School's In Session

Time to learn how to weld.....

Tentative good news

Recently I asked an old friend of mine who used to weld for a living about helping me with my project. He was able to stop by last night to talk about the bike. As it turns, he is not only willing to show me how to weld, but excited to do so, since he's no longer doing it as a profession and misses it (damn economy). It also turns out he's got an old Yamaha 400 sitting in his yard that he's been considering trying to put back on the road.

In return for his help, I've offered up my garage, my tools and my limited knowledge to help him get his Yamaha back on the road. It was a daily rider a couple years ago, and it's complete, so it shouldn't be too bad.

After talking with him, I feel confident I'll be ready to send my frame out for powder in about a month or so.

It's Better In The Wind

Here we go again

Okay. I have the next round of purchases figured out. To be bought with the next paycheck are:

1. Harbor Freight welder, some wire and some practice materials.
   
2. A used scroll saw and some extra blades.
   
3. Carb rebuild kits and spark plugs for the GS.
4. Sisal and Canton buffing wheels.
5. Chemical gloves
6. 09913-14511 (Fuel gauge set for float adjustments)
7. 09900-20803 (tappet gauge)
8. Suzuki fork oil #15
9. Fork dust and oil seals
10. Head cover gasket
11. Breather cover gasket
12. Gasket sealant
    
13. New grips
14. Oh yeah.....and a space heater

Once I've got all that in my hands, I can get to the fun stuff--

On the Pariah:

1. Break down the front and rear wheels.
2. Break down front forks.
3. Remove engine side covers.
   
4. Start polishing bits.
5. Teach myself how to weld.

On the GS (No name yet):

1. Drain and pull the gas tank.
   
2. Check air filters. If they're not factory, replace them with factory (may involve ordering airbox).
3. Tune up (Rebuild the carbs and inspect boots, replace spark plugs, change oil filter along with primary, secondary and final drive oil, flush brake fluid).
4. Replace head cover and breather cover gaskets.
   
5. Mask off everything but the engine.
6. Paint the case, cylinders and heads black.
7. Polish side covers.
8. Sand outside of cooling fins.
9. Rebuild front forks.
10. Replace mirrors and grips.
11. Check valve clearances.
    

All this should be starting sometime between the twentieth and Christmas.

To hell with it....

.....I'm buying a welder and teaching myself. That shouldn't take hardly any time at all....

Hopefully I'll finish the bike some time in 2011. I'm no longer looking at a spring finish. It's possible, but highly unlikely. Thank fucking Christ for the GS. I'd go nuts with absolutely nothing to ride in the spring.

Fuckity fuck fuck fuck.

Well, sadly I have nothing new to report, aside from the fact that there is nothing new to report. I've been waiting on my wife's dad for the welding portions, as I'm not setup to weld. He's become very busy with other projects and hasn't had any time. Subsequently, I'm looking for a local welder to help me out, but I also want to learn some things, so yeah....it may take a couple of weeks to find someone.

On the bright side, I picked up an '82 GS1100 in good shape last week. I've already put 150 miles on it and it's fantastic. Power for days, smooth delivery and it's comfortable to ride. In short, I like it. I'd still like to get something more modern, and perhaps with a warranty, but for now this will do.

How it looked when I got it.

Holy Windshield, Batman!

Removed the windshield and replaced the handlebars with some euro superbike bars I had. This is how she sits now. I've since also removed the grab bar.




Almost a proper man-cave.