Got a whole bunch of pictures to sort out & upload too.
The weekend was slightly marred by the return of the BUELL!! Oh No! It hasn't found itself a new owner yet and the guy who was looking after it for me at his workshop while trying to sell it is moving workshops so needed to get shot of it for a while. So it's come home. I have to say, it does make a nice noise with the "race" pipe on it and it does pull like a TRAIN, but overall I'd prefer three grand in my pocket than that bike cluttering up the garage. The alarm tends to go off whenever I try to get tools out of the toolbox now. Grrr! Anyone want a Buell?? It's lovely, really, just I've fallen out of love with it is all.
I spent quite a lot of the weekend at a proper old-fashioned May Festival in a local village (middle-england, me? Well, OK, if you insist...). With proper maypole dancing and morris men and barbequeues and all the local organisations - cubs, scouts, brownies, guides, children's playgroups, WI, etc etc etc having stalls on the village green. It was lovely in the sunshine I have to say, and I spent more time there than I really intended to so I didn't perhaps get as much done on this project as might have been possible. But then I do have a life outside of the project!!
Anyway, work completed this weekend. Almost got the entire frame stripped down! After all the faffing about over the last couple of weekends' work not really getting anywhere, suddenly it all came together. Got the engine out - aren't the 125 motors DINKY!! Sat it next to a 250 bottom end on the floor and it's about half the size! We still think the frames MAY be interchangeable, as the mounting points are in different places on the heads, but I'm not really sure. We'll see when I've got a big frame stripped down. I think the spine, from the stand up to the join where it meets the main tank spar, is narrower.
Innit dinky!
So, the frame with the engine out. Finally! I was beginning to wonder if I'd ever get this far. But as Justin keeps pointing out, I'm doing a restoration project (which I haven't done before and am learning all the time) - which is a different prospect entirely to dropping an engine to fix a given problem. Everything I'm taking off has to be identified, tagged, given a light smear of oil to stop it corroding while it's off the bike, bagged up in groups by component and stored away. That's something to add to the "to do" list actually, when I finish dismantling this frame I must sort out the storage before I start the next bike. It's a bit boring, but currently everything is just thrown into a couple of collapsible crates. I really must get one crate for 125 stuff separately, and clear one out for the next bike.Clutch actuator...
I gave up on getting the clutch actuator out of the generator cover. If anyone can give me a hint on how this might be accomplished I'd be grateful - Justin had a look and we came to the conclusion it's something you're not really supposed to be able to do, so we left it. If I need to get it out to re-paint the cover or anything, I'll revisit the problem later on. Things like that can completely stop me in my tracks unless I consciously put them aside and make a note to work on them later. Here's a couple of pictures of the offending item, inside and outside, just in case anyone kind drops by who knows how to do this! I've got the clutch cable and spring off of the lever on the inside, but have
n't managed to get the lever off the worm drive.The brake caliper still hasn't bled through. I'm giving it one more chance as it's not in the way, but if it hasn't sorted itself out by next weekend I'm going to have to get the pliers onto it, as I'll want it out of the way when I've finished dismantling this bike so I can have a fresh start and a tidy workbench for the next one.
Once I got the engine dropped out, everything seemed to click into place, and I spent most of Monday afternoon happily stripping things down, tagging and bagging. The only component that gave serious trouble was the rear mudguard! The bolts have obviously never been undone (who would? For what reason?) in the life of the bike and were corroded to lumps of pure rust I think. The bolts at the side of the joint halfway along the mudguard were fun. One broke, leaving half the bolt in the nut (not that I mind, all the bolts are getting replaced anyway), and the other one first stripped its cross-point head so I dremelled a straight-across for a big b*stard screwdriver for some grip. That also stripped! So I ended up, as I had the dremel out, cutting the bolt in half. I've wrecked the hole in the mudguard doing this though so will have to do something about that if I want to use it later. Sometimes I love the dremel a bit too much - and forget to take into account the amount of heat it generates. The forward part of the mudguard is still attached to the bike as I'm letting the WD40 work its magic. Will have to try to get into the garage for 30 seconds a couple of times in the week to reapply it. And I might end up cutting this bolt too...
Another slight problem I have come across is getting the pillion pegs disassembled. Here's a picture of the problem. Only one peg was affected as the other one has obviously suffered in a spill at some time - it was fairly squashed and the strange through-peg had been replaced by a normal nut and bolt. If anyone can suggest a way to get this arrangement undone and the peg off the mounting, again, I'll be grateful! I've gotten the whole assembly off the bike as the retaining bolt is captive in the mounting there. Sometimes getting things off the bike isn't the best plan though - being attached to something solid can be an advantage if leverage is to be applied. I get the feeling though, that intelligence is the key here, not brute force. There's nothing to apply brute force to, anyway!
So, this is where I left the project at about 8pm last night. The rear wheel spindle & peripherals need tagging and bagging, and as you can see I've got that forward half of the rear mudguard to remove and the forks & front wheel to sort out. I'm intending to strip the forks down as I expect the fork oil will be seriously manky. That front disc is one of the better ones in my collection though, so that'll have to come off - I hope it'll go onto a later cast wheel - it looks the same from here... So, nearly there - one maybe two weekend's more work, depending on how much time I put in and if there are any problems...L8r!
One thing just occurs - what is that strange rubber snorkel for, that goes up the big frame spine from just in front of the airbox almost up to the steering head? I can't fathom any purpose for that at all!
