what did you wrench on today??

[rustybronco]

Put in a new float in the generator I just bought. I didn't want to take a chance of having the carb flood if my repair on the old one ever let go. For five bucks shipped it was worth it to me. I also added an inline fuel shut off and changed the fuel contaminated oil in it to Mobil 1 10w30 synthetic.

I started cleaning up Stan's GS1100GK's exhaust so I could re-hang it tomorrow. With nothing more than a rag, Ford bright metal cleaner applied with the pressure of two fingers she cleaned up extremely well. It did have a small amount of rust where the inner pipe y's off from the main pipe, which I painted over with silver paint, a slight amount of rust on the head pipe from being under the fairing and the usual scuffing from peoples shoes. But it's as solid as a rock. Not in too bad a condition for being almost thirty years old.












Oh yes, the trailers painted black and all wired up as well. Still need to install a new floor.
One thing at a time...

[pete]

They both look good Dale... exhaust and trailer

I cleaned out under the sprocket cover yesterday (ugh) then put it back together, degreased the motor, and took it for a short test ride 'round the long block.

Too soon to tell for sure but no oil anywhere I can see and the tensioner seems to be doing it's job and is in one piece.

I'll know in a couple of weeks I reckon if the synthetic is better than the dyno diesel oil.

[rustybronco]

I cleaned out under the sprocket cover yesterday (ugh) then put it back together, degreased the motor, and took it for a short test ride 'round the long block.

Too soon to tell for sure but no oil anywhere I can see and the tensioner seems to be doing it's job and is in one piece.

I'll know in a couple of weeks I reckon if the synthetic is better than the dyno diesel oil.

I think you'll find that you like the synthetic oil, as long as your gaskets are in good condition that is. My 850 is starting to drip from the oil pan gasket since using synthetic.


I cleaned up the right side exhaust system this afternoon. It wasn't in as good of a condition as the left side.

The heat shield had two ears broken off. I sure couldn't leave it like that. I clamped it up as best as I could, cleaned off the rust, fired up the old stick welder and set it to 50~55 amps. It came out fairly well considering I was using 3/32" rod. I'll need to pick up some 1/16" the next time I'm at the welding supply for the really thin stuff like this.

Pictures...






They cleaned up well enough....










Pipes 2 and 3 will have to be tomorrows project. The legs are telling me I need to quit for the day.

[pete]

Nice work Dale, cleaned up very nicely indeed!

The telltale sign for my weep has been a drip of oil on the bottom cam chain tensioner bolt after a degrease and a test ride... so far after the test ride yesterday then commute to and from work today all is still dry. I may have had success!

Much thanks to BWringer and his excellent guide of course

Here's the condition of the O rings and oil seal that came out:



And afterwards, nice and clean:



This is the oil I've used this time around:



Tonight I continued tackling the horn repair... I think now I know how it works, so time to work out why it doesn't work... will update the horn thread shortly.

[Toasty]

I had to solder some wires and epoxy my turn signal back together at work. I low sided making a sharp u-turn getting gas this morning. I hit some crap in the road, tucked the front wheel on the XT and slid a few feet.

[Meriban]

What a drag Toasty, and I am not speaking literally. Sorry to hear that you went down...At least you are ok.

[chuck hahn]

Full tear down and rebuilds on the brake calipers and master cylinders on 2 different 750s..gotta order seals and other stuff so I can finish up the work.

Onward and upward..

[Toasty]

What a drag Toasty, and I am not speaking literally. Sorry to hear that you went down...At least you are ok.

Yea, luckily the bike took it pretty well. I'm just glad I was wearing over pants and knee armor, otherwise I would be tending to a busted up knee!

[pete]

I think you'll find that you like the synthetic oil, as long as your gaskets are in good condition that is. My 850 is starting to drip from the oil pan gasket since using synthetic.

Well you're right Dale... on both accounts!

I put about 220km's on her yesterday and the engine feels a lot smoother and gear changes are definitely better. I'm pretty sure that's due to the synthetic rather than just having fresh oil.

However, it appears to have developed a head gasket leak

I'll try torquing the head bolts down a touch more this week to see if it goes away, but I suspect next service will involve pulling the head...

[rustybronco]

Was the gasket leaking before you changed the oil? If it did, crank those bolts down and ride it!

[pete]

I didn't think it was Dale, but honestly I'm not 100% sure now... with the weather we had earlier this year (constant rain/wet) I hadn't washed it properly for a while and the cam chain tensioner leak was making a big mess... so I was focusing on that rather than the head... this is from the front right underneath the exhaust port by the looks.

Could be a new leak and it wouldn't surprise me as the head gasket is one of those dodgy Athena pieces of crap, I only got OEM base gasket.

Will give the bolts a torque and see what happens...

[rustybronco]

I had a leaking base gasket on my old '82. Cranked down all the bolts and it stopped the leak.


I finally got to hanging the exhaust on Stan's GK.

The more I look at it, it really is a nice old bike. Not very much rust and what little it does have will clean up easily.

[pete]

I'll give 'em a crank and keep my fingers crossed Dale... as for Stan's bike, looking good! I'm guessing he's going to be very keen to get his hands on that and get riding again finally...

[rustybronco]

Yes he 'will' be glad to finally get his hands on it. The plan so far is for him to ride it over to Oshkosh Wisconsin next year for the EAA fly in. After that, we'll see about getting it back to South Africa when the funds are available. So many things pulling at the purse strings at the moment. There is still Jennifer to get after come spring.

We'll get it, don't you worry none...

[pete]

Good stuff Dale, glad to see there's a plan in action!

And speaking of plans and action... took some time today to pop the valve cover off again, gave all the head bolts a tweak... could only really move a couple of them and the front upside down one.

Valve cover back on, degrease and rinse off and see if that makes any improvement to the head gasket weep.

On the plus side, checking the dipstick today revealed the weep hasn't even registered on the oil level...