My wife came to bed and promptly began snoring. That put a real damper on me getting some sleep! Anyway... to pass some time I thought I'd post an update.
Latest bit of fixes prior to scooting off to Texas for a business meeting:
My gas tank drain is leaking a little bit. I'll wait until I burn more fuel out in order to lower the lever so I can take the plug out. Then I'll hit it with a little sealer and fix that sucker.
New battery is in and working great. Thanks Whiskerfish for the help on the location of the negative cable. Cable goes from the battery, around below the rectifier and behind the frame to the top engine mount. I attached it between the top triangle bracket and the engine. The long bolt that holds the top of the engine to the triangle brackets goes through the connector on the cable. And a Shout-out to TomE who suggested using a star washer between the cable connector and the engine to ensure a good ground.
Found some more bolts! I have all 8 header bolts located and installed temporarily. I still need to paint the headers so they're coming back off here soon.
Found the lower triple-tree bolts that clamp down the fork tubes!
I think at this point I'm not missing anything important.
I think the new tach cable I bought is a little too long. That's not much of a problem because it's broken anyway!
The metal part that connects to the fuel pump and spins the cable came off. It's only crimped on and that didn't last long. I think that's because of the extra cable length it caused an extra bend where the cable attaches to the tach. That in turn caused stress on the cable and caused the end to pop off. Well, that's the theory. I'll throw the cable in the tack and turn it with my drill to ensure the tach isn't siezed up! That's my other theory.
Finally got the fan switch connector on. That rubber boot is a real pain! To aid in its installation I put a little oil on the inside of the rubber boot. That allowed it to finally slip over the switch. But, the bad news is that I think the switch is always on. I'll confirm that tomorrow morning once the engine cools down.
As for the neutral switch wire - I managed to get that on too. I began by taking a jeweler's screw driver and bending just the end. After that snapped I threw it out and started again. This time I heated the end until cherry red and then bent it! Now I have a very nice right-angled phillips screw driver for tiny screws! Note that you really have to keep the bend close to the end or else you won't have enough room to use it thanks to the engine bracket on the frame!
Side note - I don't think my neutral switch is working. I'll test the bulb when I return. But at this point it's not turning on. Anyone who is working on a bike should test that sucker prior to putting the engine back in!
I put the clutch cable back on. But the clutch lever will have to wait until I return on Friday.
Headlight bucket is going on Friday. That'll finish up the front end of the bike.
DOH! I just remembered I need to tighten the bolt at the top of the triple tree! Writing it here as a reminder! I think that's the last of the things to tighten up!
Heat Shield needs to be put on. I intended to drop the radiator out one more time for some clean-up and such. Shield will go on at that time. Sure would have been nice to have remembered it the first time! I was thinking of cutting it in 1/2 so I could install each half separately! Sure would make installation a lot simpler! Just split it down the middle. Then, put a bolt on each side and a metal bar across the cut to join the two halves. Add one at the top and one at the bottom of the shield and that's all it should need! But, since I'm dropping the radiator anyway.... I'll just slip it back in.
Still have to finish up the brakes. I'm "Procrastinating!" There's just something about brakes that really whigs me out. I need to just knuckle down and get them done! They're the last BIG piece of this whole project! Once I get the brakes done I can actually take this thing out on the road for a test spin!
Points look as though they need replaced.
Broke one of the tabs off the plastic nut that holds on the rear brake light switch. - Oh yeah, rear brake light is working too...
Final note... I pulled the radiator cap and then rev'ed the engine to see if the water pump was circulating the water. I believe it is. However, my temp gauge went all the way to the right. - pegged the meter on Hot. I'm going to pull the thermostat and re-confirm this is working correctly.
Well, off to find a sleeping pill so I can get some sleep too! It's now 2:25am!
Do you know what it's like to fall in the mud and get kicked, in the head, by an iron boot? Of course you don't--no one does--that never happens. - Capt. Rex Kramer
'78 Honda GL1000 GoldWing
'86 Honda CMX450C Rebel
