The Front guard

Wow, I'm still on cloud nine knowing that the old girl runs, and so far... seems to run nice!

I have been feeling in a 'hacking' mood, so got to with the dremel and chopped the frong guard down.  Looks goodly me thinks.  A bit of a sandblast, panel beat, and lick of black paint, and she'll be sweeter than a bag of sunburst jubes.

Dieing to get the headlight and wiring sorted, so I can tidy up the front end.  Ordered a reproduction front brake master cylinder yesterday... for $50AU including lever and all! :) Awesome.  Hope its good.

Next thing is to pull down the front brake calipers and rebuild them.  I have the parts, just need to do it. :)  Hoping that its not too hard. 

Then somehow... I need to earn some more money so I can get a chain and sprockets, change the oil and then time for a test ride at the local carpark!

The First Breath!

All wired up again... a check of the oil, a drop of gas, a few extra volts in the battery, thanks to an uber car charger, and much winding of the starter,  she dribbled into life! 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnhgubFBMj0&feature=youtu.be

All my excitement was quickly overshadowed by D's applauding entry to the shed, quickly followed by "umm... you'd better kill it... there's um... a lot of ... umm... FUEL LEAKING OUT OF IT!"  heheheh... sticky float syndrome..

A few well placed wacks of the offiending carb, with the handle of a hammer, and voila! She started to free up.  Though there seems to be a leaky float screw, (easy fix ... I hope), which is still causing some leakage... I'm sure i'll be able to get it fixed up easily enough.

Can't wait to get things tidied up some more and get the headlight etc sorted... and put a chain on it, to have a paddock ride :)

PS.  After removing all the standard rubbish that got stripped... the bike is infinately easier to push around!  Seems its been reduced in weight by like 20 kg! hehehehe.

The Build up - Part... umm... lost count

It seems like I only get 10 mins here and there to work on the steed.  It urks me how 'life' constantly gets in the way of what really matters.... building my motorcycle!

I finally got the right fork polished up.  There's still some 'staining' but I have no idea how to polish it out... it just won't budge!  Must just be some discolouration in the alloy.  When I get the forks rebuilt after my first ride, I'll get the boys to wack the forks over the buffer and see if they can clean it up more.

Below a quick mock up.  She's taking shape!

 I think I have finally decided to do the tank black.  Wahoo!  A decision!  (bet I change my mind next week! hehehehe)  I love the idea of the tank gloss black up top, the white horizontal line, and matt black underneath to hide the shape of the bottom of the tank.  That, and my other realisation, that the wheels should be polished.  The red tank makes it a little difficult to visualise, but the other photos below, give you a better idea...Think it'll look better than Kate Beckinsale on the red carpet...and thats sayin' somethin'. :)

 Damn, those 'Bars look bad ass.  Can't wait to get my new LHS switch, clutch lever and head light from the boys at 'Dime City Cycles' in the US.  These guys are the best at doing CB450 Cafe's... my next project.

http://dimecitycycles.com/ 

 See!  I told you its easier to imagine the black tank!  Hmm... come to think of it... wonder what the wheels would look like sandblasted... That could look cool!

 Finally have thrown the wiring harness in.... now to re-route and tidy up.  Have to wait till I get my new head light first though..... otherwise could stuff it up!  As Dad always taught me... "Measure twice, cut once!".

Check out my nifty little indicators, as used by the boys at 'Wrench Monkees'.  The little alloy bodied 'winkers' as they are known as in Europe, are just sexy.  Took me around 2 hours to drill out the frame lug, and modify the fixing nuts to grind them down to fit inside the frame tube.  But damn.. they look hot!  

Onwards and upwards, on to making brakets for the front indicators.  I want them fixed to the lower triple tree fork bolt.  Bit more minor fabrication coming up!