Funnily enough... grease dries out and goes hard after thirty years of getting mashed in a worm drive, but how do you get the speedo drive apart without ruining the seal? Once they're put together, it's nigh on impossible to remove it — and you can't buy the drive complete now, let alone get the right seal!
So, after a lot of messing around with a spare one I have, I decided to have a stab at getting it apart with minimal damage. I came to the conclusion that a 2.5mm hole drilled through the body of the drive itself would allow access for a small punch to tap out the seal. If all goes to plan, a small dab of silicone in the hole will seal it up once finished. Job jobbed.
Symptoms.
Just turning the tabbed washer will tell you how bad it is. If it stops, gets stuck and generally feels tight, it needs to be stripped, cleaned and greased. Leave it and the tabbed washer will fail, maybe even the worm drive and gear itself. The drive in my ESD has had the tabs brazed back on at some stage. And this spare drive has quite a bit of wear on the inner tabs where it fits into the gear.
Whatever happens, it would be good to take a look inside and see what can be fixed. With a centre pop first, and then very slowly with the drill I had enough room for a small punch to tap on the back of the seal.
As projects go... this one is dragging.
I've been doing too much other, altogether mundane, stuff rather than concentrating on the cafe. But I have a couple of weeks off now where I should be able to make an impact. I also had some business cards made recently, purely to advertise the blog, but I want to get busier on the bike before I start passing them round. The backs of them are useful as a service log too, so keep them in your wallet and you'll know when the old beaut needs another oil change.
Never a bad day!
Last time I was at Queensland Raceway I came off at turn four, but even that day turned out pretty good in the end. That was over a year ago. Today there were three of us heading up, plus Will on photography duties, and we were all in blue. We were there at 7.00am so had plenty of time to sign on, get the bikes sorted and kit up. Briefing was quick, and soon enough yellow group were out on a fast one.
There was some nice stuff up here today, and not many bikes make a 1290 Superduke look boring, but in our very own group of blue there was this Kawasaki H2R. More on this later.
Back in the garage.
Finally got some time to crack on with the wiring and battery box. It's been bugging me for a while because I wanted the loom to look perfect, but sometimes you just need to make a start and fix any issues later.
I'm still unsure on what sort of speedo/tacho combination I'm going to use too. I'd like two separate units to mimic the typical sixties/seventies bikes, but I have a certain budget too. The modern digital versions get very expensive when you go for quality versions. And although there's plenty of Chinese versions on eBay, do they actually work for more than ten minutes? Decisions...
It's been a long time...
Five years in fact since I last swung a leg over this fifties 650 twin. Dad had kept it up together in fairness, with a few little adjustments here and there (which I put back the way I like), but the one thing that wouldn't come good was the charging system.
Well, new to me.
Thanks to my website wilcomoto.com I still receive emails regarding the rare-as-hen's-teeth motocrossers built near Hereford. Recently I got one from a chap called David Pickard who was good enough to send me scanned copies of a brochure I don't have. Thanks mate, much obliged, now take a look at this...
To people who can bash metal.
While I'm trying to make a new seat base (lost interest in the first one) to match up with the tank and tail unit, I decided to try and get the side panels in place so I knew what I was working with.
Over-thinking one aspect while knocking out another is slowing me down, but it's a learning curve I have to travel. Hey, Rome wasn't built in a day.
So, I'd already cut out panels from 3mm aluminium to fit in the side of the bike. They were a good fit and stayed in place with masking tape, but that's no good for the finished bike. I needed a method of holding them in place, and also to blend them into the top of the frame. I cut out some more pieces to hang over the frame, on rubber mounts, and set about attaching them to the side panels.
Here's a pic of the basic righthand panel. Both sides started like this, being bent to suit the angles of the frame and fitting flush.
