I purchased the bike from an old vet biker by the name of Bird. He gave me a title and a lien release with the bike. I thought that I could register it but failed to notice that the lien release was not notarized. The title was last transferred in 1983 by the original owner, Mr. Greene. The second only put 2300 miles on the bike before he parked it. From the looks of the valves, I suspect it was burning oil and fouling plugs on the right side. I don't know if the 2nd owner ever paid Mr. Greene for the bike.
Through the marvel of the internet, I learned that Mr. Greene had made his transition to the Great Beyond about 8 years ago. I thought that I would never get the title. But as luck would have it, I found his widow on Facebook and she was kind enough to notarize the form for me. Her comment about the bike was that she loved it because it "roared like a man"! I've promised to stay in touch with her throughout the build. Thank you Shelia! You're the best.
Maybe someone knows the history of this bike.
I'm now the 3rd owner.
The carbs are frozen in the bores:
The transmission was clean inside:
New fork legs are needed:
What have I done????????? Ahhhhhhhhh...
Rusty frame damage:
Voila'
The lump:
The left exhaust port has had a repair:
The right exhaust port is fine:
The bottom is debride in preparation for splitting the cases:
All cleaned up:
The lump is frozen because there was an inch and a half of water in the right cylinder. I hope that the bores can be saved:
There is a lot of carbon on the right cylinder head dome and valves:
The left looks fine: