Gilbert's Cylinder Head Service — Gold Coast.

Skimming, guides, seats, porting... 
Having had several car cylinder heads overhauled by Paul Gilbert since being in Australia, I knew the service and quality was exceptional. That's no bull, they come back like a new part, and I was pretty amazed — especially for the cost.
So when I needed a couple of shims machined on the GS550, I dropped in to see if he could do them. No problem he says, come back in a couple of hours and they'll be ready to go. 
Once we got talking I realised he did a lot of motorcycle work too, and he showed me some of the heads he was currently working on.

This is one of two Rocket III heads that were being ported, one for a supercharger. He said that although he has a flow bench, the ports are now so big on this 2.3L engine that he's had to use someone else's larger version to check the flow. That's going to be one quick Trumpet!

Fast From The Past — Awesome Place!

While perusing the internet the other day for a Paulo Tarozzi fork brace I, quite luckily, happened across this place — Fast From The Past. 

And I found they are an absolute goldmine for old race bikes, cafe racers etc. because they carry those quality parts that are hard to find. Often you find a shop that only carries certain items for a few bikes, and my GSX often comes up lacking.
But here, a fork brace for the GSX750ES is just one of hundreds of different types available, all at realistic prices. And, once ordered, it was delivered to me in Australia in around a week. Nicely done.

How retro is that box? Love it!

I'm Seeing Red... Monza Red.

Amateur paint jobs.
Because I just wanted the GS550 to look good enough to go back on the road without any fineries and, because I'm too tight to pay the extortionate prices needed to get someone to spray it professionally, I'm doing it with aerosols. 

GS550 - Fitting New Points and Condensers.

Fitting what?
Contact breakers, remember them? It appears that many of the younger mechanics coming through don't really know what points and condensers are. Maybe they don't teach them the basics of ignition systems in college anymore, maybe they take no notice because they've never had to fit any.  Probably the latter.

Maybe I'll start with how they work.

To get a spark to fire across the spark plug's air gap, we need a pretty high voltage (20,000 - 30,000 volts), for which we use a coil. Everyone's familiar with those, but just how do you get a spark out of one?  Without electronic jiggery-pokery CDI and transistorised ignition systems?

Charging Systems — More efficient, and a cooler engine.

A clever update and worth sharing.

Firstly, I can't take the credit for this because I read about it on GS Resources forum, but here's a cracking little modification you can make to your bikes that are running the old style shunt regulators. But first a bit of history.

Stripped Threads... And How To Fix Them.

Doing it in situ.
There will come a time when, if you like to dabble with old vehicles, you will happen upon a damaged thread. And, to be fair, it can be an absolute bastard!

One minute you're tightening up a bolt into an alloy housing, the next the entire thread comes out with the bolt. And you usually only find out during reassembly and most of the work is already done. This is sod's law... par for the course... and a proper pain in the 'arris.

But there is a way. Fret not. You might not even have to strip the component completely if you know what you're doing, although that wasn't the case with this Trident:

2016 KTM 350EXC — Greasing the Joints.

Swingarm first.
It's brand new, done 200 km's but the general advice out there is to rip out the swing arm and re-grease the moving bits as soon as you've picked it up. Same applies to the steering head bearings.

Waste of time? Let's take a look.