Subject: My Loop takes its first roll
Author: Darrell Dick
Date: Mar 9, 2002, 5:23 PM
Post ID: 1709815050
Well my project is really starting to shape up now. This week's part
infusion seems to have gotten it to the "real" bike stage. I had the MG
Cycle boys send me a set of petcocks and cables. Voila! no more fuel
leaks and the cables are the right length. Thanks, Rick and Gordon. The
bike lit up nice and runs steady. I think the the motor is going to be
sweet. Thanks, Brad Kopp. I should have done it before, but I noticed the
headstock was notchy, so I tore it down and washed the 30 year old grease
out of the bearings and re-lubed. Nice and smooth, now. I rode it a few
hundred yards too. It is a little too muddy around here to do more.
Some background.. I bought the hulk of a '71 Ambo back a couple of years
ago. It was very rough and butt-ugly, but mostly there. After a while I
pulled the motor. When I lifted the heads, I found the cylinder were in
sad shape(serious chrome flaking) as well as the pistons (broken rings).
I found the sump was loose, so I decided to pull the lower end down too.
Well, now the rear main journal was slightly undersize. So I started
shopping for rebuild parts. I happened to connect with Brad Kopp through
this list who was breaking a V700. He said the motor was in good shape so
I bought it for much less than what a rebuild would have cost. Turns out
the V700 motor is in real nice shape. I bought another Ambo parts donor a
little while ago to replace some of the other worn or missing stuff. It
looks like Kev Graff is going to resurrect the remains of that beast.
Well I just got the sheetmetal back from the painter and it looks great.
Since this bike is a real Frankenstein creation, I didn't feel compelled
to go for an restoration. Instead, I made it the way I wanted it. It has
BMW maroon metallic paint with silver accents. John Prusnek supplied the
decals (Thanks, John). I bought a Harley Shovelhead seat off Ebay and
added that to the mix. There was nothing left of the electrical system so
I rewired it my way. I built an aluminum switch panel and mounted it on
the handlebar clamps. I used automotive style switches, push-pull for the
lights and spots, push buttons for horn and dimmer. I put everything on
heavy duty automotive relays. I used the stainless steel Ford tailight I
was talking about recently. The horns are Fiaam look alikes from the
local tractor store. The mufflers are left overs from my BSA Lightning.
I'm real happy with the way it turned out. As usual, I'll have more
invested in it than I anticipated, but I sure had a lot of fun. I still
have a lot more to do before it's road worthy. I need tires and there is
a lot of details to be sorted, but it's a bike now! Take a look,
http://communities.msn.com/GuzziParts/ambofirstpix.msnw?Page=Last. The
pictures aren't very good. When the weather is better, I'll do a better
job.
Thanks for listening!
Darrell Dick
Imlay City, MI