It Is Alive!!! Bwahahahahahaha

[SpudRider]

You're making good progress, Cheesy!

P.S. Punxsutawney Phil's prediction was perfect for East Idaho. I was born a mere 15 miles from Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, so I am well aware that Phil's predictions are never wrong.

Spud

[cheesy]

Originally Posted by Weldangrind

You have some really cool stuff in your shop.

Easily translates into way too much crap. I learned hoarding from my Dad.

[cheesy]

I swear, the motorcycle repair gods are just laughing their collective butts off at me.

#1. Leave it to me to get sick during my vacation. Started feeling meh Tuesday afternoon and didn't get back into the garage until today. :(

#2. Co-workers do not understand the 'Do Not Call Me While I'm On Vacation' rule. Averaged 3 brushfires a day this week. :x

#3. Actually had to go into work yesterday because Inky Tim effed something up so bad I couldn't fix it over the phone. Will be doing 'Polarity 101' when I get back. Again. :?

#4. Finally back in the garage this morning after breakfast. Starter and water pump back in. Trans shifts through all five gears. Pulled the clutch cover and I find (gasp) all new clutch discs and springs. Pulled the front cover to clean the sump and inspect the oil pump chain. Sump is spotless and chain is perfect. Thank one of the previous owners for the new discs and springs but cuss him out for using Perma-tex on the clutch cover gasket. That took a good hour to scrape off. Make a new gasket for the cover. Now, on to the front crankcase cover,(Here's where the gods start pointing at me and laughing) Clean both surfaces, place the cover on my Workmate, gasket side up, lay the gasket paper on the cover..........and the paper is a quarter inch narrower than the cover. :evil:

Sigh. Napa didn't have the size I needed in stock so, had to order it. Be here tomorrow morning. Unfortunately, having in-laws and outlaws over Sunday and part of next week so Mrs. C will be in full blown house cleaning mode, which means, by default, I will be too. :?

Maybe I can interest my grand daughter in helping Grampa with his bike.

[SpudRider]

Originally Posted by cheesy

...Maybe I can interest my grand daughter in helping Grampa with his bike.

That sounds like the best option.

Spud

[Weldangrind]

Originally Posted by cheesy

Actually had to go into work yesterday because Inky Tim effed something up so bad I couldn't fix it over the phone. Will be doing 'Polarity 101' when I get back. Again. :?

I can hear it now. "Tim, it's simple. Red is + and black is -, unless you're working with AC. With AC, black is hot and white is neutr... Nevermind, just let me do it."

[cheesy]

Originally Posted by Weldangrind

Nevermind, just let me do it."

Pretty much how it works.

It was bad enough when Tim tried to jump the batteries with the polarity crossed, he then put a new pair a batteries in the machine and hooked those up backwards. Crossed polarity some how blew out the amp gauge, among other things. :?

Don't ask.

[cheesy]

Wow, got to spend four hours in the garage this afternoon. Engine is together save for one thermostat housing elbow with a hairline crack in it, think I found my other cooling leak. Hunt is on for one of those. Worse comes to worse, I'll TIG it.

Once everything else was put together, got started on the e-fan conversion. here is a pic with the end of the camshaft lopped off.

The camshaft protruded a good 2" into the fan shroud and the old fan was mounted to it. Cut it back 1 3/4" to provide clearance for the e-fan.

This is with the Suzuki 600 cooling mocked into place.

Still some modifying to do but finally moving forward.

[Weldangrind]

Those motors look very cool. Love the transverse V-twin layout. 8)

It never occurred to me that you'd need to chop off the end of the crankshaft; I guess there's no going back. Will you be fabricating a shroud?

[cheesy]

Weld, the big round thing is the Honda shroud and the 'zuki fan will be mounted in it.

The Honda fan on the end of the camshaft was one of the three weaknesses in the CX design. Besides robbing hp, being mounted on the camshaft meant the fan was running at half the engine speed. Not a biggie while moving, but they barely moved enough air to provide any benefit at a stoplight or in heavy traffic. The fans were also prone to cracking at the hub, which resulted in the coining of the phrase "fan-grenade'. When this event happened, it could cause some unpleasantness at hiway speeds. It also placed a lot of stress on the cam chain and tensioners; weak spot number 2. So, cutting off the end of the camshaft is in my best interest, anyway.

The GL series eliminated the cam mounted fan in favor of an e-fan. I could, if I so opted, trim the cam down until it was flush with the engine block and replace the CX cam support with a GL cam support and gain another 10mm clearance. But I won't. Not this year anyway.

On the cracked elbow side, I posted my lament on the CX forum and a gent in TN is sending me one, gratis.

[Weldangrind]

Thanks for the follow up. Now that I study the pics, I can plainly see the fan shroud. What I'm struggling to visualize is the complete assembly, with the rad in place.

I failed to notice that you said camshaft; I had crankshaft in my mind, and I can certainly understand the benefit of a lightweight electric fan over a mechanical fan that turns at half the crank RPM.

I'm following your progress closely because I'd like to build a CX one day, if the right deal comes along.

[cheesy]

Originally Posted by Weldangrind

I'm following your progress closely because I'd like to build a CX one day, if the right deal comes along.

If you stumble across a GL500 or GL650, jump on it. Basically a CX with all the upgrades I'm doing, or wish I could, already there; e-fan, timing chain auto tensioner, bigger forks, better brakes, mono shock, and transistorized ignition instead of the fail prone CDI (weakness #3).

We'll see how the rest of the week goes with grand kids around.

[Weldangrind]

Thanks for letting me know about the GL version, but it's the twin shock frame that I'm after. I'd like to build a Guzzi-esque cafe bike, and I think the CX platform is really cool. I can see the logic in installing a GL motor in the CX frame, and possibly having the upgrades and an additional 150cc.

[cheesy]

Nothing done this week, kids here and all plus the torrential downpours that lasted three days. I pretty much stay away from the garage. The replacement elbow for the cooling system showed up yesterday and we only have one errand* to run tomorrow, so I'll at least get that done tomorrow.

One thing I did do this week, though, was go rollerskating with my eldest.

I hadn't been on my skates for 15 years so I figured 'Deceptive Cadence', my kids' skater name, would paste me something terrible. Hah. She quit trash talking her old man after about 20 minutes.

The old guy can still move, just not very well the next day. Or the day after. Neither could the kid.


*Leather MC Jacket with armor inserts.

[Weldangrind]

Originally Posted by cheesy

Hah. She quit trash talking her old man after about 20 minutes.

Old age and treachery beats youth and enthusiasm every time.

[cheesy]

Originally Posted by Weldangrind

Old age and treachery beats youth and enthusiasm every time.

She was pretty quiet about it the rest of the week.

Things got done today. The cooling fan is mounted in the original fan shroud and a pigtail added to it.

I rotated it and mounted it about 2" higher in the shroud. That afforded me about 8mm clearance from the end of the camshaft. The white doo-dad is an extra support I made. Four mounting spots instead of three.

Also got going on the fan switch. I'm using a Volvo switch and mount and mounting it to the bottom of the rad. Here's where.

Also shows the mount and the switch.

Here's the mount epoxied into place. As far as I can go until the JB Weld sets.


Oh, and the armored leather jacket. Absolute POS. Went to Wilson's Leather instead and picked up a lined pigskin MC jacket for about the same price that was ten times the quality.