THE GOOD BUCK

Day One: I dropped the van off this morning then cracked on with the bike. I’ve fitted the new battery, hotwired it, and I got lights, (low and high beam and clock and rear light, forgot to test if the brake is working) but no horn yet. The engine turned over nicely, sounded like good compression. I didn’t have any spark at the plugs though. I gapped the plugs and traced the wiring, the leads to the distributor were loose so I tightened them, SPARK! It still wasn’t firing so I took the air filter off and gave it a wash, then took off and stripped the carb. Oh boy. It’s not a carb design I’m used to, but I pulled the one obvious jet out. The top half of it was literally black. It looked like some oil residue that had solidified. I took the diaphragm out of the top and I’ve soaked the rest of the carb in Pinesol and Mukoff overnight. It might work. I’ve never seen the like though. I was just looking, you can get a complete, aftermarket, carb for the price of a carb rebuild kit. While I was searching for “oil in carb problem” online (bit worrying, I can’t think how it can have got there) I saw a top tip. Spray some of that engine start spray into the engine and press the start button. If it runs for a second or so you know the intake valves and outlet valves are working, your rings and barrel are good enough to maintain a working pressure, your plugs and the electrical system is all working. The problem is your carb. I’ve ordered a can of start spray. If it doesn’t run then I know I have more problems. You can strip it down to heads and barrels off with the engine still in the frame so it’s not too much hassle to do further investigation. Now I’m wondering which way I’m going to go with the bike. I’ve given it a brush and a wash and been at it with rust eater and metal polish today and it looks a lot better, superficially. But there’s the thing. Once I’ve got it running I can either run it as a scruffy heap, sell it, or strip it down to bare frame, and get every part back to original condition. Powder coating the frame £150- £350 New wheels £550 Tank and mudguards sprayed, say, £250 New stanchions £300 Engine respray? I’ll have to think it through. I’m making problems now. I’ve got enough on my plate just getting it running. Then I have to fit indicators, fix the horn, swap the headlight, take the forks off, drain, clean, put in fresh oil and new fork seals and refit, strip and clean the brakes, flush the brake fluid and refill it, and fit new tyres. Those are just the bare minimum jobs I already know I’ve got to do. On the bright side, apart from the […]

I went to pick it up today. That took me all day. All, stressful, day. Brand new rental van, it only had 280 miles on the clock when I set off, and they were being very picky about how I’d get royally screwed for any damage. So, no pressure. The guy I bought it off was selling off a bunch of bike projects because he was so ill. He looked proper yellow, it looked like kidney failure, poor sod. In a way it made me think I was right to get a Harley now, you just never know how long you’ve got. The downside is the camera was very flattering. up close all the chrome is rusted, there are no indicators and no ignition key. It’s a proper project. I’m not going to change the battery, fill the tank and ride it to an MOT. And, obvious when I think about it, I’ve had to buy new tools because American’s still use imperial sizes. Of course they do. All my lovely tools. Grrrr. Here’s some pics that more accurately show the condition of the bike. I near bust my back getting off the van and into the shed. I’ve got the spark plugs out and sprayed penetrating oil in the barrels. Tomorrow I’ll put it in gear and rock it, see if the pistons move at all. I’ve ordered some imperial spanners and Allen keys, they are arriving tomorrow. I’ll give it a decent clean and a wash, when my tools arrive I’ll swap the battery for a new one and see what’s working on the electrical side. One good thing, the clock says it’s only done 10,388 miles. It’s been off the road for decades so I can believe that’s true.

I’ve been looking at engines I could strip down, just for fun practice. That invariably leads me to looking at cheap bikes because I would want to get it running again afterwards to prove I’ve not broken it. This has been going on for some time. The cycle often leads to me stressing out so much I literally lose sleep over it. I’m not sure how, but suddenly I made the jump to wanting a more expensive, but really cool project bike. I saw a 1958 BSA A10 for sale for £2,750 and was going to get that. But then the doubts crept in, getting parts, whether it was what I really wanted, and as it was all ready running, if I would be able to replace my bulletproof VFR with a bike older than I am. And a Brit relic, at that. Then I saw a site selling “cheap” (relative term) imported project Harleys. I was very tempted. But they are still asking a lot for a pig-in-a-poke bike. One I liked was a 1971 1000cc, 4 gear engine, it had no wiring harness, no starter motor, was thought to be not seized but not guaranteed, wasn’t registered in the UK, and they wanted £2,000 for it. While I was looking I came across this: It’s a bog standard (apart from the headlight) 1991 883 Sportster. It’s been stood for 20 years so it’s a complete restoration project, but it’s a complete bike, UK registered, 2 owners from new, a 5 speed gearbox and the (more modern, more reliable) Evolution engine. It was up for auction, the starting bid was for £2,000. The auction was nearly over and nobody had bid on it. I put in a bid sniper for £2,055. If I got it for a bargain then fine, if not look for something else. I won! £2,000! It’s going to need a lot of work, but all the bits are there. I’ve ordered a new battery and a workshop manual. I’m picking it up on Tuesday. Of course it’s the arse end of beyond. Reading. Right down south. Ho hum, all part of the joy of motorcycling. I can’t wait to start playing with it. I hope it’s not seized but if it is it’s getting big bored to the 1200cc conversion. Fun times.

Some bikey goodness this week. My saddle finally arrived. It’s supposed to be gel padded and the ultimate in comfort for long distance riding. I popped it on. It certainly looks the business. Before, plain ol’ Betty Monroe: After, Mrs Ralph Hapshatt: I had my first 5 day week in absolutely ages at work so I had to wait until my day’s off to try and fit the new exhaust system. Update, this week I’ve had 4 shifts, next week I’ve got 4. Finally making some decent money again. It turned into a proper big job. Fairings off, seat off, top box off, centre stand off, tank off, battery, battery box and mudguard assembly off, rear shock absorber off, coils moved, just to get access to the exhaust. To add to the not inconsiderable degree of difficulty the bike needed to be propped upright, with the centre stand removed. It’s a single sided swing arm to I couldn’t just raise it up on a paddock stand. Improvise, adapt, overcome. That was in no way fun. It took me all day. Then I had to pop for some jubilee clips to finish the job (hold the down pipes securely into the collector box) today. There is very little overlap on the pipes. Assuming they stay put, that is job done. As I was fastening the jubilee clip I did notice one downer. One of the downpipes runs over the oil sump plug. So I’m going to have to take the front pipe off every time I need to change the oil. Irritating, but not a massive job. Poor design though. I had another go at that snapped bolt. I can drill but I still can’t get any purchase to turn the extractor. I may be on to something. I’ve seen and ordered a drill bit extractor set. If I can get them to work in my impact wrench I should be able to make short work of it. Fingers crossed. Bit of an update. The exhaust system is a blowing a little bit from the pipe joins but overall it’s really quiet. It came with a hi-level link pipe and aftermarket end can. As it’s so quiet I’ve weakened and ordered a baffle insert and a hi-level hanger bar. I’m going to try it, if it’s not too noisy it’s a serious upgrade to the look of the bike. I’m still waiting on the hanger to arrive. The other thing is the snapped bolt. I still haven’t been able to get it out, but now I’ve drilled so far that I managed to tap a new thread in the hole in and fit a shortened bolt. That should hold it. I’ll put locktite on when I fit it, just to be on the safe side. Whilst mocking it up I noticed another flaw with this new exhaust system, when you put the centre stand down it rubs against the exhaust to the extent it moves the pipes. It’s not a huge […]

I had a week off work due to that bump. I had to go out with the driver trainer and now I’m back at work. One thing from it : the trainer pointed out there is no way I could have caused that tiny bit of damage. If I’d have been coming in at an angle the leading edge of the trailer would have hit the other side of the shutter door. I’d have had to have run right over the guide bars and my trailer would have missed the bay by about 7 feet to have hit on that side. They heard me reversing and making a clatter, came out, and blamed me for the damage they saw. I didn’t think to question it so went along with it. Work have said they can’t call the company liars, but basically they are writing the incident off as ‘no driver fault’. Cool. Way better than I was hoping for. It does explain why I was stood at the back of my truck, unable to understand how I could have hit the shutter. I didn’t. That might prove a valuable judgement call from the management. The trainer said they will be advertising more full time jobs shortly. Fingers crossed. Other mixed blessing good news; I was obsessing over bikes again. Doing dozens of searches every day looking for the donor VFR750 bike (with a stainless steel exhaust and a whole bike of spares). Then I noticed an advert for a complete stainless exhaust system for £160. They only gave the model letter, I emailed for confirmation it was my year, they said “it’s in the text what it is”. Less than helpful. It is my model letter (Vfr750 F-R, -it’s the final letter that changes with each year model-) so if they are right I’ve got a cheap exhaust system. The downside is the only way I’m going to know if they are right about the letter is by fitting it. I want to keep the standard system on until it starts blowing, so I’m going to have to take off the standard, fit the stainless, remove the stainless and refit the standard. It’s a bit of a beast of a job. Made worse by the fact everything (I ordered the new gaskets I’m going to need as well) should have been arriving today, my day off. But as it’s a bank holiday (which I totally didn’t realise) it will all be coming tomorrow, when we are both working. Super. I started to do some preparation. Cleaning the bolts and spraying penetrating oil on them to hopefully loosen them. Then I tried to remove the centre stand. It’s got to come off, so it’s one less job. That turned into a nightmare. The workshop manual was useless on this one, probably thought it was too obvious to mention. Like all riddles it’s simple when you know the answer. I spent ages freeing a bolt and getting pushing it through the frame […]