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I finished tearing the bike down today. Split the frame, pulled the engine. Still have to get it up onto the engine stand. Just as I finished, the parts showed up, so I will be replacing the bent rod in the next day or two. I have a bunch of stuff on my plate, but I hope to begin reassembly soon. I never thought I would do this again. After the final touches were put on the Ranger conversion, I figured it was done, for good. Oh well, I can now change a few things that have been bugging me. Lady LaFong is down with a busted pelvis that left us stranded in Japan for 6 weeks. I have to tend to her as well as being the domestic help until she's healed. Fortunately, I'm a pretty good cook and I know how to run the vacuum and wash machine.

Carl La Fong wrote:I finished tearing the bike down today. Split the frame, pulled the engine. Still have to get it up onto the engine stand. Just as I finished, the parts showed up, so I will be replacing the bent rod in the next day or two. I have a bunch of stuff on my plate, but I hope to begin reassembly soon. I never thought I would do this again. After the final touches were put on the Ranger conversion, I figured it was done, for good. Oh well, I can now change a few things that have been bugging me. Lady LaFong is down with a busted pelvis that left us stranded in Japan for 6 weeks. I have to tend to her as well as being the domestic help until she's healed. Fortunately, I'm a pretty good cook and I know how to run the vacuum and wash machine.

Did she have an accident??

if not....Is she on Fosamax ( a supposed bone building drug)?

Hit by a guy on a bicycle. Two weeks+ in the hospital. Now we have to deal with Kaiser and the American medical machine

John, best wishes to Lady LaFong for a speedy recovery.

Sorry to hear of the double misfortune, wishing both your good Lady and the Boss a quick recovery

Sorry to hear about your Mrs. Thought and prayers for a speedy recovery.

Carl La Fong wrote:Hit by a guy on a bicycle. Two weeks+ in the hospital. Now we have to deal with Kaiser and the American medical machine

WOW...shitty luck hey...all the best to her and good luck with your bike.

John, what did you decide to do about the motor?

Got the parts to repair the engine. I'll have it up on the stand tomorrow or Monday

Frame on the sawhorses

Here is the result of a leaky assed Q-Jet

Ouch!

Made some progress

Dropped the frame and swing arm off, yesterday, to be coated. Should be ready tomorrow or Monday. Then reassembly can begin. I have cleaned and polished or painted all of the little widgets and doodads, soaked and cleaned all of the fasteners, etc. Should go back together in a couple of days. Might get to fire it up before Saturday, I hope. Sunday morning, I'm going to Vicente Guererro, Baja, with about 35 other people, to build houses for two poor families. I'll be gone for a week. Hopefully, I'll have a good ride report, soon after that.

See, there's more to LaFong than a surly, opinionated, know it all, internet bully

"See, there's more to LaFong than a surly, opinionated, know it all, internet bully "

Hey, my boyGenius, I always thought so

ps. lovely looking work there, v pretty engine now and gorgeous intake.

I got the frame reinstalled without any issues. Started bolting on all of the ancillaries, brake pedal, master cylinder, pegs, etc. Starting to look like a bike again. Patting myself on the back, I went to the left sde to add the shift and clutch linkage. Uh oh.......there's a big hole in the bellhousing that is supposed to have the clutch fork sticking out. Rats!!! No choice but to resplit the frame and pull the bellhousing, trans and angle drive out. Five seconds to install the fork and then it's all day to get back to where I left off. Oh well, no harm, no foul. Tomorrow, I should have it pretty much done. Might even make some noise, besides the big, DOH!!!! that I made earlier

How about a celebratory video for us followers?

Man I hate it when that happens... I do it all the time myself!

I bet you said more than "DOH" when you saw the hole !!!!!! Looks good !!!

Here is is as it stands now. The workings of the clutch release system can be seen pretty clearly. The bell crank is pulled by the cable, which pushes the booster. The booster then pushes the rod that attaches to the release fork. This is what BH used on the early clutch bikes. It was not very satisfactory and still needed a heel assist pedal due to an extremely hard pull at the handlebar lever. What I did was to fabricate a mousetrap like the old HDs used but on steroids. The spring is from the hood of a 70s Cadillac. The mousetrap, in conjunction with the vacuum booster, turned out to be the hot setup. The pull at the handlebar lever is quite easy and it fully releases and engages. Along with the waterpump, this has also performed perfectly, once I got it dialed in. Too much tension on the spring and the clutch won't re engage

I really like your rihnocoat frame . If I ever have strip mine down I will be doing the same .

Noise occurred last night. It was late and I was tired, so I shut the door and went up to the house to shower and eat. This morning, I returned, fired it, set the timing, 35 degrees all in, fiddled with the idle set screw and it all seems good. I will, probably, need the rest of the day to install the radiator, tank and tend to a dozen other minor things that will crop up. I will ride to the end of the block today, come hell or high water. I might push it home but, by God, I will ride it once

I hear that!

The bike has been together for a week, or so. Everything seems good, so far. I stripped off all of the old black paint. Time for a change. It's in primer, right now. I'll get to the paint later this year or early 2018. I decided to redo my fuel lines with AN fittings, like I had before. It took all day to do one line. At the pump outlet, I plumbed in a gauge, then a short line to the filter, then another short line to the electric shut off. In 55 years of riding, I have never gotten into the habit of shutting the gas off, so this will solve that problem. Then another short line to the carb. I had to make an adapter to connect the AN to the carb. Just a flare fitting and a 3/8 pipe fitting, soldered together. Easy peasy. Fired it up and, amazingly, no leaks. I have to order some more braided hose for the tank to pump line so, for now, the auto parts store rubber hose will do

Nice work in tight places!

I like the idea of the solenoid shutoff valve.