MSerfozo

Love the illustration with the 1974ish Alfa Romeo Spyder.

Cool idea! Always wondered what to do with them.

Admittedly, when the top end is actually on top instead of on the side like a BMW, it's a little harder to set valve clearances. But on an old-school oil-boiler naked, it's not a lot harder! And with tappet adjusters, the adjustment is easy with common hand tools. While I had the tank off, I took the opportunity to install the Pingel petcock I had laying around.

If it keeps road debris from letting the oil out of the cooler, I'll call it quality. It doesn't look that great up close, but the old one had less open space and the new motor heats the oil up more than the old one did.

I finally finished and installed the new oil cooler guard. It's been about a month since I started building it - I guess the cold garage has slowed progress. I started by making a form for the frame and bending a 3/16" rod into the shape. Then I welded the frame together and tacked on tabs for the corners. I AM NOT A WELDER, I merely own a machine that can weld when in the right hands... But with enough sputtering and grinding, I can usually get two pieces of steel to become one. I tried to weld the wire screen to the frame but failed so I opted for zip ties. A quick coat of aluminum color spray paint and I called it finished. I'm reasonably pleased with the outcome.

I gotta stay away from Amazon for a while... It's a gimballed 1/4" palm ratchet. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00EYTBVWO?ref=ppx_pt2_mob_b_prod_image BTW, @mello dude what's your opinion on the Sato 3° ratchets?

😄

OK, not as sexy as an endoscope but these are pretty f'ing cool. I didn't even know that 3° ratchets existed until last night. I waited overnight to see if i could get over the desire to have these in my toolbox. The want was still there this morning so i ordered them from Amazon this morning and they were delivered about an hour ago. Sata is made by Apex tools in Taiwan. They also make Gearwrench and Crescent. The ratchet mechanism is silky smooth on these and clicks 120 times per rev! I can't believe they can sell them at this price. They are also sold as Gearwrench XL120 but at 2X the price. Polish is really nice and the handles look like Snap-On. I can't wait to get out in the garage and use them. The snap-ring on the front leads me to believe they can be disassembled to lube or rebuild, but I have no idea if kits will become available. At $60 including tax, everybody needs a set of these! https://www.amazon.com/SATA-Professional-Dual-Pawl-60-Tooth-Heavy-Duty/dp/B07V1ZRZ29/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?crid=2LDTOMMH1IDF8&keywords=sata+ratchet+3%2F8&qid=1673318993&sprefix=sata+rat%2Caps%2C182&sr=8-4

I finally got a start on the GS500 project. The new garage heater was great - I had to turn it to low to keep from getting too hot and to save propane. The previous owner said he was no electrician but I've never seen wiring this bad! No device brackets were attached, just hanging from the wire that was tied into a ball with a dozen zipties! Pictures are after clipping all the zipties. The new Shorai for the Bandit came today so now I'm free to repurpose the 3yo Battery Tender brand LiFe battery into the GS. I plan to make a shallow box under the seat for the battery and wiring to hide in. I discovered that my Shorai battery came with an amazingly cool feature. They glued a cube of foam rubber to the back of the square terminal nuts to hold the nut next to the hole in the terminal while you're trying to thread the bolt in. F'ING GENUIS!

Happy New Year!

Ordered a new Shorai LiFe battery for the Bandit. Old Lithium battery will go in the GS500 scrambler project. And I ordered a Tank Top Propane Heater so I can keep working in the garage this winter. It'll get here just in time for 50 deg temps this weekend!

I've been using my Advent Calendar this year!

Just ordered a couple of generic fenders and a fork seal kit for it. Guess I'm committed to this thing now... I was thinking of painting the fenders a contrasting color because I'm tired of seeing all black bikes. What about white or aluminum silver color? I think I'll put the Li battery from my Bandit in this so I can lay it down sideways & hide the battery box better. Then I'll get a new one for the Bandit. And what about an upswept end can for the exhaust? Have to go searching for that...

Not that there's anything wrong with that! 😆

Yeah, Shinko Trail Masters! I'm going to turn in into an "On Any Sunday" era looking scrambler or something. It's a winter project. I'll likely flip it in the spring unless I end up making it too ugly for anybody to love.