Will's '75 Commando custom restoration

splatt · Dec 12, 2008

looking nice,your client might find if he starts to ride those tyres close to their limits the rear shocks,iso's,head steady& front brake really start to show their british engineering quirks.I purchased my bike with a front brake assembly off a vtr1000,it actually looks smart,works well & fits reasonably easily,yes I know it's japanese but then so's a harley.I thought my bike was starting to mishandle after fitting road riders untill Irealised I was probably going through corners about 10 mph faster.Do you have a photo of those handle bars and how they fit with tank,they look quite interesting.

grandpaul · Jan 9, 2009

FINALLY got the cylinders completed and honed to match the new pistons, man they are SHARP. The damage to the liners cleaned up at .040,
so that's real good. The new valve lifters are installed and safety wired, head should have been ready today, but haven't got the word yet
and it's only a half hour till the shop closes.

The welding on the fins is visible, but not noticeable. The deck has been re-surfaced as well; barely a thousandth was needed to clean it up,
so shouldn't affect compression or rocker angle at all-

"Jugs & Slugs"

grandpaul · Jan 10, 2009

Had a few hours to concentrate, so I got the tranny done virtually uninterrupted!

Pulled apart the tranny and it looked like it had been run with low oil level-

The bushing in the kickstarter gear was chipping away, new bushing.

All parts clean & spiffy-

grandpaul · Jan 10, 2009

Clean tranny cases-

Clean cluster-

Assembled innards-

grandpaul · Jan 10, 2009

All done-

New sprocket, too!

grandpaul · Jan 12, 2009

Top end all nipped up!

Tomorrow will be the cam drive, oil pump & primary...

Seeley920 · Jan 12, 2009

Gearbox

Hi GP,

How you gonna change gear without the roller in the quadrant??

grandpaul · Jan 12, 2009

The inner cover is still loose 'till I press in the new bushing for the kicker gear. It'll go back in then. (Notice the tranny is just laying in it's cradle, not mounted yet)

Seeley920 · Jan 12, 2009

OK, just checking

grandpaul · Jan 14, 2009

Head steady all done, coils installed, rocker oil feed pipe done, rocker caps in place, wiring harness in place.

I seem to have misplaced all the pinion keys, so the cam drive is on hold 'till new ones get here; took the opportunity to order
a bunch more last minute bits & bobs to get it all done in one shipment (yeah, right).

grandpaul · Jan 14, 2009

Today I got the Z-plates & exhaust done, and the tranny mounted properly-

grandpaul · Jan 15, 2009

Quick mockup using my tank & Corbin seat just to see what it's shaping up like-

grandpaul · Jan 15, 2009

Carbs were really filthy, one had a severely stuck slide-

Both mains, and both needle jets broke off as soon as I applied the wrench, like they were almost corroded through-

The bowls were full of flaky trash-

Cleaned up, but not done. These will need re-sleeving and new main jets (I had the needle jets on the shelf). Also, wierdly, there was only one needle clip (in the carb with the stuck slide). the new formulation of Berryman's Chem Dip is virtually useless; I need to find some of the old cancer-causing formula.

grandpaul · Jan 16, 2009

Temorarily installed the carbs to get all the hardware sorted. It took over an hour to dig through all the new Cad plated stuff to find
4 matching allen head screws for the manifolds, and 4 matching sets of thin-wall nuts & washers to be able to fit a thin-walled
socket in there to do up the carb nuts. YEEF!

Also completed the sidestand & centerstand, just can't seem to find the proper sidestand spring at the moment...

grandpaul · Jan 16, 2009

Stuff you can't see, but got done, also include swingarm pins w/ nuts & rubber caps, wicking plugs & welch plugs, and top head steady rubber mounts. Those two line items (swingarm & top head steady) are complete.

grandpaul · Jan 16, 2009

Received all the new Woodruff keys and installed the camchain and associated pinions, as well as the oil pump. The timing chest can be closed now,
but I prefer to wait till later on to install the polished covers so as not to smudge them.

Fabricated a mounting plate for the Sparx ignition blackbox, just need to re-drill to enlarge the mounting at the coil clamps with larger screws,
and paint the plate.

grandpaul · Jan 17, 2009

I flipped the bike around after hooking up some of the basic wiring including the ignition, zener diodes & plug leads. Installed the crank seal
(not shown) just after I snapped this shot then stopped for chow. Should have the primary done by this evening.

grandpaul · Jan 17, 2009

oops, wrong thread.

grandpaul · Jan 17, 2009

oopsy II.

grandpaul · Jan 17, 2009

Basically got the "electrical area" done - Rectifier, capacitor & dual Zener diodes.

Scuffed up the plain steel clutch plates then gave 'em a nice bath and laid out the stack-

Stack height with pressure plate = 1.035" (approx)

Total stack including friction, plain and pressure plates should result in a very nice clutch feel. I also dug
up a "Dyno Dave" clutch rod seal that I need to clean up and install; always a nice touch.