Red: Roadside Repair

Proving that one should always carry zipties!

Going down along Anza on the way home and heard a weird "clinking" noise.  After a few blocks, realized it was the headlight rattling because it had lost the right side bolt on the mounting ear.

I thought I'd actually lost the mounting plate itself, so I rode back all the way to where I'd turned but didn't see it.  Only after getting off the bike and making a closer inspection did I see that it was still there on the bike, stuck to the rubber.  Lucky...

Zip tied the mount back into place.  Realized that maybe the zip ties were actually a better way to go than the very fiddly nut and bolt.

Red: Headlight Grill Chop #2

Drilled out new 8mm holes in the headlight grill.

Started out with the step bit just to make a solid indentation.

Then switched to the DeWalt bits and just started with the smallest and worked my way up.

Finally, went back to the step bit to clean up the hole and smooth out the edges.

Came out trick.

Mounting was fiddly.  Ended up switching to 3 washers for spacers as the ones that came with it were now too wide.

 

Red: Headlight Grill Chop #1

The grill I've had sitting in the closet for years is perfect for the new Dime City headlight as it squares it off and gives it a better profile.  Only problem was that the mounting ears were way too long.  Not only would I have to drill new mounting holes but the ears themselves needed to get chopped otherwise they'd hit the mounts.

Dremel cutting wheel made short work of it.

Ivy II: Chain Off

Removed Ivy's chain.  Disconnected the clutch cable and zip tied that and the carb out of the way.

Testing the headlight grille on Red.  Looks like the mounting holes need to get drilled a bit more forward to pull it backwards and close the gap.  At least it fits, though.

Red: Fork Oil Stumper

Drained Red's fork oil thinking I'd be able to figure out how much had leaked out of the right side and replace it.

So was a bit perplexed when I drained exactly 100 mL out of each side.  Stumped...

Red's plug a bit sooty but ok.

Disconnected the Ivy's coil wire and cut the fuel line.

Pumped up Roxy's tires.  Need to watch out for the rust spot developing on her front fender.

Red Runs the Clover

Summer Garage Day Four: Catastrophe

Session started off brilliantly.  Got the new momentary horn switch ($15 Amazon) which worked a whole lot better than the Dime City one I'd been using.  Swapped those over and did another round of cleaning up and zip tying the wires.

Had earlier taken apart the valves on Ivy's head and simply cleaned the edges up.  Did the leak test again and presto!  All fixed, no leaks.  Started reassembling her top end and it was all going swimmingly.

Then it all went south.

I was tightening the head bolts in order to line everything up so I could insert the camshaft.  I did get a sense that they seemed to be just going and going and even with the torque set so low at 16 ft-lb, it never stopped.

Really should have listened to my inner voice screaming, "STOP!"

Then the loud (and familiar) snap as the stud bolt snapped.  Second time.  Unbelievable.  Totally blame myself, though.

Just can't understand why it never stopped on the torque wrench.  I immediately tested the wrench on Red's head bolts and it was working fine.