When I had first purchased the bike...

I just found some pictures from when I first purchased the bike, if anyone is interested in how it started.

A little nasty explosion on the left side

PO thought that the battery had exploded, but the right side doesn't seem as bad.

How she sits now.

Spark check

So I purchased a spark plug last night to check and make sure that the bike is sparking correctly. I got too lazy to check it last night, so I checked it quickly a short while ago.

Neither cylinders 1 or 3 sparked (the back two cylinders). Immediately I suspected one of the spark units was out. I replaced spark unit for 1-3 with one of the old melted ones from the fire...yes one of the old melted ones, a desperate attempt to test the spark. Guess what? It sparked! It just sucks that I had purchased one on ebay that was obviously defective. I'm going to see about getting a refund on that or picking it apart and see if I can fix it. Meanwhile I will need to source out a new spark unit (the old burnt one is frayed a bit).

Hopefully I will get around to starting this on Sunday. Oh and I figured out that the turn signal is not a relay issue, so I am assuming a wire is smushed in the headlight.

Also, I realized that 1/4 inch vinyl line fits appropriately on the carb bowl drains. This helps with draining the bowls carefully into a tank/fuel bottle.

Hooked up the freshly charged battery

So last night I had left the charger on the battery until I went to bed and I felt that it would be safest if I unplugged the charger since I wouldn't be monitoring anymore. When I finished work today I plugged the charger back in and a few hours later the battery was up to full charge.


Meanwhile, I semi-finished connecting the 3-yellow wires. By "semi-finish," I mean that it will work, but not look pretty, things are just twisted together and covered in electric tape for now until I get a chance to solder them. I did start to cover the wires with a wire sheath (with is listed as anti-flammable, how appropriate for these infamous wires). I got too excited when the battery was ready and I just wanted to start up the bike.

3-Yellow Wires, being covered with a black wire protector

I put some battery terminal grease on the battery terminals and connected the battery. Instantly the clock came on. I inserted the key into the ignition and then all the lights lit up on the wonderfully designed 80's era dash. I immediately noticed a few issues, let me know if you have any solutions:

1. Front turn signals turn on and stay on, unless i move the turn signal switch. If i put on the left switch, the left turn signal shuts off completely. If I put on the right switch, the right turn signal shuts off completely. The rear turn signals always off.
2. Warning light on- I don't know what this means.

Trying to start the bike up.

I didn't realize that the gasoline IV line wasn't the same size as my fuel line. Impatiently, I used a turkey baster to inject gasoline into the carbs. Probably a bad idea...I flooded the engine. I tried starting the bike, but it was too flooded (at least this is what I hope the problem was). I drained the bowls and decided to pack up for the night. Before I finished, I did plug the battery back in, as it had drained itself from starting attempts.

I realized I will need to check and make sure all the spark plugs are sparking and I should have done this in the first place. The first thing I'll check tomorrow night will be the ignition system then and try to locate any possible issues.

Filling new Lead-Acid Battery

It's been a while since I've updated, mainly because it's been a while since I have completed any actual work on the motorcycle. Although I got the bike for a winter project I have found that I have been way busier in the winter and also not very willing to work in a cold garage.

After returning home from a weekend ski hiatus, I decided its time to pick this thing back up and get it started. I should only have to solder the famous "3 yellow wires," trailing from the stator to the R/R and then install the battery. Since I recently conditioned/coated the tank with POR-15 and still have the petcock in pieces I don't really want to fill the tank (since I will not be riding the bike...any time soon). So when I eventually get to starting it, I picked up a test stand gasoline "IV." This would definitely be a very helpful tool for motorcycles that need their tanks removed for carb adjustments. It incorporates a small fuel bottle with fuel line and an ON/OFF petcock. I will be able to hang it off the handlebars and bypass the petcock, thus avoiding vacuum issues/priming the bowls for the first start up.

Fuel "IV" test bottle, ebay pic

I took a few minutes researching on how to fill the battery, checking the WWW for tips and tricks. Youtube, surprisingly, didn't have great information. I found a few helpful and informative websites, listed below, that I pulled information from:

http://www.ibmwr.org/otech/newbattery.html

http://bmwmotorcycletech.info/newbattery.htm

I basically followed some of the steps that are listed on those websites, so I am not going to go into detail on how to fill a motorcycle battery. In the process, one of the things that surprised me was that the battery cells used a significant amount of acid before the liquid shadow was visible on the side of the battery. Finally, when filling/maintaining motorcycle batteries and working with highly corrosive acids, always remember your PPE! (gloves, eye protection at minimum in a well vented area)

Everything that I have used or will use for the battery

Doing some of the charging tonight, then will finish it off tomorrow at some point.

Battery all filled up with vent tube

POR-15 Tank Sealer

Sunday I woke up and started early on finishing the tank. I ran the hairdryer in the tank for a little bit to make sure the tank was "bone dry" as the instruction say it should be. The sealer hardens best in a temperature of 72 degrees Fahrenheit, so I used a small space heater to heat my garage up to about 70ish as it was about 46 degrees out.

After breakfast I removed the hairdryer, sealed up the tank (just duct tape this time), and started mixing the POR-15 tank sealer.

Mixing tank sealer.

Alot of users had commented that this stuff does not come off your skin easily, so I took extra precautions to wear a long sleeve shirt and double layer gloves. I also wore a breathing filter/respirator mask; the fumes are very nasty and I did not want to have the door open the whole time.

After mixing, I poured the sealer through a funnel into the tank. There really didn't seam like too much sealant in there and at first I thought I was going to run out. After sealing the filler hole, I shook the tank slowly to disperse the sealant throughout. I would set the tank in random positions on my workbench so that the sealant could slowly creep over the inner surface of the tank and coat any bare surfaces. After about 30 minutes or so of doing this, I peaked in and checked everything out. The tank looked beautiful, entirely sealed.

Coated inside

Finally, I opened up the holes and let the remaining sealant drip out. There was very little left, about 10 cc's of fluid. It is now Friday and I have let the tank sit upside down in the garage. The solvent smell has left, so I am assuming the tank is cured. I do not have a battery for the bike yet, so I see no reason for me to fill it with gas yet.

The entire process wasn't hard to do, it was quite time consuming though; definitely a weekend project. If I had to make any changes, I wish I would have had more Metal Ready solution. About twice what I had used would have been nice. Also, some sort of metal aggregate would be a nice addition for mechanical rust removal (like a chain or some ball bearings). That is something I did not do, which I would definitely do in the future.

POR-15 Metal Ready Application

I ended up going to bed last night earlier than expected and never got around to draining the tank. I figured that nothing bad could come from leaving the solution in there overnight and nothing did. After I got home from work I drained the tank and flushed it with water many times.

I evacuated the remaining water, about 10 fl ounces, with my favorite turkey baster/clear tubing combo. It left very little water in there. Next I dumped in the metal ready solution, which is alkaline. It will clean the remaining rust and etch the surface of the tank for the POR-15 coating.

A number of south park episodes and tank turns later, I emptied the tank into a bucket so I can filter and reuse the solution for another project. I boiled 4 or 5 large pots full of water and dumped them each into the tank: dump, shake, drain, dump, shake, drain...

My dump station

I finished clearing the solution and used my turkey baster combo to evacuate the remaining 3 fl ounces of water. The tank looks much cleaner now, there was a significant amount of rust removed. I suppose the rest will be coated with the coating I set in there tomorrow.

Before Metal Ready

After Metal Ready.

Currently, I am drying out the tank with a hair dryer and an air mattress pump. I use the hair dryer for about a half hour and then switch off to the air mattress pump and then I switch back. I want to set the coating tonight, but the tank must be absolutely dry. We will see the progress I make in drying the tank out.

Dryer setup

POR-15 Tank Cleaning

After a hiatus for the past few weeks, I finally had a whole weekend blocked out where I would be able to get some stuff done to the bike. The big process to take is the tank cleaning/etching/coating. Since the tank was a little rusty inside, I had purchased the POR-15 motorcycle tank renewal kit. In the kit comes a marine clean solution, an slightly acidic etching solution, and the famous POR-15 coating kit (along with fibrous patching in case there are pin holes).

POR-15 kit

The first thing I did was remove the tank, the fuel sensor unit, gas cap, and emblems. Now that the tank was naked I had no reservations with taking a garden hose to the thing and cleaning the gunk out from the inside. Not too much "gunk" came out, more like flakes of rust.

My tank drain site.

Next I sealed the fuel filler with a 1.5 inch expansion test stopper. The fuel sending hole was too small for the test stopper, so I slipped a few latex gloves over a foam cone and duct taped it in there. I took a small cork, covered it in a latex glove and duct taped that inside of the fuel exit.

My makeshift plugs

Now I poured hot water into the tank with the marine clean in roughly a 5:1 ratio. POR-15 suggests 5:1 as a best ratio for most applications. I found this suitable since the tank is quite large, this ratio would cover at least 1/3 of the tank at a time.

Tank on its side

I heard some popping and fizzing in the tank when I checked it 30 minutes later. I feared that the solution had eaten through the latex and was now making a mess of styrofoam in my tank. I opened the test plug to peer inside...

Inside the tank

The tank still looks rusty, but I am not surprised, this process was mainly to remove varnish and gunk fuel, which I believe mine was not plagued excessively. Before I go to bed I will drain and rinse tank and let it sit over night to dry. I have to work in the morning, but when I get back I will begin etching.

And of course, I am always being safe wearing my PPE. I learned something in Chem Lab.

PPE!