Saturday, March 15, 2008

turning points

things change.
Several things in particular, decisions that change the course. One is that I had decided to take the engine and transmission to Thoroughbred Cycle to have Glen check/repair the rear main seal and trans input shaft and check for other leaks and check the clutch while in there. Yeah, the clutch was WAY beyond spec minimum and with everything else is gonna come to over $500 parts and labor. I feel like this has become now a commitment to make more than cosmetically but now absolutely perfect. Not in a perfect restoration mode but perfect functional mode. If it needs to be fixed make it right.
The frame components are all rough stripped and ready for final prepping for paint. The difficult part is the swing arm or, as they say in non-USA, rear fork. I could not get the bell coupling to come off the driveshaft and fear that it might have spun and welded itself to the shaft. I got a swingarm/driveshaft assy from eBay but the u-joint on that is distinctively shot. I need to complain on that to the seller. It is too obvious to have be less than misrepresented.
Any way, at this point, with the engine block and transmission ready, I am planning to at least get the main frame painted and get those components back in frame. After that other developments may stall this project for a bit.
I sold Sharona. Down river. Yeah I know. After all her faithfulness. The 1988 R100RT sold in under 24 hours for the asking price of $3500. I feel really fair and just about that price. The reason for this move is that I was looking at all four of the roadworthies and realized that Sharona was suddenly the odd man out; being that some of the monoshock, K-bike technology doesn't jive with the others. Most other parts are interchangeable with almost anything 1974 - 1984. Sharona did not 'fit' any longer. Also, the RT fiberglass is more hassle than necessary to deal with. So, now with what is left in the stable, priorities have shifted. The plan is now to:
  1. Make Gilera (1980 R100T) the main ride while ...
  2. 1982 R100RS gets a good going over to make totally roadworthy and ...
  3. when it is, then Gilera gets the next going over so ...
  4. Konstantine (1974 R75/6) will need to sit until such a time as dedicated time can be given.
  5. umm, unless Luke has some spare time?

So, the next installment of this post will most likely be to show bare stripped frame components and then finished main frame and then that frame holding engine and transmission. At that point a respite.

Saturday, March 1, 2008

less purple paint.

I was really worried that the paint would not come off of this nameplate without wiping it out.