Sunday, February 1, 2009

Carburetor and other stuff

I was able to tear down the carb and re-assemble it over the last few days. It is stock, save for the custom "machine screw addition" to the float bowls. I had purchased some allen head bolts to replace the soft phillips bolts that were supplied with the carb. During reassembly, a new allen bolt replaced the machine screw, and I think it will hold. If I take the shebang apart and put it together again frequently, I may run into some problems. We'll see. The plan, due to a variety of reasons, is to leave the stock carb as is, and jet to suit. After some research, I also found out that the idle screw has a cap covering it; that needs to be drilled out to accomplish any jetting changes when the airbox is modified, or the muffler is changed. Considering I have no airbox, and the exhaust system should be far less restrictive, I will definately need to do that. The good news is, the fuel screw can be replaced with an aftermarket "long" one to allow for easier changes. As for jet kits, the usual vendors apply. As you can see by the pic, it will be a bit lean!



I got the bolts back from Atom-Jet. Spent some time yesterday cutting them to the proper length (as in cutting off the un-needed thread length) and installing them on the bike. Rear swingarm pivot seems great! Front engine bolt appears to be bang-on as well, and I might just need another washer for the rear axle. Other than that, everything lines up the way it should.
I was also able to properly mount the radiator. Unfortunately, for now, I had to renege on my promise to not use any home depot hardware... however the lure of aluminum strap at a cheap price beckoned. It is easy to work with, light, and while not beautiful, could look worse. Over time I'll replace it with... something else.




I test-fit the upper fairing. Am still waiting for the nsr250 fairing stay I bought from the UK. How that works with the fairing will determine how well it sits on this bike. In the end, I'm still not convinced I will go with the full fairing. The kit as I bought it did include the rear seat, subframe, seat pad, battery box, rear tailight and licence plate mount. I might (for a variety of reasons) re-sell the front end of the kit and put something simpler out there. Still too soon to do anything... need to get it running first!



I needed a set of rearset levers -- both brake and shift levers. The only easily-available sets came from either woodcraft, at $40 each ($80), or OEM copies from Ebay for half of that. Both would also require new pegs; while I did get pegs with the rearset plates from Dave, the levers pivoted on the pegs, and it would be an expensive game of trial and error to see what would work properly. And the pegs are $25 per for solid mount ones (again from Woodcraft). Instead I found a set of SATO copies in the US for $88 buy it now. No, they aren't the real deal, but essentially identical ones made in Taiwan. By all accounts they are decent, and when they arrived I noticed that the levers pivoted on roller bearings. They are also very adjustable, both up and down and fore and aft. They required some modification to work with the frame, but in the end look pretty great. A Nissin rear master cylinder is on the way (9.99) to use with the rear caliper.



The next step might be taking the entire assembly to Cycleboys. I'm at the point where the oil tank needs to be built. I know the engine turns over OK, and that the starter works. I have the ECU in hand, but still need the regulator/rectifier. As well, the handlebar swichgear is still needed to get the engine turning over and running. I'm still waiting on header material to finish the pipe; Dad has the muffler in Fort Frances. This is really the only part of the built that I am shopping out to someone else. However, proper oil/lubrication is critical, so I don't want to mess it up. These Harley specialists have lots of experience with dry sump engines. Will have to think on that.

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