Subject: One Step Forward Two Steps Back
Author: Keith Ruff
Date: Mar 24, 2005, 8:29 PM
Post ID: 1718596658
Got the rebuilt speedo back today from Palo Alto, they did a nice job,
but I think North Hollywood Speedo may have done better artwork on my
last 71 Ambo speedo. Got it installed after getting delayed by a lousy
job of wiring of the new ignition switch by the previous owner. All of
the connections were loose which I didn't realize until after the
housing was back on. Had to remove the housing and rework the wiring,
tight now. Also installed the ignition cover I picked up on ebay. Got
the cafe fairing re-installed also, then ventured on to install those
new locking exhaust nuts.........
Took off the exhaust, polished up the mufflers and header pipes on the
bench polisher, cleaned up better than by hand. Went to re-install the
header pipes and I was about ready to have a heart attack. The new
exhaust nuts would not tighten down, they would get to a point where
they should have but would just skip backwards and loosen up. Ah s@!%!
Called Mark E and asked him to please tell me I was not $#%^&@! and he
walked me through some checks. Turns out the new exhaust nuts are
slightly smaller than the originals which fit much better, so I will
grind the edges of the old brass ones smooth, clean them up a bit, and
re-use them. Mark gave me a good tip with these old brass nuts, he
suggested I get a cone, fit the nut over the cone thread side down, and
tap it down to expand the threaded part. This will give the nut more
bite and cut the heads a bit to clean up the threads. Great tip and it
sure beats having to pull the head and get new threads welded in. So
tomorrows agenda is to find some sort of metal cone/pipe expander that I
can use to expand these exhaust nuts. More unexpected work on the
project....
Tank and sidecovers should be shipped out of Mark's shop next week, so
if all goes well with the exhaust nuts, I'm about a week away from the
maiden voyage! I've got her insured and registered, historic plates and
historic insurance effective tomorrow, so she is legal to ride now.
I've posted a few more pix on my site of the speedo, fairing, and
re-chromed heel-toe shifter, feel free to wonder over to:
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/klruff3/album?.dir=/6aab&.src=ph
A little dark in the garage, so the pix are not the best, oh well.
Keith Ruff
70 Cafe Racer Ambo
Manahawkin, NJ