Today Was a Good Day

Lots of progress today. I got the old handlebar switch pulled apart, installed new switches, and got everything rewired.

Here are the header pipes when I got them:

And after some time with the wire brush (no paint yet - that will come soon though):

Most of the other parts I received gave me the impression that the donor bike was pretty rough, so I wasn't sure what to expect as far as the carbs went. I the first one open to find some pretty bad corrosion and the needle valve was sticky.

The second carb, though, looked absolutely perfect. The outside was grimey and gross, but the inside was completely spotless - like it was brand new:

I hit both carbs with a considerable amount of carb cleaner and scrubbed the bad one with a toothbrush to get all of the gunk off.

I got the carbs installed and installed my new throttle cable:

After that I installed the battery and attached the wiring harness up front.

The next few hours was spent trying to figure out why my battery fuse blew every time I turned the ignition on. I swapped the current voltage regulator for the gross looking spare I had and re-checked every connection, and the fuse suddenly stopped burning out.

It turns out my left handlebar control is pretty much toast. The blinker switch works (the lights don't blink though - I need to swap on my spare blinker relay) but the horn and headlight hi/lo switch are both bad. At this point, the bike would crank, so I buttoned all of that back up. I installed the new petcock onto the fuel tank, ran the new fuel lines with my temporary plastic y-splitter and stole some gasoline from my roommate's mower gas can. Time to start it.

At first, it just cranked with no firing. I only cranked it for 10-15 seconds at a time and gave the starter motor plenty of time to rest in between cranks. Then suddenly I hear a burble and the tach jumped - something was happening. I alternated between choke on and off, and cranked the throttle. After a while, it started trying to fire, occasionally throwing sparks out of the exhaust. Then suddenly, it was running! There was a bit of hesitation and it was a bit rough, but it was running.

It currently idles around 1500 rpm, so that will have to be adjusted, and there are definitely some rough spot that will need smoothing out, but it runs!

To do list:

-Left handlebar switch
-Headlight
-Confirm transmission is operable
-Tires and tubes

-Front brake rebuild

-Seat cover

-Blinker relay

-Install chain

-Clean and install chain cover

-Install rear blinker lights and covers

-Front brake light switch

-Install a mirror

Today was a good day.