what did you wrench on today??

[Grimly]

Happiness is a warm Brillo Pad.

The Hardly silencer, after I'd butchered the inside a bit, was making a good job of taking the output of the Delko downpipes, but there was an annoying blat from it above 4500 rpm, which got steadily more intense.

Looking more closely at the inside I realised there was a flat area at the end of the baffled section which was probably giving rise to a reflected wave, and in turn building up some constructive / destructive pressure waves inside the collector. Also, I realised that I'd inadvertently created a resonator chamber with the rear section of the collector and the front hollow of the silencer, that amounted to nearly a foot of uncontrolled effaboutedness (technical term).

I fashioned a cone to guide the gases into the silencer (actually, it was a cone from the Hardle guts that I'd thrown out), migged it into place and stuffed a couple of stainless steel pot scourers in the space.

Sounds much better, but need to see if the annoying blat is gone on the road.

[wyly]

IMG_1477.jpgbroken side cover pegs had me stumped for a long time every option seemed expensive. Two new replacement covers plus shipping would be over $100, if I could find the right colour otherwise I'd also need to paint(still more $$). Replacement pegs were about $30 for a pair and I needed three, $60. Plastifix, fussy and expensive, I had the material but it seemed a waste to use it to make pegs.

Final solution a 3' wooden dowel from a hobby shop for $2, shaped, cut took about 15 minutes per peg. Glued in place with Sure Seal and a washer for support. About an 1-2 hrs before I had it fitted properly but three years to come up with the solution.

[Grimly]

Having been informed by M&P that the aftermarket tacho drives are no longer being supplied, I took the refund and bought one of these...
front of gauge.jpg

From a stockist in Latvia, so should get it reasonably quickly. I've been quite happy with the KUS oil temperature gauge, so thought I may as well take a punt on another gauge from them.
8000 is high enough, I think.

[Grimly]

Took a punt on a cheap and cheerful Chinese wind deflector, as the screen is just a couple of inches too short.

wind deflector 02_cr.jpg

It's not bad for quality, far exceeding what I expected for the price. Time will tell how well it holds up to being banged about by the wind, though.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32954100011.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.55174c4doz5B3B

[Gorminrider]

Interesting find, Grimly. I know someone could use one of these. Report back if it works out well. I've had pretty good result from similar plastics- a bubble faceshield for my old helmet. I've bounced one of these on the highway inadvertently at 60mph and though scratched, did not shatter. Definitely polycarbonate and coated too....they aren't generally "DOT approved" is all I can think to say as a caution where it might ever matter (to a lawyer?)

[1978GS750E]

Zinc plating, again!

Started doing the winter facelift on the GS750 this week. Took the rear wheel off and converted it to tubeless. While it was apart, decided to re-zinc some bits. Thanks to some help from a fellow GS'er (Thanks philosopheriam!) they came out looking much better!

IMG_0304.jpg

[Grimly]

Discovered yesterday that the annoying blat from the exhaust has been tamed, so the cone idea worked, and the scrubbers probably helped. It's now a fairly smooth progress of not too loud noise cleanly up the rev range. Remains to be seen how the scrubbers cope with sooting up. I already had scrubbers in the Hardly silencers on the XJ and sooting up, while not causing a problem, was definitely there. Anyway, it now allows me to carry on the work with the AFR and get the carb properly dialed in.

The cheapanese wind deflector works great, but is slightly too tall, so I've ordered another one. They're so cheap there's no point in trying to cut this one down and likely busting it.

Today I fitted an LED flasher unit, as the original 'zuk one finally stopped working properly, refusing to flash on the right side, oddly enough. I put that down to difference in connection quality somewhere on either side. Since I was changing the fronts to LEDs, it needed a new flasher anyway.

[tas850g]

Now that we have + 14" of snow I installed a new LED headlight bulb, definitely an improvement over the halogen. Thanks for the reference HJFisk.

Also bought some new rub pieces for the foot pegs and kick starter.

Now working on installing a new speedo trip meter knob. Seems like the stem is too short. Can't get it to lock/snap into the metal "rod/pin".

[Rijko]

Interesting !

I have a T500 engine, looking for inspiration what to do with that.
Until i saw your pics (like them alot, looks like a very cool cafe build !) this was appealing to me, using a 'modern' GS500 frame.

14. GS T 500 - SUZUKI KATANA 01.jpg

[Rijko]

another pic. Will you start a build thread for your cafe build ?

14. GS T 500 - SUZUKI KATANA 02.jpg

[johnod]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]59636[/ATTACH]broken side cover pegs had me stumped for a long time every option seemed expensive. Two new replacement covers plus shipping would be over $100, if I could find the right colour otherwise I'd also need to paint(still more $$). Replacement pegs were about $30 for a pair and I needed three, $60. Plastifix, fussy and expensive, I had the material but it seemed a waste to use it to make pegs.

Final solution a 3' wooden dowel from a hobby shop for $2, shaped, cut took about 15 minutes per peg. Glued in place with Sure Seal and a washer for support. About an 1-2 hrs before I had it fitted properly but three years to come up with the solution.

Where do you buy replacement pegs?
That's new to me.

[johnod]

another pic. Will you start a build thread for your cafe build ?

[ATTACH=CONFIG]59695[/ATTACH]

Yes that would be cool ,it look very interesting.

[steve murdoch]

Love the look of that wheel, jabcb.
What is the tailpiece from? A vintage cafe build?

[Rob S.]

Removed two seats, three sidecovers and one battery. Was prepared to remove second battery, had my bathroom mat ready to be rolled up and wedged under the rear of the tank to displace it, only to find my mechanic had changed the two sloppy screws and bolts holding the frame crossmember with four beautiful, shiny new Allen bolts. Just have to find the right Allen wrench.

And used jumper cables on a bike for the first time. A bit unwieldy. Surely they make bike-sized jumper cables, correct?

[cowboyup3371]

And used jumper cables on a bike for the first time. A bit unwieldy. Surely they make bike-sized jumper cables, correct?

Yes they do....