My MKIII rebuild

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Its hard living in Australia 100km south of Sydney. We have to ride all year no snow or ice on the coast roads, just rain some times. Must be why we wear our bikes out :mrgreen: and have to look to the US for low milage old bikes that get put into winter storage and some must never get back on the road with the low speedo readings that turn up over here imported from the US.
Ian
 
Coco,

Are you kidding? Where are my spurs? Turn off the TV and get it finished. What is the hold up? That bike ought to have all the bugs worked out and should be in a fine state of tune come Spring. What do you need to finish it? It was close to being finished back in July! You can't make a career out of this project....you still got a Sportster to build. C'mon....shake a leg. Wouldn't you like to crank it once a week rather than a dry kick it over once a week? If there are issues to be addressed, wouldn't you like to know it now rather than waiting until Spring. Sounds like builder's block or burnout to me....work through it.

Seriously, besides a little labor, what do you need to go ahead and finish it? Did you get the wiring done? If not, let me know what you have/how you want it and I'll put to a wiring schematic for you.

Don't ask Matt how to preserve the engine over the winter, ask him if you ought to getting running now or in the Spring.


Z
 
zackybilly1 said:
Coco,

Are you kidding? Where are my spurs? Turn off the TV and get it finished. What is the hold up? That bike ought to have all the bugs worked out and should be in a fine state of tune come Spring. What do you need to finish it? It was close to being finished back in July! You can't make a career out of this project....you still got a Sportster to build. C'mon....shake a leg. Wouldn't you like to crank it once a week rather than a dry kick it over once a week? If there are issues to be addressed, wouldn't you like to know it now rather than waiting until Spring. Sounds like builder's block or burnout to me....work through it.

Seriously, besides a little labor, what do you need to go ahead and finish it? Did you get the wiring done? If not, let me know what you have/how you want it and I'll put to a wiring schematic for you.

Don't ask Matt how to preserve the engine over the winter, ask him if you ought to getting running now or in the Spring.


Z
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Damn.

I deserve it I know as I'm slow. Not really block or burnout. This is my very first foray into motorcycle mechanics. Most start with a tune up but I started with a total rebuild. I'm slow a lot of times simply because I don't know what to do so I research then dive in, and try to figure things out as I go.

I am almost done.....really. I just have to slice a tab off my upper fork tree to fit a custom console and wire in the headlight bucket guts and install my exhaust pipes. Thats it! I've probably got maybe 6 - 8 hours of work left then fine tuning the carb, timing ect.

Matt mentioned it's ok not to do anything and leave the motor over the winter so instead of doing the first run in and storing the bike I was just going to do the whole break in procedure in one shot in the spring. and then proceed to ride the tires off this thing.
 
Hortons Norton said:
I agree put it in the house, I'm married and got away with it. Then you can check on it more often and talk to it, Have you named your bike yet? But on a more serious note I think the cold won't hurt it but moisture would. So if it's dry I think your o.k. Must be tough to wait being so close and yet so far. It will come soon, And hope to see you in Lumby. Chuck.
My MKIII rebuild
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No room in the house unfortunately although if there was space my girlfriend wouln't bat an eye at having the bike inside. There's just no room. No name for the bike although my girlfriend calls it the other woman.
 
The situation may seem complicated, but the solution is simple. Something else has gotta go. I'm not being completely facetious. You mentioned a possible crime problem and it might be worth almost any inconvienience. I built my first Commando on the third floor an Old Victorian. Hired some piano movers to bring it down the stairs. Never worried a minute about it getting stolen till it was in the garage.
 
Third floor! Wow that beats the heck out of when I lived in Boston and brought mine up the steps to the second floor balcony.
In college I parked it in what should have been a dining room, but that was easy to get to being almost flat.
 
Winter is over up here and heat can be kept in my garage so I've been busy. Got most of the electrical done and the hydraulic clutch installed. I need to finish off the wiring up front (headlight, instruments, warning lights) then I need to fab a seat mount bracket to keep that Wilcox seat on. Bracket will be a simple "U" shape squared off. I'll mount it off the insides of the upper shock mount bolts then bolt the seat to the braket. CNW z-plates have been removed and I put the originals back on. The CNW billet ones look too out of place so the originals went back on with a fresh polish.

No camera right now so I'll get some shots up soon.
 
grandpaul said:
Now THAT was a LONG winter!
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No doubt. I stopped working on it in late October 09 and started again at the end of March/beginning of April 2010. I have an old garage with cracks and gaps so the heat won't stay in when it is really cold out. I worked on a Triumph motor indoors all winter instead.

Things are looking up though. +21 C tomorrow.
 
Got everything connected up front finally. Lots going on up there.

My MKIII rebuild


I also mounted a headlight/brights switch on the coil mount.

My MKIII rebuild
 
I used an older battery tray to give me some more room to fit the items I didn't want seen.

My MKIII rebuild


The downside is I just bought a new K&N filter before I decided to use the old tray which is now too long, so now I have to buy a new pancake filter. K&N's are not cheap. :(
 
Very nice work Coco, Do you feel you will have it done in time for Lumby? Looks like an awesome build you have going there, For what it's worth I have a new pancake filter if your interested, Just pm me. Keep up the great work, Chuck H.
 
Hortons Norton said:
Very nice work Coco, Do you feel you will have it done in time for Lumby? Looks like an awesome build you have going there, For what it's worth I have a new pancake filter if your interested, Just pm me. Keep up the great work, Chuck H.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I need one. I contacted Stan at Rocky Point about one since he has ones that are 1" thick and that's what I need but have not heard back yet. I have a 36mm Mikuni and am unsure if all the stubbs are the same size.

This bike will be up and running in 2 weeks. I have power coming to the headlight/brights and as well to my volt meter, instrument lights and the birghts idiot light so I just have to make a few connections and test the horn and neutral light switch but I ran out of bullet connectors which I'll get tomorrow. I'll install exhaust tomorrow probably and go from there. I want to start with the engine break in within 2 weeks then drive the balls off the thing.

I'd love to take it to Lumby but I'll be in mid swing of a vacation with my girlfriend so we're only going to be there on the last day (?) or on the Saturday anyway. I'll make sure to look for your bike if you'll be there.
 
swooshdave said:
Coco said:
I also mounted a headlight/brights switch on the coil mount.[/img]
Click to expand...

Why put the switch there?
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I didn't want one on the bars. Depending on how easy this thing is to kick over, I may even remove the e-start switch and starter and just have a killl switch. I don't like all that stuff on the bars and I usually leave the brights on all the time anyway so I won't use the switch much so I hid it out of view. I'm wierd like that.
 
Your stainless isos look nice. I have been thinking about a set like that. Did they come from CNW?
Bill G
 
Bill G said:
Your stainless isos look nice. I have been thinking about a set like that. Did they come from CNW?
Bill G
Click to expand...

I did buy them from CNW. They look so much better than a rubber dust cover.
 
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