1
The deeper you dig........ Thu Aug 06, 2015 4:34 pm
sidecar paul
Life time member
On Monday I decided to replace the handlebars, levers and top yoke on the outfit with some newly painted ones that I've had lying around for a year or more.
Oh, while the old top yoke is off, I might as well replace the split rubber boots between the forks and fairing.
Of course, that means removing the front wheel, mudguard, brakes, fork legs and all sorts of bits and pieces that get in the way.
With the forks dismantled, I suppose they could do with re-painting. (These are Wasp forks, not the standard BMW forks.)
All day Wednesday was spent manually scraping off all the powder coating. Even the areas that looked good had still suffered from the creeping rust sickness that seems common with powder coating and previous smooth areas had an 'orange peel' surface caused by rust under the coating. All the bits have now had two coats of primer and three coats of Plasti-kote; now hanging in the workshop to harden while I go off camping for the weekend on the Vincent.
Ah, now the front end is out of the way, I could have a look to see why the fan hasn't been working lately. No fan isn't too much of a problem in the UK, but it does need sorting. So, off with the radiator to find a big blob of melted plastic where a fan motor brush used to be.
I guess that 29 year old radiator hoses are well past their sell-by date, so a new set along with a new fan are on order from 'bins.
Now, what's this, with all this access I can see a split in No1 throttle body rubber. Ah, that would explain the odd behaviour of my mercury gauge on No1 cylinder when setting the by-pass screws.
What will I find next? I wonder, will I end up as far as the output shaft?.......I could put the 12 riveter in!!!
Paul.
It's a good job I've got the solo K and the Vincent to keep me sane.
Oh, while the old top yoke is off, I might as well replace the split rubber boots between the forks and fairing.
Of course, that means removing the front wheel, mudguard, brakes, fork legs and all sorts of bits and pieces that get in the way.
With the forks dismantled, I suppose they could do with re-painting. (These are Wasp forks, not the standard BMW forks.)
All day Wednesday was spent manually scraping off all the powder coating. Even the areas that looked good had still suffered from the creeping rust sickness that seems common with powder coating and previous smooth areas had an 'orange peel' surface caused by rust under the coating. All the bits have now had two coats of primer and three coats of Plasti-kote; now hanging in the workshop to harden while I go off camping for the weekend on the Vincent.
Ah, now the front end is out of the way, I could have a look to see why the fan hasn't been working lately. No fan isn't too much of a problem in the UK, but it does need sorting. So, off with the radiator to find a big blob of melted plastic where a fan motor brush used to be.
I guess that 29 year old radiator hoses are well past their sell-by date, so a new set along with a new fan are on order from 'bins.
Now, what's this, with all this access I can see a split in No1 throttle body rubber. Ah, that would explain the odd behaviour of my mercury gauge on No1 cylinder when setting the by-pass screws.
What will I find next? I wonder, will I end up as far as the output shaft?.......I could put the 12 riveter in!!!
Paul.
It's a good job I've got the solo K and the Vincent to keep me sane.
__________________________________________________
'84 K100RS (0014643) (owned since '85), 86 K100RS (0018891) with Martello sidecar (built as an outfit in '88),
'51 Vincent (since '67),'72 Montesa Cota (from new), '87 Honda RS125R NF4 (bought 2015)
....No CARS never ever!
