Sunday, February 27, 2005
Back to the metal
A little more rewiring in that I routed wires to rear indicators, stop lamp unit and checked that the ignition system made a spark. I also attached a battery and checked that it worked. It did! However my check of the wiring plan revealed that I needed the chassis ground to drive the headlamp and front indicators so the connection bolts had to be onto clean metal and not powder coat.
The front bolt was originally M5 in a coated hole. So I tapped it out to M6 which gave a clean metal thread for a vaeline coated 6mm bolt. It was a bit fiddly screwing it in from between the down tubes but it's done now. I'm hoping that sealing the connection in the thread will be less liable to rust than cleaning the metal plate. In the battery box the hole was already clearnce for M6 so I didn't want to enlarge that and had to emery down to metal around the hole. I did it as minimally as possible so that bare metal was not exposed when the bolt is in place; again coated in vaseline. This set up has the advantage that a 10mm WAF spanner fits both these points and the engine case connection. Resistance between all points is unmeasurable with my DMM.
As a finale I made a new stainless bracket to support the silencer. The old one was pretty rough and I couldn't face refitting it. However when I finished an hour and a quarter later I wondered if it was time well spent. I'm a slow worker with a file.
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A little more rewiring in that I routed wires to rear indicators, stop lamp unit and checked that the ignition system made a spark. I also attached a battery and checked that it worked. It did! However my check of the wiring plan revealed that I needed the chassis ground to drive the headlamp and front indicators so the connection bolts had to be onto clean metal and not powder coat.
The front bolt was originally M5 in a coated hole. So I tapped it out to M6 which gave a clean metal thread for a vaeline coated 6mm bolt. It was a bit fiddly screwing it in from between the down tubes but it's done now. I'm hoping that sealing the connection in the thread will be less liable to rust than cleaning the metal plate. In the battery box the hole was already clearnce for M6 so I didn't want to enlarge that and had to emery down to metal around the hole. I did it as minimally as possible so that bare metal was not exposed when the bolt is in place; again coated in vaseline. This set up has the advantage that a 10mm WAF spanner fits both these points and the engine case connection. Resistance between all points is unmeasurable with my DMM.
As a finale I made a new stainless bracket to support the silencer. The old one was pretty rough and I couldn't face refitting it. However when I finished an hour and a quarter later I wondered if it was time well spent. I'm a slow worker with a file.
Saturday, February 26, 2005
Rewiring
The last few days have been rather too cold to work in the garage. Today I started with good intentions of doing a lot but had some housework to do and then needed to clean out a gutter...
I've fitted the transducers and first part of the wiring loom and battery box, which in theory is enough for the bike to run. It's worth noting that the transducer with the longer HT lead goes on the right of the frame and feeds the front cylinder.
So far I've chosen not to remove the powder coating and make a ground to the frame. I'm not sure that I need too. The key thing is that there's a lead directly from the engine cases to the bolt where the transducer grounds attach. Other grounds link into a bolt in the battery box. I'll have to check whether lights or anything ground to the frame. The rear certainly don't!
Also I've refitted the gear linkage, better placed than last time as it doesn't foul the kickstart. In that area I fitted a stainless 7mm retaining bolt. Then, before replacing the rear brake lever I had to retap the 8mm thread as it was rough and wouldn't take a new bolt. The old bolt had a worn thread.
Final thing was the clutch cable.
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The last few days have been rather too cold to work in the garage. Today I started with good intentions of doing a lot but had some housework to do and then needed to clean out a gutter...
I've fitted the transducers and first part of the wiring loom and battery box, which in theory is enough for the bike to run. It's worth noting that the transducer with the longer HT lead goes on the right of the frame and feeds the front cylinder.
So far I've chosen not to remove the powder coating and make a ground to the frame. I'm not sure that I need too. The key thing is that there's a lead directly from the engine cases to the bolt where the transducer grounds attach. Other grounds link into a bolt in the battery box. I'll have to check whether lights or anything ground to the frame. The rear certainly don't!
Also I've refitted the gear linkage, better placed than last time as it doesn't foul the kickstart. In that area I fitted a stainless 7mm retaining bolt. Then, before replacing the rear brake lever I had to retap the 8mm thread as it was rough and wouldn't take a new bolt. The old bolt had a worn thread.
Final thing was the clutch cable.
Thursday, February 24, 2005
Air boxes
This evening's job was to refit the airbox, carbs and throttle cables. It was rather fiddly as the rubbers don't seem to line up exactly and they were stiff due to the cold. I adjusted the throttle adjusters on the carb tops to give a little free play for both cables. I'll have to be careful not to eliminate this when balancing the carbs as there's not a lot of adjustment to use at the throttle control.
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This evening's job was to refit the airbox, carbs and throttle cables. It was rather fiddly as the rubbers don't seem to line up exactly and they were stiff due to the cold. I adjusted the throttle adjusters on the carb tops to give a little free play for both cables. I'll have to be careful not to eliminate this when balancing the carbs as there's not a lot of adjustment to use at the throttle control.
Sunday, February 20, 2005
Engine refitted
Once again I've cleaned the outside of the X3 engine. There are lots of hiding places for dirt. Not really a good thing for an off-road bike.
I removed and replaced bubble wrap on the frame so as to provide protection and yet allow access to the engine mounting plates. I put a piece of cardboard on the base of the frame. I checked the clearance of all the holes and lightly emeried a high zone on the lower rear plates.
That meant I was ready to refit the engine. As usual it was placed in the frame from the right side, rear cylinder first. The upper rear point then slide into place and a bolt fitted - new stainless of course! Then some of the protective wrap had to be removed to allow the engine to tilt downwards. The area at the oil filter had to be cleared. Amazingly the engine dropped into place without any drama. Finally it was a simpel matter to fit the front engine plates - just a few wobbles needed. All that needed to be done was progressive tightening of all the bolts.
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Once again I've cleaned the outside of the X3 engine. There are lots of hiding places for dirt. Not really a good thing for an off-road bike.
I removed and replaced bubble wrap on the frame so as to provide protection and yet allow access to the engine mounting plates. I put a piece of cardboard on the base of the frame. I checked the clearance of all the holes and lightly emeried a high zone on the lower rear plates.
That meant I was ready to refit the engine. As usual it was placed in the frame from the right side, rear cylinder first. The upper rear point then slide into place and a bolt fitted - new stainless of course! Then some of the protective wrap had to be removed to allow the engine to tilt downwards. The area at the oil filter had to be cleared. Amazingly the engine dropped into place without any drama. Finally it was a simpel matter to fit the front engine plates - just a few wobbles needed. All that needed to be done was progressive tightening of all the bolts.
