MY redneck donor bike....

As I'm sure is true with many of you... I don't count days until completion, I count $$ expenditures until completion: I'm only about $500 bucks away from being done.

My donor bike lived on the side of a barn in Virginia for 20 years or so.

Thankfully, the redneck gave up on welding after installing the re-bar hiway pegs... he didn't chop anything.



and here's where I am now: (please excuse the poor picture quality and layer of dust on the bike right now.....

everything (that's painted ) is indigo blue and the whole bike will be that color. Yes, those are my grand-daughter's socks in the plug holes.........



I decided to go with the 'bird in hand' concept for now and use my re-built amals and K&N filters rather than spend more $$ on a single carb manifold (you may recall my earlier query about converting to a single Amal) : at least for this season: My main goal is to try and get things running and on the road.


I'm infinitely thankful for this group of folks : If I loiter around and do enough searches, I can find answers to any question I have, Thanks to all.

now, If I can only get my motorcycle mechanic nephew to actually finish truing up the wheels ( I laced them but don't have a truing stand) and installing the tires. The biggest hurdle is that he's 20 something and in love, so my wheels are gathering dust.... :?

Karl

One quick question:

it looks like the R footpeg was bent in a lay-down and perhaps repaired with bar-stock. My shop manual doesn't show a picture of the footpegs without rubbers on them, can someone e-mail me a picture of a footpeg sans rubber? I THINK I need to do some work on them but don't know what stock pegs are supposed to look like.

thanks:

Karl

Footpeg is a round bar threaded at one end that screws into the footpeg mount. Mk3 had tapered shoulder, but all other years were square shoulder.
Sorry I don't have a picture, but it is quite simple.

Thanks, Ron: I guess it's actually the stock bar then......... I don't understand how the rubbers stay on: tight fit and mongo glue??

I'm just thinking that my clodhoppers would be constantly working the rubbers off the shaft.......

thanks again KFH

The peg rubbers do stay on quite well actually. I lube mine with dish soap before sliding them on, and when the soap dries, it's glued!

I love the "before" picture; another one of those really good ones that will make a fantastic "before and after" photo.

I love the "before" picture; another one of those really good ones that will make a fantastic "before and after" photo.

Click to expand...

I'm going to always keep a photo of that bike with the bike as I'm tooling around New England......

To add insult to injury , when I took the engine apart, I found out that the previous owner had taken the plugs out back in 1978 or so... so when I took the cylinders off, there was a cup of red clay in the cylinders.....

I have to say that the slurry of oil water and clay actually preserved things in the bottom end: once it was all disassembled, I found that the bearings were in incredibly good shape. That and the fact that the beast only had 4000 Miles on the odometer

I talked to my Romeo motorcycle nephew today... I'll have the trued and balanced wheels with brand new tires very soon!

I'll take a proper picture of this baby with the matching indigo blue/clear-coated sheet metal very shortly.

thanks for the great comments

karl


Another motivation for me to get this baby done is that one of my dearest friends hooked me up with this donor bike and hauled it up to me from virginia for a rediculous $200 bucks...... I just learned that he recently passed away, so I want to get this done in his honor.

I'll have WHEELS and NEW TIRES next weekend!!!!!!

when it actually rolls I'll really start to feel progress is being made!

Another NORTON put back on the road, GREAT job!!! I am doing the same thing with a 72 Combat, Keep up the GREAT work. Long live the Norton!!!!!! Sorry guys these stories just get me going, Chuck.

Really. As far along as Chip's bike was, it just didn't feel like real progress 'till I mounted the wheels and it rolled out into the light of day for the first time in 4 months.

Keep on it!

woohoo!!!!!

I just sent off the order for the last batch of parts and wiring stuff.......

(still no wheels..but I threatened my nephew's life, so hopefully next week!) I'll submit pix when I get the side covers and fenders painted and installed

in the next few weeks, I should be able to finally fire up the bike for the first time in 20+ years!

I'm all excited and my wife is getting mad because she's going to lose the bet that it will never run

but even SHE is impressed with the look of the bike as she's watched it come back together.

8)


my only question is this... the hagon shocks are pretty pricey: are there any good (and somewhat cheaper) shocks I can get that will work well for a 250 lb little guy like me?

thanks.....

Hagon are some of the more affordable "better quality" shock on the aftermarket.

HJB (HJC?) are almost as good, a bit more affordable, don't know about spring rate though.

NJB maybe what GP was talking about, they are based in the UK and run by an ex Girling techie who has his parts made in China. He will recommend spring rates etc but if you want variations he will fit what you ask for. I had him setup a pair of shocks for a B44 with twin springs for a 85lb average instead of the std 100lb and the handling is much improved perversely mostly at the front end.

http://www.njbshocks.co.uk/

those shocks seem to be a reasonably inexpensive alternative. for now, while I get things up and running, I'm going to paint the shocks. Once I get it onthe road, then I can save up for the 'not necessary but nice to have' items...... like a corbin gunfighter seat and new shocks.


thanks so much for all the feedback I get on this board..... It certainly helps this rookie shadetree mechanic get this baby running

karl