looking good

I took a run up to EPS powder coaters this morning.

Only got stuck in the snow once! It was worth it just to get my bits back.
The bars and fork sliders look good. I also received the new bolts for the damper assembly through the post but have to order stainless ones for the clamp.
Then, when I get the oil through in the next day or two, I'll be able to put them back together. I've had to order 20W fork oil from Opie Oils, an on-line supplier which gives a discount to HDRCGB members (I'm certainly getting my annual membership fee back), as I couldn't find anywhere else to buy heavy-weight fork oil. It seems that a lot of manufacturers are using lighter and lighter weight oils in their forks. As H-D, and their Japanese suppliers of forks, are still agricultural in their builds I needed heavier stuff.
I can also get the wiring off the bike and route it through the bars. I'll be able to bring them into the house and do that in the warmth and with enough light to see!

all black and ready to begin re-wiring

front brakes

I decided to strip down the front brake calipers to see how much it would take to refurbish them back to an"almost new" state. One of the calipers has a bit of damage. Looks like the bike it was on has been in a spill. One of the bridge bolts which holds the caliper together has been scraped and there's a mark on the body of the caliper its-self. It's not so bad that the caliper wouldn't fit or work but cosmetically it looks not too good. the other side is better. No doubt I could fit them and they'd work fine but I thought I'd see if I could make them look better anyway.

I got them stripped down easily and now I've got the two halves of the calipers apart I think I'm going to rebuild them completely. The pistons look a bit corroded though I won't know what the inside will be like until I get them out.
To do that I decided to buy a set of brake piston pliers. They weren't that expensive, so, although I probably wont use them very often, they will be handy this time and therefore worth it. I will need to get on-line to buy a rebuild kit. Custom Chrome do one which is about £40 per caliper. As this is about half of the price of a Harley kit it will be well worth sourcing a couple on the web.

I may even get them powder-coated a shiny black.
Will put up pics of the job as I go along.

stupid mistakes

I've just spent the morning sweeping out my garage.
This was after spilling a couple of pints of petrol on the floor yesterday. One of these days I'll learn and get things right when I'm removing the tank. This time I was sure I was all ready to get the pipes disconnected. I had a petrol can with a length of pipe handy and I had a screw to fit into the end of the crossover pipe. Problem was the pipe was a tight fit. I had loosened off both sides and when pulling it, pulled it off the side away from me as well as the side I was working at and had a screw ready to plug.
As soon as I realised that there was petrol pouring out of the far side I rushed round the bike to get the pipe fitted back on. That was when the tube going into the petrol can popped off. Now I had gas spilling out from both sides of the tank.
By the time I had got a funnel to catch the leaking fluid there was a spreading puddle all over the garage floor and I was soaked from the rags I was kneeling on soaking up petrol into my jeans.
I got the tank off, laid aside and spread cat-litter all over the floor.
Sweeping that up was what took up most of my morning. Wonder if I'll ever learn?

typical ..

.... I've just taken the bike off the road and the weather is ideal for riding!

At least the garage is not too cold and I can get a load of stuff removed from the bike while the light still allows. Sometimes when the weather is lousy the light is so bad I can hardly work even during the day.

I took the battery out a couple of days ago and now have realised that I jumped the gun a bit. I should run the engine with the fuel pump disconnected to relieve the pressure of the fuel in the system. Not that there's much gas in the tank. I syphoned that off earlier (and gave myself a mouth-full at the same time!)
So I'll have to see if I can find a long lead to connect the battery without fitting it back in the bike as the fit is so tight it's a pain getting it out. Maybe the ones on the Optimate will do the job.
I was looking at the gas tank and feel that the dash gives the bike a better look than it would with a big gap which the higher bars will leave. Also, the gauges being on the tank will give a slicker look to the top yoke, not having a speedo on there. I'll buy a stretched tank for a carb model which has two gas caps. The fuel gauge is an extra I can live without as it never works accurately anyway.

moving on at last!

I bought a long allen bit and at last got the left hand fork dismantled.
That meant I could get back to the powder-coaters with them. I'm picking the fork legs and the handle bars up next week.

As I've got a week off work I should be able to make a go at getting the bars re-wired and rebuilding the forks. Then, as soon as I've got the money together in the New Year, I can get along to Area 51 and work out how I want the front end to look like. I'm considering sixteen inch wide yokes. That's just a couple of inches wider than the stock night train front end but with the larger diameter tubes, the wider wheel and twin disc set-up the effect should be much beefier.

I'm still toying with the idea of buying some of the more expensive stuff "pre VAT increase". Then they'll be paid for and, although I wont be ready to fit them they will be there when needed. I'm thinking about the exhausts, the tank and the speedo though each of them have alternatives and I'm still swithering over which to get.
Once bought I'll be committed to that look or set up so will need to be sure before spending.

When it comes to the tank and speedo It'd probably be better to do as much I can at once. That way I'll be able to get rid of both the EFI and maybe even the ECM units as their functions will be taken over by non electronic bits.

fork leg

I'm not going to let this beat me!
I managed to get one leg stripped down, no bother at all. The left one is a different matter all together. That's the one without the removable clamp so it needs a long allen key to reach.
Firstly, I didn't have any metric allen keys! Then when I bought some, I found that I couldn't get any purchase on the bolt. What I need is a long bit, so I can use a ratchet on it. More stuff I need to buy!
I have ordered one from e-bay so will need to wait and be patient. I was hoping to drop the lowers off at the powder coaters before my bars are ready.
Never mind I've got all winter!

good news....and bad!

The front mudguard I bought from e-bay arrived this morning. It's as narrow as the one on my night train which has a twenty-one inch skinny tyre. It does cover the wider, nineteen inch dyna wheel which I hope to fit but I'm sure that the wider fat bob would have looked just that bit chunkier. Fat bob guards don't come up that often on e-bay but I'll keep my eyes open. ' Doubt I'll get as good a bargain as I did on this one though. (And it's even the right colour.)
Well, that's the good news. The bad is, I think I'm going to have to fit the fork legs back together again in order to unscrew the seat pipe screws from the bottom of the fork legs. They are able to rotate in the leg so there has to be some pressure from the assembly to allow them to be loosened. The manual (which I downloaded an electronic version of for a couple of quid) says to loosen the screws without unfastening them before relieving the tension by removing the fork leg caps.
Oh well, you live and learn!

moving on ....slowly

I dropped my bars off at EPS powder coaters this afternoon. As I'm getting them to strip the chrome before coating them satin black, they have no idea how long they'll be or just how much they will cost.
Oh well, that's the cost of getting it right!

I used up the money in my pay-pal account buying some more bits and pieces that I will need. As well as tools, like the Optimate 4, a fork seal tool and metric sockets, I bought a brake light switch and a black ignition switch (which was the last one in the auction). Some of these things will just go on the shelf as they won't be used until I have bought and fitted some of the more expensive items.
Things like the tank, exhaust, speedometer and air filter I'll get round to buying when I can afford them. It would be good if I could buy some of these more expensive items before VAT goes up in January. But, as it will come to over a grand, I doubt if I can afford them all.
Smaller items, like front and rear stainless brake-lines, front bullet indicators and the tank fittings (petcock), I'll pick up as I go along. At least that way I'll have them to hand once the work begins.
I am tempted to ride the bike to Area 51, drop off the bits and leave the rest to them. Apart from being much more expensive I just wouldn't get the satisfaction that I will doing as much as I can myself.

Though I could do sooo much more if I had power in my garage!

fork 'n metrics

I've got a couple of days off work this week, so I started to strip down the forks to get them to the powder coaters along with my bars. I thought that I'd strip the callipers too and get them ready to do a mock up to see if everything would fit together.

That's when I found out that not all Harley fasteners are good ol' imperial sizes. My allen keys wouldn't fit, nor would any of my sockets when I tried to replace the brake pads.
A bit of research on the net and I discovered that the forks are made by Showa in Japan and therefore have metric fasteners. I'm not sure if the threads on the brake mounting bolts are metric or imperial or if its just the heads. There are some metric threads on the spindle retaining clamp so I'll order some stainless ones for that. Then there are the mud-guard bolts! Are they metric or imperial? I've bought a bob front guard on e-bay so no doubt will have to order new fasteners for that too.

Off to the tool shop soon to buy some metric sockets.