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It’s all been a bit crazed with the motorbikes.

When the piston rings finally arrived they were the wrong size, so they’ve gone back. I’ve bought a bunch more kit to try to make myself self sufficient in motorbiking. Little of it has worked. I had the genius idea to buy 3 foot tyre levers and new tyres for the Harley and change them myself. I remember me and Keith Thackery changing the tyre by hand on my Sportster in the 80s. God knows how. Even with massive tyre levers I couldn’t break the tyre seal. I looked online and they said you need a tyre bead breaker. It’s just a flat plate dangling down off a long lever. The plate sits on the tyre near the rim, then you literally jump up and down on the lever until it breaks the tyre seal. Even after I’d done that I was still sweating, and it took me ages to get the tyre off. Obviously bending a three foot long lever over the wheel rim doesn’t do your wheel any good. The chrome on my wheels is shot so I wasn’t that bothered about scratching the rims this time. Then I tried to fit the new tyre, figuring I must have been struggling because it was a 20 year old tyre that had set into position. Nope. I couldn’t get the new tyre on. I give up. One good thing though, I found out where Bromley Tyres went when it closed, still in Warrington. I rang them up, yes they bought Bromley Tyres, but then they closed it. They don’t do motorbike tyres. *sigh* They said to try a place in Leigh. I rang and they do it! Huzzah! So that was a world of struggle for nothing. Thinking about it, I’ll struggle some more and get the front tyre off as well. I have new tyres and inner tubes, but the back wheel was all rusty inside. I’ve cleaned it all up with a wire brush and sandpaper. I don’t want them to fit new kit and the rust to puncture my inner tube.

Another fail was that short circuit on the VFR750. I gave up and rang a “mobile” bike mechanics. They said for that they’d need the bike in the garage. They said collection and fault finding would be £280. It was steep, but they were literally the only game in town. I couldn’t find any other sparkies who dealt with motorbikes. I checked the bank and they’d then stuck on VAT (I think) and taken £320, without asking me. I was already annoyed. They rang me after one working day and said they’d looked at the bike but were going to have to do a full day’s fault finding and that would be another £500. No. Just no on principle. £830 to find a short circuit. Possibly more if they casually added fees again. And any work they then needed to do. Just no. I was fuming. I rented a van and picked the bike up. I bought a book on motorbike electrics fault finding, which recommended a cheap tester. You’re supposed to plug it in, run a scanner over the wires and where the beeping stops, that’s your short. It didn’t work for me. I did some more testing. Found on circuit that was showing power or resistance or something when it shouldn’t have been. It was the circuit for the clocks. I have already changed the whole wiring harness and I refuse to believe two of them have the same fault so I ordered second hand clocks. Nope still shorting. I give up. Again. I’ve changed the exhaust back to standard, and I’m going to sell it as a project. If I sell the exhaust separately I should get most of my money back.

I’ve been tinkering every morning and on my one day off today I’ve battered some jobs on the Harley.

I managed to get the engine out and split today. The great news is that apart from some staining and sticky bits of oil, there doesn’t seem to be any damage. After seeing the sludge and metal shavings on the sump plug I was expecting at some point to come across a pile of smashed metal and gunge.

I’m happy with that. I gave it a clean, scraped all the gasket off, sandpapered and cleaned it again, then started the rebuild. Once I had the cases back together I got carried away and continued, I fitted the oil pump, the cam gears, a new gasket, a new set of allen bolts and the cam side casing. That was a huge relief as that had the one bolt I’d had to drill out and I was scared it was going to strip when I tried to tighten it.

I’ve had a hell of a day off.

Happily, since I’m having to buy all my tools again but in imperial, and the Harley was £2,000 to start with, work has suddenly gone mad. 4 shifts, 6 shifts, 5 shifts for next week. I certainly can use the money but it’s making working on my bikes a lot harder.

Anyway, I was off today so cracked on. My goal was to strip the heads, check the valves and the barrels, and check the cams for timing.

I’ve had some successes but a big problem. I’ve been working so I’ve not had the time to do too much, today was my day off and the engine start spray arrived yesterday so I did some work on it. I bought a cheap trolley jack with support cups to lift the bike up by the frame so I could take the forks off. It wasn’t what I was expecting. I thought it was a full length platform to lift the whole bike. Nope. It fits across the bike and just raises one end or the other. Meh. I can make that work for most jobs. Then I went to slide it under the frame and because of the raised cups it wouldn’t fit! I had to angle grind half of the raised legs off before I could even start. Anyway, I got the forks off, finally got the seal covers off and the seals out.

I think they were due for a change.

That’s the good.

Today I cleaned and washed the carb after it’s overnight soak. I put it back together (missing a part, dumbarse) and tried it. Still not running, so I started on the other jobs. I pulled the front brake off, stripped and cleaned it, put it back on then bled it. I tried to do the same with the rear brake but it’s got Torx bolts. I don’t know if Torx come in imperial but mine were slightly loose and the bolts are set solid. I didn’t want to strip the head so I’ve ordered some Torx sockets. In the meantime I bled the brake. I pumped the tyres up. It rolls forward and back now without too much resistance (other than it’s native standing mass, obvs) and the brakes both work. I remembered to test and both my brake lights work. Brilliant. I need to fit indicators but so far the only thing electrical thing that isn’t working is the horn. I’m happy about that because I hate electrics.

When I put the carb back on I noticed one of the throttle to carb cables was slack. I was worried I’d done something wrong. I’m having issues with fitting the choke cable back in position as well. It’s one 17mm nut. What can possibly go wrong? Yet it doesn’t seem to want to work. Odd. Anyway, when I noticed the part of the carb I’d omitted (left it drying in the sun) I popped the carb off and rebuilt it. The slack cable came away in my hand. It had snapped in it’s sleeve. I’d already ordered a new set, but it was good to see it wasn’t me.

I’m working my way through the peripheral jobs (it all needs doing) as I’m trying to get the engine started. I’ve ordered a cheap trolley jack (with support cups to position under the frame) and a fork seal and dust cover set. I’ll pop the forks off, drain the fork oil, clean inside and then put fresh oil, seals and dust covers on.