Re: T500 build-----It's on the ROAD!!!!!
wow----that 30 day old topic warning again!!
The T500 resto-mod-cafe bike is on the road. Been out on now three times for short little romps. There are a handful of little niggles that I'll have to sort out, but aren't there always?
Going through my stash of photos, I'm noticing that I took fewer of these last steps.
But to share a few here:
Rigged an oil line from the custom tank to the oil pump. Scavenged the fitting off the original line, and connected it to the new line.
I've been so fortunate throughout this project with some local pals here helping with advice, skills, and parts. I was scrounging through the local online classified ads one day and stumbled on a guy selling some chains/sprockets. One chain appeared to be very new, so I sent a reply, and within moments realized I knew this guy!! He insisted that he simply give me the chain. Beer and pizza next time is obviously on me!! Got the chain on:
...which then allowed the front sprocket cover to be put on...
Attention then turned to sorting out the rearsets/linkages I had bought from DCC. The right side unit came together fairly quickly
The left (shifter) side....well that's a different story.
The bike's PO had dealt with the shifter shaft splines being stripped, by welding the oem shift lever on. That was grinded off many months ago, and I was always on the lookout for a replacement shifter shaft. Still haven't found one. The decision to plow onwards was taken knowing that this might end up being a brick wall someday.
After sending back the first shifter arm I got from DCC (it was too long and had way too much offset), the second DCC unit came in.
Really nice little piece, but it too needed to be modified a little to make it work. It had to be shortened, and thinned out a bit to buy some clearance between it and the engine case, and between it (and the resulting location of the shifter linkage) and the kick starter.
The other thing was that modding this thing pretty much had to be done....to even attempt to install it on the stripped splines to see if it would catch the shaft enough to rotate it. So.....with apologies to DCC....out came the grinder again.
After some time fiddling and trialing and erroring (is that even a word?), the shifter side rearset was installed and, even better, it's functional!!
I'll have to snap some pictures to complete my "album".
The stripped splines issue was dealt with by running (of all things) some aluminum foil around the shaft's splines.
The other challenge here was to place everything so that the kick starter would rotate without touching anything. It was bumping into the shifter linkage rod, so bought the toughest bolt I could find, used a bit of the leftover linkage rod sheath cover, and essentially moved the rear of the rod inwards a bit off the rearset's arm. Could only go in so far though, and still needed a smidge, so reshaped the kick starter's "body" (the base....around the starter shaft) to buy some more clearance.
The linkage rod's sheath still rubs a little on the end of the swingarm bolt, so maybe that bolt just get removed and reinstalled the other way...or I stick a washer on the other side to move the bolt end out of the way. Definitely not a deal breaker.
We also figured that we should have a peek at the clutch plates, so drained tranny oil, pulled the cover, pulled all the plates. They all looked fairly new and in great shape, so we piled them back in, prepped the surfaces for the new gasket, and reinstalled the cover with new allenhead bolts (to match the new bolts on the left side covers).
Tentatively rode it around the block, and came back all smiles.
Trailered it for the safety check. Had to get a new headlight bulb, and rig up a licence plate light. This is one half of a Kuryakyn licence plate bolt/LED kit, installed (using a spacer that I cut) on an angle to make it 'point' more downwards at the plate.
It starts beautifully and sounds great. This was never going to be the "canyon carving" tool....there's something about running around on 1970's suspension and brakes right? Took it out for three short little toots on the weekend, always with a buddy as wingman in case something broke or acted up. Still some niggles to sort, but I am simply thrilled.
I've had so much help from some of my riding pals (the chain, wheel truing, tool lending, advise/guidance, a Caswell tank liner kit), the local shops helping me find some parts and the like...I am truly grateful.
Hoping to convince my youngest daughter to come out some evening and take some more "photogenic" pictures, but here a few of it in the driveway in the sunny weekend we just had.
Thanks, as well......for all the interest, kind words and encouragement from you folks!!!!
Best regards,
Rod