 24, 2012

Well, I have ordered most of the new cables I need and new brake shoes and they came in this week. I got the carburetor crankcase ventalation installed also. Today I picked up an aftermarket rear fender because the one I bought for it would not fit. In the end, I think this will be a much better fit. I've started to cut it so that it fits like it should. So things are moving right along.

Which is usually when something wrong happens. I've been wanting to get the motor running and so have been moving that direction. Today I wanted to get the header and muffler installed. That's where I ran into a problem that my brother Dave helped me figure out. No matter how I tried, it didn't seem like the header would fit correctly. So today I took the old cylinder head and placed the copper washer and header end against it to take a look. That when I discovered that the head that I had installed in the motor is not exactly the same. The diameter of where the header goes is slightly smaller than my header. Even though I was told I was buying a cylinder head for a 1982 XL250R, it is not exactly the same. Possibly a different year, or model. In any case, now I've got a problem. I've got a good motor, but the wrong header. So I will have to see if I can find a header that will fit the motor and the bike, OR have the existing header modified to fit the motor. This definitely throws a wrench in the works.