Spent some time in the "man-cave" - From Wreck to Restoration

[BassCliff]

Just one part of all that kinda bothers me:

You getting your legs painted to match the tank or what?



.

Groan!





Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[chef1366]

Did you miss my offer a few posts back Cliff?

[BassCliff]

Did you miss my offer a few posts back Cliff?

Hi Bill,

I have noted your generosity and I am most grateful. I'll be in touch. Isn't it going to be kind of cold coming over the Grapevine?




I just want to make sure that I'll be ready to use your talents to the utmost. Thank you!

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[Wallowgreen]

Hey Cliff,

Been watching this thread with interest. So glad you're so far along the road to recovery yourself, and Jessie is going to be great when she's all done. Not sure where you stand with all the remaining parts you need, maybe you already have them, but the offer is still open if you need it.

Keep up the good work mate.
Martin

[portdave]

Blue is the new You!!!!

Cliff,

Glad to see you making so much progress. If I can do anything to help give me a shout. I do have a friend with lots of parts....

David

[BassCliff]

Thanks Dave,

It's good to hear from you. I'll let you know.


Thank you for your indulgence,

Cliff

[BassCliff]

A small setback in the man room

Hi all,

I spent a few hours in the garage today after dropping off body parts at the painter's yesterday. He gave me a good price and will include the pinstriping and clear coat too.

I put the handlebar controls back on and connected all the cables to the speedo and tach...



Installed the "new" front master cylinder, brake switch, my throttle lock, etc...



I'll begin the filling/bleeding process after I rebuild the front calipers, probably tomorrow. I also had to re-crimp the connectors for my coil relay mod....



I guess they must've gotten shaken up during the crash, towing down from the mountain, or the trip in a friend's pickup over to my house. Anyway, a fresh crimp and it's good to go.

I had a little setback after that. A generous member had sent me his old 850 exhaust back a few months ago, just for the cost of shipping. I had left it in the box until today. Here's a picture of the right side...



As you can see, it's an exhaust from an "L" model. The right side fit just fine. The pre-muffler crossover was broken but that's OK because the one from my old exhaust is usable. The problem is on the left side. I'll have to remove the sidestand in order to bolt up the exhaust on the left. The "L" exhaust looks OK on my bike, but I don't want to lose the sidestand and I have no way of moving it.

So while I consider my options I'll just keep moving forward with the caliper rebuilds, carb intake boot/O-rings, searching for bushings for the rear shocks, etc. I can wait to bolt on the exhaust last, when I find one. I've got plenty of other stuff to do.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[chef1366]

Bummer Cliff on the exhaust
Do you happen to know the models and years that the exhaust will fit?

[Nessism]

Hey Cliff, you might want to have a really close look at that exhaust. Many times it seems like it won't fit but after you stuff it in there, it does. I put an L exhaust on my old 550E, so I've been down that road before. Let me know if you another pair of eyes.

[BassCliff]

Hi guys,

No, Bill, I don't know what other bikes this exhaust might fit. But it's a good idea to try a part number cross reference to see.

Ed, I will take another look at bolting this on. Maybe I'll just take off the side stand, fit the exhaust, then see if I can put the side stand back on. Thanks for the encouragement.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[Larry D]

The exhaust on my 750L doesn't quite fit right...close enough to be secure but, I lost the use of my sidestand. It doesn't bother me and I've become used to the centerstand. I got such a generous deal on the exhaust, I couldn't pass it up. And it looks pretty good too. IMHO.

I'll keep my eyes open for a nice original exhaust for you Cliff.

[BassCliff]

Progress Report

Hi,

Thank you for thinking of me Larry.

With Ed's encouragement, I took another look at bolting on the "L" exhaust. It turns out that the side stand was not in the way. It was the screwdriver that I use to lock the center stand.

Here's a shot after bolting on the exhaust, rear fender, and tail light assembly.



Now let me tell you what I came up with for shock bushings for my new (cheap) set of MDI shocks. I found these rubber shock bushings at a local AutoZone.



I didn't use the larger one but the two smaller ones worked out pretty good. You can also buy just the two smaller ones in a package at NAPA Auto Parts, but my local store had only one (2 pieces) and I needed two. Here is what they look like on the shock mount stud...



I thought pressing them into the shock eye first would be easier. Because I didn't want to subject the new rubber to petroleum products right away, I used some non-stick cooking spray (canola oil) and it worked like a charm. They could probably use some trimming, but they were a nice size...



And once I squirted them with canola oil, they pressed into the eye pretty easily by hand...



Here's what the old bushings looked like....



Then I got out my high-tech tire lift (three 2x4's nailed together with a board of plywood) to mount the shocks...



If I need to remove the axle I can just keep sliding the boards under the tire and raise it above the exhaust...



Unfortunately, the bushings would not slide onto the shock studs once they were pressed into the eyes. So I got out my 3/8" drill and widened the holes a little bit. I'm thinking that next time I'll find/fabricate some steel sleeves with 12mm ID/14mm OD to press into these bushings, like the original ones. I have yet to find any off the shelf parts that work very well.

That's 10 pictures...to be continued.

[rapidray]

Lookin' good Cliff! Progress is a great thing, isn't it?! Ray.

[BassCliff]

Hi,

Once I got the holes just wide enough and pressed the shocks on the lower mounts, I lowered my high-tech tire lift to line up the upper shock mounts, sprayed more canola oil, and shoved them on...



I had to check the parts fiche to make sure I had all the washers in the right place, then I buttoned them down...




Once that was done I just had to take her off the center stand, straddle her, and roll her back and forth a little. I might have to trim some of the extra rubber from the bushings, but I think they'll do for a while.

After that I put the battery back in (it needs to finish trickle charging) to check the electrics. Everything worked; headlight, tail/brake light, blinkers, instrument lights. I was jazzed!

All that's left is to get the body parts back from the paint shop, rebuild the front calipers, reinstall them, put fluid in the front brakes,etc. I'm getting very close to riding again. (We'll see how well the carbs do since it's been sitting for so long. But it did have a healthy dose of Sea Foam in the gas.)

Thanks again to everyone who has donated parts, labor, experience, insight, prayers, etc. I'll be sure to take pictures and video of my first ride on the "renewed" Jessie.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[BassCliff]

Lookin' good Cliff! Progress is a great thing, isn't it?! Ray.

Thanks Ray,

I just hope I don't have to take the exhaust off again. I'm reusing all of the exhaust gaskets. I hope I don't have any leaks. But at least next time it will go more quickly and easily.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff