Had some time on Saturday for fettling.... (still not sure how I managed that)
Got a 2BA helicoil kit from RGMNorton and fixed the gear-box inspection plate thread. Stuffed a bit of foam in there to catch all the swarf and it did a good job.
I've a nasty feeling the helicoil may have turned itself a bit too far, but I'll keep an eye on it and pull it out if needed and replace the coil (the kit comes with 10 of the little blighters).
Speaking of little blighters....
I figured I'd just check the engine mounting bolts/studs (it's a rod with a thead at each end - I think that's a 'stud' ?) - and one of them wasn't going tight... obviously it's the one right at the bottom at the back... the hardest to reach!
Oddly it was the
nut that lost it's thread, not the stud.
Even more odd - the (perfectly fine) nut on the other end (rhs) doesn't fit onto the (lhs) end? Weird. You'd think they were both the same thread? I need to check the threads on that stud again - they should be the same (at least logic would tell me so).
But - since I don't have any Imperial 'spares' to speak of - it gave me the "opportunity" to invest in a grab bag or 3 from 'Nookie's Nuts'. (I say 3 because I need to cover all of Cycle, BSW and BSF when gathering potential spares for this bike). There's metric on it too in random places, but I've got a fair few of them. I expect to lose at least 1 nut or bolt per ride, so I want to have provisions.....
I also cleaned out the oil tank with some petrol (there was a shitload of burnt carbon bits in there - castor oil does tend to do that I understand), and emptied the gearbox.
I also received a new battery, it charges (yay!), and the brake-light and horn (the limit of the electrics) both work fine. I've also wired in a connector to make charging the battery a bit more easy (it's tucked under the seat-hump so that has to come off to reach it otherwise).
So - once I've got my nuts sorted out, it's going to be a case of putting in fluids and seeing if it'll run again.
(Needs a bit of tidying though.)
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