THE GOOD BUCK

In a manner no way typical of me I realised I had a few hours before I started my shift to register our flight details and print off the boarding passes as I was finishing at midnight, up early and out for the airport by 08.45 the next morning. That was a flap. Then it wouldn’t let me print off the return flight boarding pass so I had to download and register with the app to get an electronic boarding pass. I’d run out of time so I had to do that at work. I got it all sorted. Just. Then midnight finish, 01.30 before I got to sleep, up at 07.00, not the best of starts to the day. We got to the airport and, because we’ve always stowed our bags in the hold, had no idea about the restrictions for carry on goods. Wendy had her perfume, hairspray and such stolen off her. We got held up as the bags were refused by the scanner for carrying liquids, etc. It was massive stress. We sat waiting for our flight, it was a bit late boarding, that’s how close we were, when Wendy came over proper poorly so we had to come home. To be honest I was doing it more as a stressful chore I’d already paid for, than as something which I wanted to do. I’m still not feeling 100% most of the time, and if Wendy was too poorly to do her museums and art galleries and such it was just going to be a waste of time. It cost us a lot. A lot. Flights, accommodation, airport parking, race, etc. All non-refundable. The final insult was the travel money. £704 to buy 800 euros. The next day I had to change them back. £582.69. A day. Robbing bastards! Anyway, that didn’t happen. We got home and Wendy is recovering. No harm done. Then I had to know. How would I have done on the marathon? The next morning I got up and into my kit. I set out to see what would happen. I surprised myself by doing an 8.06 first mile. It felt easy. I was doing a 5 miles there and back, then an 8 miles there and back. After the first 10 miles I was 10 seconds off an 8.10 m/m average pace. Not too shabby, considering. I was already thinking about trying to drag back the 2 minutes to make it a sub 3.30 marathon. Then at 16 miles reality hit. An 8.30 mile, 8.29, then it dropped off a cliff. 8.43, 8.43, 8.58, 9.09. That took me to mile 21. Half way through, my pace had dropped to 9.41 m/m, I was in misery and my body had had enough for the last couple of miles, I quit. Of course, being a there and back I still had to get home. So technically I did do a marathon, but it must have took me at least an hour and a […]

When I got the long bolt and improvised a way to disassemble the clutch off the bike (in the workshop manual it say “do not attempt to disassemble the clutch off the bike”, so that was nerve racking) I realised it wasn’t the clutch inner that I’d broken, but the clutch pressure plate. *blubbing intensifies* So, £120 for clutch inner, £80 for new clutch bearing, £70 for a 6 ton press to separate then rejoin the inner and outer, and £140 for a complete clutch assembly (that I bought after panicking about the inner, and before committing to buying a press, then learning I needed a new bearing to do it) that I don’t need. Bought the £49 clutch pressure plate. Fitted the new clutch plates, pressure plate and spring and refitted it on the bike. While I had the clutch side engine casing off I fitted my new clutch cable at the same time. Then refitted the engine casing. I fitted the clutch cable to the handlebars and tried it. Nothing. The lever was solid. I took the engine casing back off, and took the clutch mechanism apart again. Same. Reread the book. Not doing anything wrong. The clutch mechanism has a triangular piece. That fits to the bottom piece. It is three identical sides, a ball bearing in a groove on each side. Identical. But, what it doesn’t say in the book, if you twist the triangle it pulls the cable through and puts it under pressure, so when you pull the clutch lever there is movement. If you don’t twist it, it is already at it full range of motion in the direction the cable pulls it. It took me about 4 strips and rebuilds to suss that out. So not intuitive. Then you have to adjust a spring loaded screw mechanism in the engine casing (through an inspection port) to get the correct pressure on the clutch. What I didn’t realise it you have to hold the mechanism in with your fingers while tightening or you get a false feel of pressure. Harley’s, man! Everything has to be basic and idiosyncratic. A perfect example is Top Dead Centre. Any Japanese bike, you remove a cover (and spark plugs, obvs) fit a socket to a nut and turn the engine over until a line on the flywheel aligns with one on the inner casing. Harley? Jack the back end up, rotate the back wheel in 5th gear to turn the engine until the straw you’ve placed in the spark plug hole raises fully. So, everything was back together. New clutch plates, pressure plate, and clutch cable fitted and working. I really thought all of the above was going to be a doddle, so I’d confidently booked it in for it’s MOT again. It was a world of unnecessary pain but I got it done in time. I thought I’d best take it for a spin around the block to test everything out. I got about a hundred […]

I was saying in my last blog it had been months of the Sportster project looking like it would be forever before I could get it on the road, if at all, then suddenly it was a sprint to the finish with me taking it for it’s MOT today. *sigh* On Friday I had what felt like acid reflux, by Saturday it had moved to an irritating cough and feeling crap. I did a test and yup, it’s covid. Super. I was OK with it if it was just going to be a bit of a cough. I went to bed and then it really kicked in. Solid headache the painkillers just wouldn’t touch, lasted until this morning, sweating then shaking so bad my whole body was going into muscle spasms, my bones aching,etc etc. All the good things. I forced myself to crack on with my bike jobs on Sunday. I refitted the ignition barrel, replaced the cover on the ignition timing module, glued the (temporary) indicators into place, (just to pass the MOT, I’m replacing them and doing a proper job fitting the new ones) and rigged a fix for the too long outer cable on my throttle cable. Just had to replace the clutch plates. I stripped the side down and used the “simple, homemade clutch compressor tool”. Either the pipe was the wrong size (I ordered the size it said on the video) or my clutch is slightly larger. The bloody ring wouldn’t fit. Then the bar that goes across the ring bent under load. I spent ages trying to drill through a really tough bit of steel but I think I blunted my drill bits. In the end, in desperation, I went back into my shed and tried this ring with a bridge and screw handle. It’s the proper clutch compression tool! D’oh! I must have bought it then forgot. It had been hours of pushing through feeling shite and forcing myself to carry on, and I wasn’t thinking straight with it. Anyway, whatever the excuse, I didn’t take time out to google how to properly use the tool. I think I didn’t have it torqued down enough. In trying to get the retaining snap ring out I used too much force (because it wasn’t properly untensioned) and I broke a piece of the clutch basket off. I could have cried. Today, with a clearer head I’ve gone back in, and sorted a work around. The piece that broke off released the central bolt thing, so I had nothing against which to tighten the compressor. I’ve taken the clutch and primary off completely and ordered a long bolt. I should be able to feed it through the compressor tool and the whole clutch basket. Tighten up and remove the other retaining clip and it’s good to go. I’ve had to order bits from abroad so I’m probably going to be waiting for a few weeks. I’ll take the time to properly fit the new indicators […]

My last blog started with me in despair over #ProjectTractor. I’d rebuilt the engine and was failing to get it running. One job in a seemingly endless list, but a biggie. Then, as I was blogging, I realised the new coil for the ignition module has the spark plug leads connecting from the opposite terminals to the cylinders. Right terminal is now front cylinder. I was wildly optimistic that would solve that particular problem. The following morning I cut a new spark plug lead to reach to the front cylinder and tried again. I had a bunch of false starts and mistakes. I left it in gear, then I realised I’d only connected one spark plug cap, I left the inspection cover off when I started it, I forgot and let the loose ignition switch short out on the engine. Stupid, stupid things. Anyway, the first morning I got it running on Easy Start (and one cylinder, I later found out) and I was ecstatic. The next morning I put the tank back on and tried starting it with just the carb. It ran fine. Since then I’ve been running it for 30 seconds at a time in bursts, around work, to start the running in process. Now I’m going a bit longer each time. I’ve ordered a clutch upgrade kit, a clutch cable, a new gasket (that one is leaking) and more oil. That should all be arriving tomorrow. While I was at it I’ve ordered some better indicators, a 10mm drill bit (to drill out the rear mudguard a tad for the indicators) a low resistance torque wrench (one that is accurate from 5- 25nm, my main one is really only good over 20 nm) and some better locktite. I’ll keep running the engine in for longer periods, then if everything arrives as it’s supposed to, over the weekend I’ll fit my new clutch, cable, and gasket, and torque it down accurately. Pop my horn back on and run a wire to a good ground. Take the back wheel off, take off the rear indicators, drill the mudguard and refit the indicators (or the new ones if they arrive) properly, and pull the excess wire through so it’s all neat under the mudguard. Then just refit the wheel, tighten down all the nuts and bolts, refit the seat and adjust the headlight aim. That’s it. Job done. The point is, at the start of my last blog post I was struggling to get over one more hurdle. Now it seems the work is as good as done. It was a never never project, now it’s in for an MOT on Monday! With a bit of luck my next post I will be ready to ride it to work. It’s kind of crazy. I’m still waiting for the other shoe to drop. But if I’m riding to work next week… Wow.

I worked all weekend to finish the Sportster build, but it’s not working. I made a few mistakes. I forgot to put in oil seals so had to take the barrels and heads off again. For some reason the one of the throttle cables doesn’t quite fit. It’s the return cable so just the pull cable should be sufficient for starting it up. Then I spent hours trying to set up the simplest thing with the new ignition device. The instructions say front cylinder, TDC, compression stroke, then just rotate the unit slightly until the light goes out. At the exact point the light goes out, screw the unit into place. Easy. I spent hours. It’s not made any easier by Harley’s stone age attitude. To turn the engine over you have to put the bike into gear, take the pistons out, jack up the arse end, and rotate the wheel by hand. Anyway, I removed the inspection cover and turned it over, but the ignition unit just wouldn’t light up. I moved it as far as it would go, wriggled it, and pulled it out a bit. Then the light came on but it was shorting. I was devastated. An electrical problem on a brand new unit. After resetting the timing mark 3 times, and the unit, I still couldn’t get it to light up. I came in (to get wifi reception for my ‘phone) and googled loads of pages. One of the threads mentioned that it might be TDC on the exhaust stroke. I went back and tried again. I got lights and set it in a matter of minutes. Dammit! Anyway, it’s fully rebuilt, it turns over, it’s got spark. That’s not nothing. But it won’t fire. Even spraying Easy Start directly into the engine. Actually, that was yesterday. I didn’t take a picture today, but the exhausts are back on, tank and seat. It looks like a bike. The problem is I don’t understand where to go from here. It has a brand new Ultima ignition unit so that should be my ignition timing sorted. The valve timing is Harley primitive. There are a bunch of cogs. If you line them up, dot to line, your valve timing is set. So it’s not that. I sprayed Easy Start into the barrels, so it’s not fuel. It’s just back firing and firing out of the carb. Which is what it was doing before I stripped it. I’ve just been looking. There are a bunch of simple things to check out. The HT leads from the coil are push on. They could be loose. They are the original leads, they could be shot. I got fresh leads in the ignition kit. I could try them instead. I’ll make sure the battery is 100% charged. I’ll double, triple check the wiring is the right lead to the right terminal on the coil. As the ideas are occurring to me I’m checking out the videos and cross referencing them against […]