There's No Place Like Home

Yesterday I got mad enough to really figure out why the rear brakes were not working.

I ended up taking off the master cylinder to adjust the linkage (it’s really a pain to adjust – you either have to fully remove the master cylinder and brake pedal, or remove the rear wheel and the swingarm!)

I also took the caliper apart again to make sure the o-ring was seated correctly (it was) and not pinched (it wasn’t.)

Then, as I was trying to bleed the brakes again, it struck me: The way the caliper is mounted means that the pistons are higher than the inlet and the bleeder valve. There is no way the air is going to come out of there!

So I unmounted the caliper, again, turned it around, and slipped it back onto the disk so that the bleeder valve was the highest point. Then I bled the brakes and what do you know? I got a bunch of air out and it firmed right up! Damn it, that took way too much mucking about to figure out.

So that was the final hurdle to finishing up.

Today I did a rough balance of the carbs and then rode the bike around for a while to get it fully warmed up. Then back into the garage to adjust the idle, idle mixture and balance.

It’s running pretty sweet now! I stopped in a parking lot and shot a short video of it idling.

I’ll have to get one of it starting for Jon – it still starts nice and quick. 🙂

If it’s not raining in the morning I’ll be riding it to work!

The reason the title of this post says “For Now” is because there are still some issues to address:

• It still needs a major bath. I’ll be doing that tomorrow afternoon if it doesn’t rain again.
• The new oil pan gasket is leaking. I don’t think it’s any worse than the old one, but it’s certainly not better. I’ll probably order a new one later and replace it again. I guess this time I’ll have to stone the surfaces to make sure they are not nicked or anything. Bah.
• The right side exhaust valve is at the limit of the rocker arm adjustment. I’m afraid this means either the valve seat is bad, the valve is bad or the seat is recessing into the head. In any case, it means pulling the heads and having them worked on. And a bunch of $$ I don’t have to spend right now. So I’ll just watch it and see if it gets a lot worse.
• The base gaskets and push rod tube rubbers are weeping. This is normal, but still, ugly and messy. But if (when) I pull the heads these will get replaced, so there is that.
• The clock is not working. I guess it’s $80-$90 to get it fixed, or I can buy a (different) replacement gauge for $75, but then I’d want to replace the voltmeter with a matching gauge for another $40. So I’ll probably just remount the broken clock for now.
• The fairing and gas tank really need repainting. But again, big $$. So that won’t be happening for a while.
• It still feels a little loosey-goosey, but I discovered part of the problem was that I forgot to tighten the pinch bolts on the forks. I’ll have to check the swingarm and steering head bearings, but it may just be that I’ve forgotten the nature of this beast.

Still, all in all, it’s a fun ride, the exhaust sounds great and it will do 80 MPH without too much drama, though it seems to prefer 65-70. (I happen to know it was capable of more than 100 MPH in the past, but I don’t think I’ll be doing that again any time soon.)

The seat hinges arrived today so I could attach the seat to the motorcycle. So in celebration I went for a short ride!

I actually went for two rides.

I started the bike and did a rudimentary carb balancing and idle set, just so it would run well enough to give it a warm up ride. Then I rode it around the neighborhood for a bit. It was running pretty rough just off idle, but surprisingly well in the midrange. And I only killed it once. 🙂

After that, I hooked up the balance gauges and adjusted it a bit better. I got it pretty balanced, but the new throttle cables need to stretch out a bit.

It’s running really lean because of the Luftmeister two into one exhaust and K&N filter, so it spits and pops at idle and under partial throttle. I’ll have to get some richer jets for it.

Then I took it out on the freeway for a few miles out and back.

It pulls strong from the midrange on up, but it’s probably still lean there too. I didn’t want to go too far with it so lean and with no rear brake (who needs rear brakes anyway?)

I also got a nice reminder of why they call these “Gummikuhs” (rubber cows). It feels pretty flexy even compared to my K1100RS (not the stiffest of frames either.) I’ll have to make sure the swingarm bearing pivots are tight enough and that the steering head bearings are adjusted properly.

So, still plenty to do to finish it up, but it’s running and rolling now!

More details on recent work.

Since the last update I’ve done the following:

• Replaced the neutral switch (which you can do without pulling the transmission!)
• Installed the rubber grommets where the brake lines pass through the fairing.
• Installed the front wheel.
• Installed and bled the front brakes and lines.
• Attempted to bleed the rear brakes, and failed. Twice. I think that there is a leak where the hose from the reservoir attaches to the master cylinder. I need to remove the master cylinder (again) and investigate.
• Repaired the broken coil mount (details and photos below.)
• Sandblasted, painted and installed the battery cage (photos below.)
• Installed the battery.
• Cleaned, re-oiled and installed the K&N air filter.
• Replace the oil filter and filled the engine with oil.
• Installed the fairing lowers and chin piece.
• Installed the exhaust pipes and muffler.
• Installed the gas tank and fuel lines.
• Started it up!

Continue reading →

Just a short post – I’ll do a more detailed one later.

I got the RS to the point where I could start her tonight, so I put some gas in the tank and pressed the button. She fired right up and ran!

The carbs need tuning and balancing, but she was running!

Here is a short crappy video of her running (crappily.)

I’m pretty happy. Just a few more things to fix and she’ll be ready to ride!