72 Combat Proddy Build

swooshdave · Apr 10, 2011

grandpaul said:
So, do your neighbors all open thier gates and set out lawn chairs to watch you guys ride up and down, just waiting for one of you to grab the front brake a bit too much and then bike some dust?

I think we are slightly better riders than that. It's a back alley so it's all fenced. The closest I can was goosing the throttle on the mossy, muddy center part of the road and the back end broke sideways. I corrected nicely (i.e. bike remained upright) but I thought something had come loose, mostly because I haven't fully tightened everything up.

Apparently the low rumble of the Norton was less offensive than the one time I whipped the Pursang (nominal exhaust) down the alley a few times and there may or may not have been a constable called...

Hobot · Apr 11, 2011

Torque is fun, until on the slick or loose stuff, until going at ballistic speeds the nieghboors would be on ladders and trees to listen and see. I highly recommend while in back alley mud ways testing, you lower air pressure to mid to upper 20's and widen the air balance gap to 3 lb lower in front than back. This will allow more blip w/o slip and more tendency of rear to slide than front. Never ever front brake going slow on low tract surfaces with the forks turned any at all whatsoever. Slow means down to about to put feet down SPLAT speeds, Only takes once on a bit of grit on drive way to impress neighbors and family and you.

Everyone loves a good tuned engine at low power and idle, soothing. Go to other neighbor hood to give er the gun, keeping in mind a good pair of peashooters project at least 1/2 mile. But on 4th of July or other noisey days, fun to let the surrounds know there's a real beast lurking. When out in woods at dusk, try hi gear just off idle cruise and see what it attracts.

swooshdave · Apr 11, 2011

hobot said:
I highly recommend while in back alley mud ways testing, you lower air pressure to mid to upper 20's and widen the air balance gap to 3 lb lower in front than back.

Alley is paved, not all in the neighborhood are. There is just the middle where the vegetation and dirt accumulates.

hobot said:
When out in woods at dusk, try hi gear just off idle cruise and see what it attracts.

I'm guessing a sasquatch or two. But they are like fleas out here, Luckily they mostly leave you alone.

swooshdave · Apr 14, 2011

K&N Air Filter and one set of turn signals ordered.

Also got the brake switch on order. About $17 with shipping which still probably would have beat the other places which wanted about $15 + shipping for the part.

I actually only need a mirror to make it legal to register, and probably the working brake light. Old Britts has a clamp on stalk mirror for about $8. Might order that along with the exhaust rubbers I need.

Hobot · Apr 14, 2011

Take my word for it get 2 Two mirrors if you do any city-town driving or too easy to sneak up on a blind side. Test hanging them under the bars, if your set up allows.

swooshdave · Apr 14, 2011

hobot said:
Take my word for it get 2 Two mirrors if you do any city-town driving or too easy to sneak up on a blind side. Test hanging them under the bars, if your set up allows.

Yeah, the plan is for two mirrors but I'll probably go bar ends at some point. The cheap single is just to get it registered.

swooshdave · Apr 18, 2011

Bunch of packages showed up today.

But not much in each one.

First up, mirror. Ugly? Perhaps. But that just made the bike legal to ride. :mrgreen:

Next was trying out the turn signals. The are diminutive LEDs which I hope will be unobtrusive yet viable. If you recall from the previous photo there is a space behind the headlight bolt. And they work. Not beautiful but... I'm not too concerned because I still have to see what I will do with the fairing (spoiler, you might want to check back this weekend :mrgreen: ).

I don't think they will work on the back without more work. I only got one pair so I'm just trying out the back. Luckily I have another option for the back, eh.

swooshdave · Apr 18, 2011

The Austin brake light switch.

It looks too long. Anyone have a measurement on the stock version?

swooshdave · Apr 18, 2011

I got two more muffler mounts. So at least they match, on each side. :mrgreen:

But I'm still hitting the primary cover. Even with an extra washer to move it out. Still need more tweaking...

Hobot · Apr 19, 2011

The threaded stalk on my '72 original with round bullet terminals is 0.542" long.

swooshdave · Apr 19, 2011

I had to actually remove the front fender to get the wheel off. Probably could have got it if it was on the ground but two feet off the floor and I was going to not take any risks.

I need to call Gary at DBR tomorrow to arrange shipping the rotor off. No fancy drilling.

swooshdave · Apr 20, 2011

swooshdave said:
I need to call Gary at DBR tomorrow to arrange shipping the rotor off. No fancy drilling.

Gary said that they are closed over Easter so I won't ship until Friday.

For my notes:

DBR
Attn: Gary Hollowich
PO Box 450
Caseyville, Illinois 62232

swooshdave · Apr 22, 2011

Shipped brake disk off to Gary today. I think he said he'd have it turned around next week.

Kickstart seal would have been here yesterday except some dumbass enter the wrong address even though said dumbass has been living at said address for far too many years. Doh. Will re-order and get it next week. Rock Auto even has an address checker that dumbass ignored. Price of stupidity? About $2.50 in lost shipping.

But! The K&N filter showed up. :mrgreen: It was $30 with free shipping(!). This is less than the stock filter. This is less than someone on the forum was selling a used filter for. Needless to say I was pleased.

And I got some help filming. Well, for part of it. Enjoy.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCpMi9DKvaE[/video]

It went in relatively smoothly considering I couldn't get to the timing side of the bike. I may have to tweak the bellows when I get around to that side, but it went ok. The putty knife was helpful.

Basically the air filter is good for a long, long while. Probably for longer than I'll be riding the bike. Bonus.

T95 · Apr 23, 2011

swooshdave said:
Shipped brake disk off to Gary today. I think he said he'd have it turned around next week.

And I got some help filming. Well, for part of it. Enjoy.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCpMi9DKvaE[/video]

Please tell your camera woman she did a great job and she made that fun to watch! Oh Yah, Dad does some nice work too.
It went in relatively smoothly considering I couldn't get to the timing side of the bike. I may have to tweak the bellows when I get around to that side, but it went ok. The putty knife was helpful.

Basically the air filter is good for a long, long while. Probably for longer than I'll be riding the bike. Bonus.

swooshdave · Apr 23, 2011

Fairing bracket. Inside the boxes is A65 head and barrel. Other box is a pair of Triumph barrels. Under that black plastic is the "power egg", fuck all it's heavy. Should have called it the Heavy Egg.

So you can see why I haven't been fretting over the headlight mounts or turnsignal location. I have this thing to work around now. :mrgreen:

swooshdave · Apr 29, 2011

Messed with the exhaust some more. Gained a little clearance between the primary cover. I suspect I'll have problems sooner or later. The exhaust mounts twist the muffler too much. Not much I can do. Perhaps different pipes might work better. I don't know.

Still waiting for kickstart seal, I'll probably do that next weekend.

And front brake.

grandpaul · Apr 29, 2011

You should fit up all your brackets loosely, with the headers fitted up loosely in the mufflers and the finned retainer nuts slightly loose.

Next, shim up all points with tight gaps (such as at your primary).

Lastly, start tightening everything up equally from side-tot-side, starting from the rear.

When it's all nipped up, pull your shims and all should be well.

batrider · Apr 29, 2011

Had similar problem fitting some Togas. Muffler was far from brackets (inches) and the front part of the header pipe was very close to the primary case on the left side. I used several 2x4s against the frame and primary case and a 6' bar in the end of the header pipe. I also tied the pipe to the frame rail near the head with some heavy stainless steel wire. Exhaust nut was snugged up lightly in the head and then the bar was moved towards the rear wheel to bend the pipe into position. If all works out well then both muffler exits will end up even, looking from the rear. I had to overbend it a bit because it is springy but it worked. Hopefully your exhaust threads are in good shape. It seems this is standard procedure with aftermarket pipes. If you could build a bending fixture attached to something secure like a heavy workbench then it would probably be safer.

Grandpaul's method sounds great but my exhaust wasn't even close to allowing the hardware to be used. I suppose longer bolts could be used to draw the pipe into position the first time. I will probably try it now to fine tune mine. I'm still pretty close to sidestand nut.

grandpaul · Apr 30, 2011

batrider said:
... If you could build a bending fixture attached to something secure like a heavy workbench then it would probably be safer.

... I suppose longer bolts could be used to draw the pipe into position the first time. I will probably try it now to fine tune mine. I'm still pretty close to sidestand nut.

Very good suggestions, especially the longer bolts for first-time fit-up, I've done that a time or two!

swooshdave · Apr 30, 2011

grandpaul said:
batrider said:

... If you could build a bending fixture attached to something secure like a heavy workbench then it would probably be safer.

... I suppose longer bolts could be used to draw the pipe into position the first time. I will probably try it now to fine tune mine. I'm still pretty close to sidestand nut.

Click to expand...

Very good suggestions, especially the longer bolts for first-time fit-up, I've done that a time or two!

Luckily I'm not far off. Less than an inch in places. I think the shimming will work. Thanks for the suggestion.