Easy Rider? Not so much...

[parallel]

... at least not until I can get this thing back together. I'm so bogged down in the details that it's taking me much longer than I had hoped. The benefits of Motorcycle Therapy are fading without any time in the saddle. The thing is that every time I think about taking a shortcut or leaving something uncleaned or unpolished I can just hear my Dad saying; "don't do it at all if you're going to do it half assed."

At least it's looking like a motorcycle again...

 

[Vermiform]

Take your time with it. Enjoy the time you spend on the details. Some people weave baskets for anti-stress therapy. You are restoring a steel horse to its former glory. You get 3 "caveman grunts" of approval from me!

 

[LACamper]

Throwing it back together so you can take a 'test ride' is not doing it half way. That's just part of the test&eval phase.

 

[parallel]

Thanks y'all. I've decided to compromise. I'm going to forgo removing and polishing the engine cases until after I've gotten it up and running. I figure with the bike having sat for 20 years it wouldn't hurt to change the fluids, run it for a bit and then change them again, thus allowing the covers to be taken off and dealt with after running it first. Plus the added bonus of riding it, even if just around the neighborhood, that much sooner.

 

[Neil09]

Thanks y'all. I've decided to compromise. I'm going to forgo removing and polishing the engine cases until after I've gotten it up and running. I figure with the bike having sat for 20 years it wouldn't hurt to change the fluids, run it for a bit and then change them again, thus allowing the covers to be taken off and dealt with after running it first. Plus the added bonus of riding it, even if just around the neighborhood, that much sooner.

Sounds like a good idea. Will give you a little more encouragement to get it done, and know what's waiting for you. Looks good.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[parallel]

I guess I shouldn't be surprised that these 35 year old Mikuni MK2 carburetors are fighting me every step of the way on getting them disassembled. I've soaked them overnight in Marvel Mystery Oil. I'm hoping that it will penetrate and loosen so I can get the screws and jets to break free tonight and get on with the cleaning and rebuilding of these carbs. I need to hear that triple cylinder engine roar soon.

 

[parallel]

Well... these carbs ARE old and obviously have never been serviced (and they STILL cost me $200). I've soaked them for DAYS in Marvel Mystery Oil and sprayed the Hell out of them with Blaster 16-PB Penetrating Catalyst and a host of other penetrating oil and the fasteners are STILL fighting me every step of the way. I bought a good set of JIS (Japanese Industrial Standard) screw drivers before I even contemplated tackling this job and I have been as careful as I can possibly be and I STILL buggered up a few of the screws. The worst part is that I'm still not completely finished with dis-assembly so there could be even more issues (hopefully NOT with jets because THAT would be really bad). I've even spent well over $100 on even more tools designed to deal with stuck fasteners. At least thus far those tools have at least worked albeit very slowly.

It's not all bad news and bellyaching though as I did manage to avoid one of the common pitfalls. I've read the lots of dire warnings on the Yamaha Triples forum about snapping the float post off while trying to remove the float pins. I certainly did NOT want to do that so I went searching for solutions and I came across a stunningly simple one. An automatic (spring loaded) center punch. I got mine from Sears for about $10.00... worth every penny. At least SOMETHING has gone right with this part of the project.

 

[dirty_sanchez]

I debated clicking on this thread for fear of discovering a thread about a guy wearing a Do Rag and Assless Leather Chaps with a HD Bunkie, LA Tshirt.

Glad you're bringing something very special back to life.

There's a fantastic thread on using PineSol as a cleaner on Advrider. search: "site:advrider pinesol degreaser"

There's also a carbuerator guru with a parts business on there by the name of Motolab-a real good guy.

Dirty

 

[general mills]

For future reference, I would be careful with the spring center punch. One reason I have seen a lot of those float posts break is trying to tap them out with a tapered tool that is wider than the hole. It seemed that in your video that the shank of the punch is wider than the hole. This can causes the tapered end of the tool to enter the hole, stop when the shank gets to wide and wedge it apart. I have seen this a few times by people trying to use nails and such instead of a proper sized punch to get that out.

For those soft carburetor bowl screws that are stubborn, and any troublesome button head screw for that matter a set of these are great at getting them out. They grab very tight.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Snap-On...p-Handle-4-3-4-5ACP-Made-in-USA-/221414670084

 

[swingey]

Good luck!u have one he'll of a lot of patience!u will get it up and running,then it will be worth it!

 

[Danny Abear]

Find someone with an ultrasonic cleaner and run them thru it for a few hours, that should break loose the corrosion that has the screws locked up.

 

[Metryshooter]

Screw it. Let it be a labor of love to you. I'll bet you'll enjoy it a lot more knowing you did everything you could do right as opposed to always having that 'I shouldve' thought in the back of your mind. It might take time, but in the end it'll all be worth it.

 

[parallel]

Well... I had them all ready to go... but no place around here that dose soda blasting would take the job saying the parts are too small.

So, I went and bought one of those Harbor Freight 15lb soda blasters and a 50lb bag of soda blasting media. The damned thing won't pick up the media so I've given up on the soda blasting... I'm just going to have to do this the hard way. A little metal polish and a LOT of elbow grease. I'm just going to polish the caps and bowls and leave the bodies alone. They aren't too bad anyway and I can just clean up the mating surfaces the old fashioned way. Here's the first set polished up (I could go further but I just want them clean not like chrome).

 

[parallel]

It's FINALLY time to reassemble these Mikuni MK2 Carbs and get them ganged together and installed so I can see if this bike is even going to run. With luck I'll be posting a video of the first start up tomorrow night.

 

[parallel]

Well... no video of the first start up tonight as I ended up having , more work to do before I could even begin reassembling the carbs.


Add to that the fact that some of the parts from the parts kit didn't fit and needed to be modified... wish I had known before about that "known problem." Also, I had promised my Son that I'd take him to see Captain America The Winter Soldier so I had to cut the day short (in retrospect I'm glad I did as we had a pretty good night out just the two of us)

 

[parallel]

Finally! Now I need to get the proper fittings for the new petcocks and I should be able to try starting it.