Information gathering

Finished polishing the other grab bar tonight.

Today was the day to go question the experts.

Carbs

Should I rebuild or not? Took them to Brien at The Bikesmith - he said I should go for it, it's not that hard. All I have to do is get a different Pilot Jet that will work with the new air filters that I am getting and make the bike run better - no popping & farting - better acceleration.

Purchased these today on Ebay. $52.96 /four

Cost here 14.99 each

Paint

Went to see Dave at Napa, he had so much information for me my head was spinning when I left. He had the perfect color of dark purple already mixed up as a mistint.

The Dark purple will be the wheels the frame and the base color for the decorative painting I am planning to do. I still have to decide on a color of purple for the main areas on the tank - fenders & side covers.

Purchased Primer for the bare metal areas and an air filter/regularor for my compressor so I can practice my airbrushing.

Also purchased some new handlebar grips cause the ones I have now aren't the right size.

These are for a Gold Wing so they should be nice and comfortable.

Purchased on Ebay $36.39

Polish Polish and Polish some more!

Another night of polishing this time it's the grab bars off of the rear fender. They were looking rather dull when I started.

The top one is the before and the bottom one is the after. The picture really doesn't do it justice!

I could only muster up the energy to do one because my hands are aching from all I've already done.

Working away

Still working on cleaning the carbs - working my poor little fingers to the bone - sanding - polishing - waxing parts that fit in the palm of my hand. Investigated the shop manual for the rebuild procedures for the carbs it doesn't seem quite as intimidating as first thought just finicky. Finishing the carbs is my first priority this week.

Decided to save a little money & just polish the chain guard, the side that you see cleaned & polished up pretty good.

Mark & I went to Courtenay today and went shopping at the Home Depot. Mark bought me an early Birthday gift - an HVLP (high volume low presure) paint gun and an impact driver so I don't have to borrow one from a friend - Yeah! We also stopped at the Hobby place in town and he bought me an airbrush kit with a how to book to go along with it. Isn't he just the sweetest! I am ready to get creative! Investigation of paint requirements is also on my list of things to do this week.

Hoping that my exhaust tips arrive by the end of this week so I can engineer a bracket to hold them. Also a new intermediate pipe to join them to the primary pipes. A friend of Marks has kindly offered his assistance in this endeavor.

Time to catch up

Since posting last I have cleaned the battery box, the pictures aren't very dramatic but I removed the rust and its almost ready to be painted. I will be getting a new rectifier so that wasn't cleaned ( the gray item on the side of the box ) It also needs a small weld repair on the opening for the battery to slide in you can see in the before picture it was being held together with zap straps.

AFTER

BEFORE

I also attempted to clean the chain guard, it will need to be re-chromed as the reverse side is pitted with rust and there are some serious scratches on the front.

I finally put my speedometer/tachometer back together with my new faces

BEFORE

AFTER

The only thing that I am a little concerned about is being able to read them at night, I'm not sure if the light will shine through enough. You can't really tell in the picture but the numbers are purple. It has Purple Goddess writin on the speedometer gauge and Vgirl on the tachometer. I had to paint the indicator red because I wouldn't have been able to see the old yucky white one against the clean bright white faces.

I will never be able to sell this bike, not that I would ever want to even when I get my Valkyrie this will be a nice bike to have just to ride around town.

Yesterday I received the rebuild kit for my carbs so I decided it was time to work on them.

I removed all the hoses and attempted to remove the caps to start disassembling them but I could only get two caps off. In order to get the other two caps off I will need to borrow a friends impact driver. But while I had the two caps off I decided to try a technique that I saw on Xtreme 4X4 - they used WD-40 and sandpaper to remove oxidation and then polish with Mothers polish. It worked really well it's a little hard on the fingers but it's worth it if I don't have to pay to get them powder coated which was my original intention. You can see in the picture that the two in the middle are the ones I have polished you can't see in the picture but you can see your reflection in them.

Cleaning Exhaust Flanges

While it was quiet at work today I had time to clean my exhaust flanges. Someone had painted them black and they are supposed to be silver according to the picture on my original sales brochure that Mark acquired for me on Ebay.




The first challenge was just to get them clean that took a soaking in oven cleaner for two hours. Then I tried to get the paint off with a Scotch Britte pad it wasn't working so a light bulb went off in my head "duh" I am in a paint store, paint remover would work better. Worked like a charm it did.

There was still some grime left over under the paint but that came off with the Scotch Britte and a little finger muscle. The remaining stains in the picture are rust marks which will have to be removed with a grinder of some sort.

Once completely clean I am planning on giving them a clear coat so they won't rust again and will be easier to keep clean.

Buying Frenzy

Been buying parts for my bike on Ebay.

Bought a newer right side cover, as mine was being held on with zap straps. It isn't the right color but that's OK cause I am painting everything anyways.

Also purchased some Screaming Eagle exhaust ends that are going to take some finagling to work but I have a plan. Even though Mark is unsure if it will work.

The sign shop also has some art work for me to look over, if I can ever find a time to go see them.

The store is really slow right now so I think Saturdays I will start bringing projects to work on, as the bosses are away.

Back to work again

First an update on the speedometer. The gauges are being reworked by a sign shop, I haven't heard anything from them in the last two weeks.

After a short hiatus from working on the bike due to conflicting schedules and sickness.

Today was the day to remove the exhaust pipes, they came off relatively easily because last week I sprayed the nuts with liquid wrench so that probably helped a whole lot. It was a dirty job but I had fun. They are not looking too good haven't decided if I want to get new ones or just clean up these, might just try and find new ends. I would really like it if I could also lower them to make more room for the saddlebags.

The next task was the handlebars because I keep hiting my head on them. First I had to remove the front brake lever and disconnect the clutch lever. Then it was easy, remove the cover of the fuse panel and undo the four bolts underneath.

The rear brake pedal, shifter and foot pegs came off with relative ease.

Also removed the nut in the oil pan so the engine will not have any oil in it when we have to remove it from the bike.

It was a short day of work because Mark had to get back to driving the bus. I brought a few things home to clean up over the next few days.