Engine Reassembly #1

Now that the crankcase halves are painted it's time to start reassembling the engine.  One nice thing about this process is that I can do it in the basement at all hours of the night without worrying about waking up the neighbors.

Clean and ready to go.

The oil separator went in first.  I used blue Loktite on the screws because
some of them were really short and the last thing I want is one of them
vibrating loose.

The kickstart assembly went in next and that was it for the bottom half.

My little makeshift engine stand has really come in handy lately.

Gearshift forks went in first.

And then the camshaft.

All of the oil seals have been replaced with OEM seals from BikeBandit.com

The transmission with new oil seals in place.

Don't worry, I didn't forget the cam chain.  The next step will be to seal the
upper and lower halves together and crack on with the rest of the assembly.

Rearset Mounts

I've been on the fence for quite a while as to how I wanted to mount the rearsets.  I've seen a ton of bikes that just used the passenger peg mounts in one way or another so that was the first way I mocked it up but it just didn't feel right.  It also lead to some other issues like where to mount a stopper for the right rearset so that brake linkage didn't pull it out of position.  Making custom mounts seemed to be the only solution to get the result I was looking for.

Getting ready to remove the passenger foot peg mounts.

Now the hard part begins; grinding away all of the extra metal and welds.

I cut the new mounting points for the rearsets out of 1/4" steel plate.

Another view of the mounting points with the spacers removed.

Here is a look at the wood mockup I made for the rearset mounts and the
finished "blanks" for the steel rearset mounts.  I made these out of the same
1/4" steel plate as the mounting points.

I used a paper template as a guide for the hole placement.

The holes were enlarged with a step bit from both sides to create clean,
chamfered  holes.

Stainless hardware from BoltDepot.com

A perfect fit thanks to many, many paper and wood mockups.

This setup will be much more comfortable (at least for me) than using the
passenger peg mounts as I've seen done on so many other bikes.

Building the Seat Plug #2

It's depressing when I think about how little I've gotten done on the project so far. Here are a few pics of the seat plug frame that I forgot to post.

Because the positioning of the edges is so important I glued the pieces
before attempting to drill holes for the screws to keep the pieces from shifting.

The two side pieces were screwed together before the final sanding
to ensure that they were perfectly symmetrical.

More Goodies

I got a whole heap of odds and ends from BikeBandit.com today.  Many of the items are being replaced purely for cosmetic reasons.  I'm also replacing all of the springs and rubber bits as I go along.

Lots of parts!

NOS and Brass

I love getting deliveries, it's like someone is bringing me presents all year long, even if I'm the one paying for them.  Today I received the NOS left control switch that I tracked down on eBay.  Not only is it in perfect condition, it is the updated version that Honda did that allows the wiring to be run on either the inside of the bar (stock) or on the outside of the bar.

It's pretty cool that you can still find stuff like this for a bike that's nearly 40 years old.

I also received the pair of brass swingarm bushings that I ordered from Bob Frankze.

Nice and shiny!