Woo Hoo! A Big Project!

[melville]

The heads were done by my local independent MC mechanic. It's an interesting shop--while the dealers are closing (Suz, KTM, and Kaw) locally, he and his other guy are busier than they've ever been. He's got 40+ years experience in all sorts of bikes and cars.

[melville]

So I was getting some advice that I could just fire it up and see if there was oil in the first few miles or so, but I felt a lot better taking it partway apart. It was a good thing. When I unthreaded the stud I found I'd managed to get a perfect ring of sealant in the top thread. So I stuck it back together and gave the starter another spin. Success!




I'll mount the suck and blow parts in the next few days and maybe get out for a ride.

[melville]

So you know, it's always something to do with the last fastener. Today it was the nut on the left footpeg/exhaust header/motor mount. I was tightening it up and I wondered, "Hey, what's that thing spooging out?" It was part of the spring washer:



So a quick run to the hardware store for a full set of new spring washers and some more Xmas shopping and I was able to finish the install. I set the throttle cables to a baseline, opened the fuel taps, pulled the chokes, and heard it run for the first time since June! No ride quite yet, I need the boys to help me get it down the portable ramp and out of the shed. But it's looking good:



A little riding, an oil change, a valve clearance check and retorque, and I'll be ready for a ride on any good day.

[melville]

OK, cured my PMS (Parked Motorcycle Syndrome)!!!









Then I took it back home for a quick carb sync mit the ShortMeister method:



I should be back out on it Thursday to run some errands. It's running great. Feels a bit more powerful and it idles more consistently than it did with the receding and possibly shrouded valves.

[melville]

Just back from a valve clearance check, head retorque, and valve adjustment.

Intakes were at zero (down from .004" in 135 miles). Exhausts were .007" and .006", where they had started at .008".

Retorquing the heads made it all .001" tighter.

Everything is back where it should be, but I'll probably check in 500ish and 1000ish miles to see what the valves are doing.

[melville]

So it's been a while. Ernst made it to Montana again in 2019 and would have gone to the same group again in 2020 but for COVID, a changed deadline at work, and me moving house. Prior to moving house, I was riding regularly to my sweetie's town 200 miles away over some of the best roads around. The valve clearances have stabilized and aren't moving much between checks.

One of my Montana friends died on the way home from the 2020 gathering:

https://advrider.com/f/threads/alan-bec ... h.1454551/

I had to think that he didn't see the left turner, as he was riding into the sunrise. And of course, that the left turner didn't see him. One of my friends found these:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B083T ... UTF8&psc=1

They looked to me like they could be mounted on the fork brace screws and that the wires would reach to the dip relay I'd installed under the tank. And that as LEDs they wouldn't draw too much power. So I ordered a set.

Here they are in the flesh:



They are wired individually, and have male ends on the wires. Not DIN code here--yellow is high beam, red is low beam, and black is ground. A slight annoyance to me, but I can deal.

I combined the harnesses and the two 20 ga wires were a good fit in a 14-18 ga terminal:





I did female spades on the hot wires and a ring terminal on the ground. The hot wires were piggybacked on the relay spades along with the main beam wires, and the ground went to the relay mount screw.

Mounted:



Lit:



They may be brighter than the headlight. I'll get a night pic sometime throwing light on a wall. I need to improve the wire routing a little, but it's working great so far. I took a ride in the mountains and found that they were throwing a bright spot on the road in the shadows, something I've not seen in the daytime from the main headlight.

[melville]

I got out for a twilight ride with my sweetie and got a couple pix of the lights on my garage door when I got home. Here's low beam:



And here's high beam:



Yes, that pitiful yellow bit is the OG headlight. The bulb is only a few weeks old!

I haven't ridden in full darkness yet and may not for a while.

[Rob Frankham]

Not being picky but, from those images, it appears that the upper cut off on the dipped beam is as high as that for the main beam while the lower cut off on dipped beam is actually higher than that for the main beam...

Is this right or is it just a change in the position of the bike between shots?
Are the units mounted upside down?

Rob

[melville]

Not being picky but, from those images, it appears that the upper cut off on the dipped beam is as high as that for the main beam while the lower cut off on dipped beam is actually higher than that for the main beam...

Is this right or is it just a change in the position of the bike between shots?
Are the units mounted upside down?

Rob

Thanks for that input. The bike didn't move between shots unless my hitting the dip switch jostled things. Also, the bike is only ten feet from the door. Further back, and the lights would only show on the ground because of the slope of that section of the driveway.

The lights are mounted primarily for daytime visibility but I really should spend some time on a dark highway fine tuning the aiming of the lights in general.

When I get a chance, I'll do just that and report back.

[melville]

Thanks for the sharp eye, Rob! Before I worked on the /7 yesterday, I took a few minutes and flipped the auxiliary lights over. There's enough wire, even with the wire coming out the bottom, and the routing was actually improved as the wire is now semisecure between the fender/fork brace and the slider/gaiter. Here's low beam:



And high beam:



The brackets are not moved from the original install.