Really fed up with building stuff at the moment. It really is just the thought that I won't be doing this again that's keeping me going. Looking forward to the riding & driving, but the building bit's no fun at all.
Spent a couple of days on & off, fiddling with the exhausts, trimming the front end of the right hand one bit by bit to fit tighter around the frame tubes. The bend radius is slightly wider than the old pipe cos mine was a compound bend made from several different pipe sections welded together, which the pipe bendy guy couldn't match. The new pipe's also slightly fatter, to get the bends as close as possible, which messes up the clearance between pipe, frame & engine. Got another 5mm to take off the pipe end today, (no power supply at the lock-up so I've measured, dismantled, carted across town to Loon's workshop, cut with the angle grinder, ferried back & re-fitted half a dozen times). Can't get the pipes to line up, one above the other down the side of the bike though. Starting to think I may have to cut the right one, across the front of the engine, to pull it in tighter. Bloomin' annoying cos the whole point of the new pipes was to do them in one piece, cos the old ones had fractured where I'd welded them & ground the welds down flush. If I have to, I'll take them to someone to TIG weld for me. More expense, but as I said, I'm only doing this once.
Also got problems with the speedo cable. A small job but just not going right. Mr CopperSmith very kindly made me a new inner cable with the correct squared off ends to fit the speedo & drive unit, but it's slightly too long, (my fault not his). I had to make the angled aluminium guide tube with the cable already inside it cos the ends didn't flex enough to fit around the bend. So now I need to make a whole new set-up. Stuff it -I've ordered a new cable for a fiver from Ebay & will look again at having it shortened. Yet more expense.
Worried about the complete lack of life when I tried the ignition key the other day. Nothing. No flicker of light, horn or anything. The bike had been caught outside in the rain for 10 minutes the day before. Maybe something's shorted but the fuses all look O.K. Haven't got any means of testing anything, (or the knowledge to do it). It's a brand new battery & may not have had a proper charge yet, (has to be done in situ cos I have to lift the bike to drop the battery out from underneath), but there ought to be something in it. I'll see if I've got a test bulb somewhere I can put across the terminals.
Deadlines have come & gone & after thinking it just needed a quick carb tune up, I'm back to where I was 6 months ago. I love this bike & I'm really looking forward to riding it, but it's tough keeping the enthusiasm going when I'm endlessly pouring money & time into it & getting nowhere.
