Stifler's Mom

[4eyes]

Sure she is pushing 40, and she chain smokes. But she still turns heads, and when she is all hot and oily, she is still an exciting ride.
Rumor has it, that she entertained a few guys in the back of an SUV at Barber.




I figured I should go ahead and start a build thread, I just can't keep my hands off of her.

This is the '72 R5 that at bought at the swap-meet at Barber. It is in pretty good mechanical condition, so after a few minor repairs I can start to make it mine.

[4eyes]

First off, I had to figure a way to adjust the mirror, to be able to actually see what is behind me.

It touches my left wrist a little, but it clears the tank at full lock. And best of all I can see what is behind me and to my left.

I also pulled off the passenger pegs.
 

[4eyes]

While adjusting the front brake and clutch, I noticed the levers were pretty sloppy. So I pulled the pivot bolt on each, and found the brake side bronze bushing was worn and the clutch side was worn-gone. Only the very top edge was a full cylinder, the rest was maybe a 1/4 round.
A quick trip to the local hardware store (Crossroads Hardware FTW) and I had two new bushings, but they were about a 1/4" too long. I slid a steel dowel pin inside for support, and chucked them up in my cordless drill. A bit of time spent with a hacksaw while spinning the drill, and they were to length.
I bolted both sides back together, and they were good as new.

[4eyes]

Next up was the burned out headlight.
After investing a few hours online, and finding no direct bolt-in replacement. I decided to try to modify my existing light, to accept a halogen H4 bulb.
First I pry up the tabs on the center of the housing.
Before:

[4eyes]

Then I pry out the retaining ring, and pull the rubber sealed bulb out of the housing.

But the bulb itself is bigger than the hole it fits into in the housing/reflector.
(How did they get that in there?)
So I had to take a sharp punch and a brad-hammer to bust the bulb. (It shattered nicely and was easy to pour out of the reflector/housing)

[Big Rich]

This could get interesting..........I'll be watching this one as well.

[4eyes]

The H4 halogen bulb has a larger flange than can fit.

So I make a series of radial cuts to flatten the flange, and reduce the diameter.

Then I trim the diameter to size. It was nice of our German friends to place lettering in the proper diameter.

Too bad I went to the outside of the lettering, instead of the inside. So I had to do it over.
After carefully de-burring with a fine file, I re-used the rubber seal from the original.

[4eyes]

The H4 bulb is directional, so I placed it so that the inner reflector shone to the top of the reflector/housing. Making the middle blade horizontal at the top.
Then replaced the retaining ring, bent the tabs back down with needle-nose pliers, and tapped them flat with a brad-hammer.
AFTER:

[4eyes]

It went back in without incident, and IT WORKED!!!
So no "minor electrical problem" on my new purchase, it really was just a burned out bulb.

The new H4 is a 60/55 amp draw, so my bikes charging system may not be able to keep-up. If this becomes a problem, I have seen 50/35 amp units for sale online.
I didn't want to wait on delivery, so I used the one I could get at the local auto parts store.
But so far it is working sweeeeeeet.

[YogiBear]

I like the color. Is that factory paint?

[ponycarman]

Awesome looking bike man!

[Swapmeet Louie]

Watts, not amps... Thats what the rating is. They should only draw maybe 4-5 amps at the most. 65 amps is enough to weld with. Your bike will be fine. If I'm not mistaken, the R5's have an adjustable regulator as well. So you could always turn it up a little.

[ProSimex]

That bodged in bulb looks really tidy, well done!

[Erskine]

Stifler's Mom has got it going on!
What's the game plan?

[Ahamay056]

Digging it man! I just bought a R5 rd parts lot, so lemme know if you need any oily goodies!