Yellow '76: Getting Some Sun

[Lucien Harpress]

Long time, no update. Somehow managed to catch me a touch of the plague, and while that gave a good chunk of free time, the weather decided to "cooperate" and hasn't gotten above 20 degrees for the past two weeks. Well, I managed to get outside today to at the very least get the intake runners cleaned up and pretty.



All that's really left to polish is the carb caps and front fork lowers, but the forks are pretty far out. I've got all the gaskets to replace and clean the carb rack, but I either need to figure out a way to do that inside, or wait until MAYBE above freezing.

Still, progress is progress.

[Lucien Harpress]

I've started diving into the nitty-gritty of the carb rack. The goal is to not get to concerned with cleaning them- Robin did a good job of going through them before I bought the bike, and so while I'm just going to check things like float height and general condition, I expect most of my effort will be outside, cosmetic cleaning.



From the one half of carbs I got off, it seems like most of my fuel staining came from the outside- I'm thinking the carb bowl gaskets. Either way, I've got new carb bowl gaskets and all the necessary carb-to-plenum o-rings. (Or D-rings, for the pedantic.)

I still need a decent-ish day to go to town outside with brake cleaner and compressed air to get the outsides looking nice, but we'll get there.

[Lucien Harpress]

Long time, no update. Apart from SUPER-minor details (tacking the o-rings on to the air cutoff valve so I don't have to mess with them every time I need to pull the carbs), I'm calling the carb rack done. For the most part things looked pretty good, and I think most of my fuel staining was from carb bowls that weren't quite tight enough. I did managed to have one of the carb slides fitted from the wrong year (a '78/'79), but Robin hooked me up.

Some brake parts cleaner, compressed air, and a bit of time on the buffing wheel, and these are nearly ready to go back on.

[robin1731]

Those tops look a lot nicer than they did yesterday.

[Lucien Harpress]

Yeah, they cleaned up a lot better than I was expecting. The cap for 3 was pretty pitted though, so that one I kinda did my best.

[Lucien Harpress]

It may only be 22 degrees outside, but that's warm enough to at least get the carbs in place.







I still want to wait to lock down any rubber connections (intake boots) until it gets warmer, but it's nice to be able to check one more thing off the list. I decided to tack the o-rings to the air cutoff valve with some gasket maker to not have to worry about losing them every time I want to pull the carbs (worst part), so we'll see how well it works. I'm kinda running out of stuff to do until the weather gets warmer- I'm getting a new airbox because my old one was nearly rusted through, but that will still need paint. Still, this is the best this bike has looked. Fingers crossed I can get it running just as good.

[Whiskerfish]

Very nice!

[desertrefugee]

It dang sure looks sweet. Good stuff.

[Lucien Harpress]

I snagged me a replacement airbox. Which seems kind of silly, because it's 99% hidden even when everything is opened up and you know what you're looking for. Thing is, while my original is perfectly serviceable, and even potentially repaintable, there's quite a bit of rust damage to it, especially to the floor of the box. And while I could sand, bondo and prime an airbox which, I remind you, is nearly invisible in the BEST of times, it was cheaper to just replace it.



I'll still have to paint it, but the starting base is much more solid, and I get a couple rubber gaskets that are probably inconsequential, but I was initially missing. Now I just have to wait for a day that's over 15 degrees....

I also ordered a replacement set of coils. Not because my current ones don't work, but because the wires for the left cylinders seem oddly short- like, if you move them wrong the caps come off the plugs. I'm not sure why, but a replacement set on eBay came up pretty cheaply, so I figure it won't hurt too much to try a swap job.

[Lucien Harpress]

Airbox has been cleaned, and painted.



And to illustrate how kinda pointless it was, this is the total view of what you see in the best of times:



I joke, of course. This airbox is much more solid than my original, and even if you can't see the paint job, it should still preserve the airbox against the elements. That said, the core of my 1000 (shelter, airbox, carbs, engine) is done. That back end should get buttoned up once the gas tank is painted, and while there IS some work needed up front (polished forks, cosmetic bits here and there), it ain't much.

Next up? Possibly getting the exhaust ceramic coated. Until then...

[Fred Camper]

Great progress and good timing with Spring on the way.

[Lucien Harpress]

Dropped some parts off at a place yesterday.

Yeah, it's a bit cryptic, but I'm hoping the results are going to be something special...

[desertrefugee]

Dropped some parts off at a place yesterday.

Yeah, it's a bit cryptic, but I'm hoping the results are going to be something special...

What a tease.

[Lucien Harpress]

Got some more fun stuff in the mail. Is it related to the fun stuff mentioned above? I hope to be able to tell you in a week or two.

[desertrefugee]

Exhaust gaskets. Hmm.