MAKING A TRIKE

[Roady]

Looking like an awesome project, so glad it's you and not me. But I will be sitting over here in the corner with a cold one and a bag of popcorn.

If you have an outdoor grill, plunk the whole set into a big pot full of boiling distilled water for 10 or 15 minutes. Most of the crud and stuck things will come free of the outside.

[transitman]

sounds cheaper than soaking it in 4 gallons of DERV at around £7 a gallon - and a lot nicer, good idea, thanks. Not sure where I get industrial quantities of distilled water but shall find out in the morning

Nice to have the support of you people, this is a good forum.

[gltriker]

I'm watching, too!

[Roady]

I get my distilled water at Walmart (don't know your equivalent) for around 80¢ a gallon.

[duke182]

subscribed

[transitman]

post no 4, given up trying to get the thing to run, so carbs are soaking in diesel with an electric jigsaw bolted to the bin to agitate the diesel. working well so far, will give it maybe a whole week of that, then have another try to free the float pins.
Back to the bike, drained the oil, took off the head covers, and disconnected everything to take the engine out.

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Working on my own so having to take a bit of extra care, and use the hoist as much as possible.

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Gently does it! Car jack and hoist doing their stuff.

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and there it is, gently on the floor.

May not post for a while now, got to play at being Grandad again for a couple of weeks.

[transitman]

Managing one more post before we go on holiday for 3 weeks.
A few little things, some puzzles.

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here we are ready to work, hasn't seen the light of day for some time.

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Here's a puzzle - can you make out the polished witness marks on the side of the fuel pump lever?
Looks to me like it's been assembled off the cam somehow.
And here's something really grim, took the rear brake master off and prized back the cover - full of rust! Must have leaked brake fluid and corroded away. Many years ago. Might have to do some work on this before I put it back.

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And look at the state of this, everything that can rust has.

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You may have noticed the 11/16th socket hammered onto the oil drain. Some gorilla had done it up really tight with say, a stilson or maybe a chainsaw. Anyway, only way off was to hammer on a socket and drive it off.

And my second puzzle is the what I presume is the water pump next to it. (really must read that manual) Took the hose off and started to loosen the bolts but the top one moved a turn and then tightened up hard on me. If anybody has some history here I would be grateful. I've left it for now, see if someone can advise.

And the really sharp eyed may have noticed another socket on the back top engine through bolt, was using this as a spacer to maintain an earth on the other end, where the thread was damaged, whilst I was trying to get it started.

Post you a picture of the carbs soon, the jigsaw vibrating diesel tank is working well, the sticking floats are now free. Another week and hopefully the float pins will be also.

[sgwilly]

That's a heck of a jigsaw if it runs a full week.

[robin1731]

Managing one more post before we go on holiday for 3 weeks.
A few little things, some puzzles.

And here's something really grim, took the rear brake master off and prized back the cover - full of rust! Must have leaked brake fluid and corroded away. Many years ago. Might have to do some work on this before I put it back.

What probably happened was the rubber boot that was designed to keep water out may have let water in and not back out. That seems to happen a lot.

And my second puzzle is the what I presume is the water pump next to it. (really must read that manual) Took the hose off and started to loosen the bolts but the top one moved a turn and then tightened up hard on me. If anybody has some history here I would be grateful. I've left it for now, see if someone can advise.

Be very careful with that bolt. Try turning it back in and work it back and forth slowly. You might try shooting some penetrant in there to help it. You may or may not actually get some in on the threads. Then after you get that bolt out clean the hole threads. Run a tap in the hole with some WD-40 or maybe just plain oil. You may think about getting a different bolt too and throw the old one away if it had that much corrosion on it.

[transitman]

ok, I will take care! Thanks for the warning

[transitman]

whoops, made 2 posts of the same stuff.
oh, and the jig saw is on a timer!

[transitman]

2 more things before we go:

the detachable frame side has been repaired, if that's the right word, before. The welding is pretty bad

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I can redo the welding no probs, what is bothering me is this:

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hope you can make it out, the camshaft retainer is covered in a crazing of what look like tiny cracks.
Anyone seen this before?

[robin1731]

snip.......
hope you can make it out, the camshaft retainer is covered in a crazing of what look like tiny cracks.
Anyone seen this before?

I have. I wouldn't worry about it. The first time I saw it I was a bit unsure too. But I've had a few heads apart and most of them show a little of this.

[Docvan]

I have been lucky using a carb cleaner sold by Advance Auto here, then boiled the bodies and they looked like new. Any of the metal parts can be cleaned this way.

The fuel Tank ..... I have used the white vinager method on two tanks and loved the results.
Drain (remove the fuel sensor and seal the opening and close the fuel valve). The piping in the tanks seemed a bit clogged so I took a broken speedo or tach cable, put it in a drill and slowly fed it into the steel line - no clogs after that. Be careful of the screens on the line ends in the tank. If you have a pressure washer clean out the tank then just fill the tank to the top with white vinager (5 1/2 gal.) then let sit for a few days - drain vinager - DO NOT POUR OUT IN GRASS!!!!! took a year plus to get the grass to grow there again....... rinse out the tank again. I took a hair dryer, placed the end into the sensor opening and opened the filler cap to let the air flow..... after about 45 minutes the tank was dry (also quite hot!) and the inside looked great! If you are not ready to install and fill the tank right away, you might want to spray some kind of light oil in there to keep it from rusting. just rinse out with a little fuel before installing. good luck.

[Mark King]

Been reading your thread.

Those rear masters seem to rust in the same spot. Between rust and brake crud they are a buggar.

I have three sets in the garage that need to be soaked / cleaned because the snap rings are seized in a mess of rust and crud.

I am probably going to have to do the same thing with my carbs but at least I know my electrics and engine are in good shape. Knock on wood.