Investigation Results

Investigation has resulted in a requirement to think outside the box. Discovered an Ebay seller that makes appliques for earlier models of my bike but will not work on mine due to the lighting of the gauges. Older models had amdient lighting mine are lit from behind. I have come up with an alternate plan that I think will work. I am going to get stickers made that allow the light to shine through. But the only hitch in my plan is I will have to sand off the original design on the face. Wish me luck, sanding off evenly will be a challenge.

Current design











Tentative design of new gauges












Heaven help me if I ever want to sell my bike!

Speedometer

Tuesday Nov 18


Work starts on one many of the small projects within the much larger project. I bring the speedometer home it is in sad shape. The numbers on the odometer dont line up and the glass is seriously discolored. The chrome is in serious need of a polish and the underside needs a fresh coat of paint. I start taking it apart and discover that someone has cut the case open in a meager attempt to fix the gas gauge, it didn't work. They duct taped it back together, Mark suggest that I can put it back together better with epoxy. I would really like to change the gauges from black to white but that is going to need further investigation.

The Start of the Journey

Sunday Nov 16th
Time to start work on the bike. Mark and I have a day off together so we headed down to Glenn's to work on the bike, but first we had to clean up the shop. I made a rack to hang up the tires on the wall and we cleaned off the workbench.

Mark and I finally get to work on the bike.

We decide to start with the easy stuff the windshield goes first then the mirrors, cause they always get in the way. Next we tackle the saddlebags and the seat, those are easy I've taken those off may times. The sidecovers and gastank come off without any trouble, I had those off a month before due to a leak in the gastank. Next is the engine guard, no issues there I put them on myself. Now we start getting into the more difficult stuff and we start to slow down, at this point I am thinking I should have brought my camera but at least Mark has his phone with camera in it. The headlight comes off Ok but the wiring inside puts up a fight. But Mark and I wrangle it apart meanwhile he tells me that it will be Ok putting it back together because the wires are color coded and the clips can only go back together one way, I sure hope he's right.

We tackle the speedometer next, that was easy in comparisson. The horn and fork emblem come off with no effort at all.

That's pretty much all the easy stuff from the front end so we start working from the back. The rear section comes off in one piece I had that off once before when I took the sissy bar off and tried to clean the grab bars. the two inner fender pieces came off relatively easy.

Then it was a fight to get the battery and battery box out, one of the connectors was practically fused together, Mark thinks maybe something over heated and the rectifier couldn't handle it because the battery is almost dry. Going to have to get a new rectifier and battery.

The most difficult task was the removal of the carbs, we had to disengage the throttle and the choke cables and they didn't want to let go. There sure isn't much room to get the fingers inbetween the engine and the carbs. But we managed finally.

The last thing we did was remove the air box which was a breeze in comparison, and at this point I am thinking it isn't going back on I am seriously considering four individual air filters instead.

All in all a good start!

Glenn calls tonight and I answer the phone, he jokingly says to me "Someone broke into my garage and raped your bike, haha

Big Plans

Sunday Nov 2nd my bike went away for the winter. I have big plans for her. I am planning on stripping her down to the frame, cleaning, repairing and painting parts as I go. The frame will be painted and then everything will be put back on good as new. With all those extra touches that will make it mine!