The Hunley, or pidjones needed a first retirement project

Finally IDed the forks as from an ~'82 KZ750H. 36mm in 35mm triples - stretched to accept instead of bored. Many PO-induced problems, sorting through one at a time. I know they can be nice looking bikes, but this one will stay ratty with just cleaning for safety/handling/performance. The Kaw forks are leading axle, which may or may not improve handling. They had even added a steering damper, but I think it was to control a wobble they induced by leaving in notchy head bearings.
 
Well, the Kaw forks are out. They gave me a trail of around 2". No wonder they added a stabilizer! So, to the rescue with a set of GL1000 forks that were left from my last project. Pitted in the clamp area but clean in the sealing area. Ordered triples from ebay. Had to turn a cap for one because the original has disappeared. They are cleaned and assembled with new seals, waiting for new dust seals for filling and installation.

The carbs are now broken down individually and #1 is fully cleaned, new o-rings installed, and reassembled. The floats on all of them were way off - probably trying to fix leaky float valves - I'm relapping the seats with jewelers rouge. They were all missing a very small washer from under the pilot screw springs. Bought some 3mm from Ace, but their OD was to big so I used a screw and nut for a mandrel, chucked them in the minilathe, and turned them down. Seems I'm using the lathe or mill daily on this project.

The tank is flopping around all over with about 1.5 gallons of Evapo-rust in it. I think it will be fine, as this is all that my paint filter caught after draining a gallon of acetone that had been left in it for a couple weeks to get the varnish out.
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A little over a week ago we went to Birmingham for Barber Vintage Festival. So many bikes! Parked at our hotel I found this:
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Same year! Mine was silver from the layers I've looked through on it. Every bike lover needs to take in the Barber museum and Vintage Fest (just under 80k in attendance!)
 
Hobby machines do come into use on the bikes, too! I've used the lathe to polish the caliper pistons and turn some special fasteners, including the top bolt (cap) for one of my forks. Also made lapping mandrels for the carb float valve seats and turned rusted end on two carb drain screws. The mill will probably be used next weekend to smooth some bracket edges, then the lathe will make a couple spacers. I've had this lathe since early 90's, and although it shows wear (obviousky not holding up like a pro model) it still works well for hobby purposes. This bike being a rat-rod, the tools are only being used for performance and function upgrades, not pretty work or restoration detail. Hopefully the next bike will be a true restore or detailed custom.

Carbs are cleaned, reassembled, leak-tested (I use isopropyl instead of gas for this as the shop is in the basement) awaiting new accelerator pump on a slow boat from Taiwan. Brake calipers disassembled (took the grease gun trick for two), cleaned, ready for reassembly.

This week I prep and repaint the Hunley. Just didn't get it right the first time, and weather is FINALLY supposed to be in the good painting window for temps and humidity.
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Trottle cables hooked up (why didn't I remember to connect before mounting?) All boots on. Brakes front and rear completed and bled. Compression ~140 each cylinder. Hope to try for start next week if weather is right. Still missing speedo and tach cables (on order) and drive chain (awaiting successful start). Will also need tires before test ride (these are at LEAST 15 years old, but more likely beyong legal drinking age).

Also got some color paint on the Hunley side covers, shelter sides, and front fender. Awaiting curing (stored in my upstairs den to keep warm and dry) before light wet sand and rattle-can 2K clear coats.
 
Hunley update time. She's been resting quietly in the "family room" side of the basement for over a month. Today I backed her outside, fired her up and turned off the petcock to run as much fuel as possible out of the system. When she finally died, disconnected all fuel lines and drained the float bowls. Topped of the tank with treated, real 100% gasoline. After airing out a while, rolled her into the garage and removed the carbs for a winter servicing. She'll go back into the family room tomorrow.
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I just love it when the guilty party(s) are a little obvious. I had planned to put the carb work on the Hunley off until winter, but I finished taking the deck off of the John Deere, scraping the year's buildup from under and pressure washing it and putting it away. Then mounted the blade carrier, snow blade, and chains to ward off bad snows. Not having parts on hand to go forward on the 750, I moved crap around in the garage in preparation for carb work. Rack all set up and ready for disection, I strolled up to check the mail where of course I found brake pistons, tach cable, speedometer cable all for the 750 and the new timing gear for the motor on my little lathe (it may be cheap Chinese tool, but very handy).

So, I thought at least pull the #2 slide cover, slide, and float bowl. The needle looked fine, but I wanted to compare it to another so I pulled #1 (which appears to be great). #2 was a couple mm longer, so I pulled both needles and squinted real hard to read the numbers. Different, of course. Looked in my carb box and sure enough I had one of the originals in it so it was cleaned and installed. I doubt this was my main problem, however. In the float bowl, I found the float way high and croked. That was easy and I doubt it was my main problem, either. But then I pulled the primary and secondary jets and found this o-ring with a guilty look on its face.

So, tomorrow back to brakes on the 750. I hate brakes.
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Coils (used off ebay) came in yesterday evening. Between the original wires and angled plug caps and one of the caps/wire on the replacement coils, and one plug cap pulled apart, cleaned, and reassembled I have all reading ~5K Ohms. Tried old plugs on each and have sparkies on all four. But, I have the rear wheel bearings out and Partzilla won't be shipping the new ones until tomorrow.

So, replaced the swingarm grease fitting (old one was broken), pulled the swing arm bolt and lubed it up before reinstall, and while doing it observed that the right leg of the center stand is broken ~1/2 way through at the joint to the pivot tube. So, I'll set the swing arms on jack stands (bike is presently on center stand and a dolly under the headers) and fold the center stand up for removal. I have one of those brake spring tools so will try that. Never had success with coins/washers in the spring coils. Guess I need to pull that HF welder out and dust it off. Wonder if the auto-darken shield still works? The daughter borowed it for the eclipse year before last, and it worked then. I'll strike a lighter in front of it to test before I strike an arc.
 
Repainted the Hunley's shelter sides, side covers, and front fender a couple months ago. Last Sunday the rare weather window opened for me to put 2K rattle can clear coat on them. After wet sanding and buffing, I remounted the carbs that had been pulled for investigation and correction of #2 cylinder not up to speed. Then remounted the tins. I think she came out pretty nice.
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