7/31/11
7/30/11
XS650
The XT500 is close to being done, but I decided to do some work on my '75 XS650. I traded an old utility trailer for it last summer, but parked it when I found some cam chain guide bits in the oil filter. The engine needs to be removed to fix it, and I'm going to do some other mods at the same time. Somewhere between a roadster and scrambler is the plan so far.
Brickyard
My 5 year old son, like most kids his age, loves the movie Cars. He'd been wanting to see some real stock cars, so I took him to this mornings Brickyard 400 practice session. I'm pretty much just a two wheel or open wheel race fan, so this was my first time seeing NASCAR stock cars also. $15 for us to get in and free parking in the infield, a visit to IMS is a bargain. I didn't take many pictures, but here's a few from today.
Two time Indy 500 winner Dan Wheldon waving the green flag to start the practice session.
Two time Indy 500 winner Dan Wheldon waving the green flag to start the practice session.
7/27/11
Yamaguchi CCM
Pictures from http://shin883.com/ of the latest Sportster meet in Japan, which also has photos of previous meets going back to 2004.
7/24/11
One man's trash...
My brother-in-law had these in a box of stuff he was throwing away, a complete old Mac Tools wrench set with Sabina, Ohio markings. Lovely.
SR500 tachometer repair
On a recent ride one of the screws holding the tachometer face on vibrated out. You can see it down by the high beam light. It seems rather common on these old bikes, so here's how I fixed it.
Remove the headlight lens to access the two tach connections, and pull the harness out of the back of the headlight. Unscrew the tach cable from the back of the tach, and remove the two lower 10mm nuts.
Remove the two 8mm nuts on the side and pull the tach out of the shell.
The tachs are sealed, so I decided to cut it open to fix it, using a coping saw. It cuts through the plastic easily, and makes it easy to keep from cutting too deep into the tach. I first marked a line perpendicular to the cut to help line it back up once ready to reassemble.
Here it is cut open. I've heard of people prying the metal bezel off, but this seemed like a better way to do it. I don't know if I could have done it without causing visible damage.
Here's the top, and one area you need to be careful not to go too deep when cutting...
...and also on the bottom. If you need to get inside the tach to fix something, remove the two screw next to the cable drive and the whole thing will pull out. You can see one of the marks I put to line it back up.
The screw back in, and ready to reassemble. I used just a tiny drop of blue Loctite on the screw. Be sure to carefully blow out any plastic shavings from the cutting before reassembly.
Back together here. Lots of ways to do it, but I used a good 3M electrical tape rather than gluing it back together, in case I ever need to take it apart again.
Now it's ready to stick back in the shell, and put back on the bike.
Remove the headlight lens to access the two tach connections, and pull the harness out of the back of the headlight. Unscrew the tach cable from the back of the tach, and remove the two lower 10mm nuts.
Remove the two 8mm nuts on the side and pull the tach out of the shell.
The tachs are sealed, so I decided to cut it open to fix it, using a coping saw. It cuts through the plastic easily, and makes it easy to keep from cutting too deep into the tach. I first marked a line perpendicular to the cut to help line it back up once ready to reassemble.
Here it is cut open. I've heard of people prying the metal bezel off, but this seemed like a better way to do it. I don't know if I could have done it without causing visible damage.
Here's the top, and one area you need to be careful not to go too deep when cutting...
...and also on the bottom. If you need to get inside the tach to fix something, remove the two screw next to the cable drive and the whole thing will pull out. You can see one of the marks I put to line it back up.
The screw back in, and ready to reassemble. I used just a tiny drop of blue Loctite on the screw. Be sure to carefully blow out any plastic shavings from the cutting before reassembly.
Back together here. Lots of ways to do it, but I used a good 3M electrical tape rather than gluing it back together, in case I ever need to take it apart again.
Now it's ready to stick back in the shell, and put back on the bike.
