The sun broke out for a little bit, so I took a few pics. I cleaned off a bunch of wax from some hard to reach nooks n crannies that were overlooked by whoever cleaned her last.
I have a gasket set on the way for when I rebuild her, which may be very soon. She spat out a good amount of oily liquid from the cylinder that wasn't firing, so I think the rings may be shot :-\
I just smile when I look at that thing.
Not too bad on the outside
Speedo/Odo both work ;D ;D
He said the pipes were $300 bucks on ebay, so I guess my 'all original' claim is sort of shot.
He's got the right header pipe for me somewhere in that shop, so I'll get it eventually.
Brand new Chinese tires already on the bike...Good for temporarily holding air
Sprockets/chain will be replaced
The tank needs a
serious cleaning
<EDIT> THIS TANK HAS BEEN DEEMED UNUSEABLE DUE TO OLD LINER <EDIT>
I love the crinkly paint. I will not be refinishing any surfaces. This bike was clearly kept inside here in sunny California, and I think it'd be a shame to significantly alter it. My dad has kept some beautiful automobiles over my lifetime; he's had some of them longer than he's been married, namely his 356's. His convertible has the original white paint from 1963, and with all her cracks and crinkles, I think it's the most beautiful 356 I've seen outside of a museum. It's only original once.
Got my $70 ebay petcock, it's in great shape. I had no reason to think it would leak all over the place when I installed it :
I got most of the old liner out of the tank after a good bath in 'The Works' The molasses did nothing...I rinsed it out and gave it a good baking soda wash to neutralize the reaction, rinsed it out some more, and filled her up with gas after drying out in the hot sun (We broke some records here in the Bay Area today).
First I thought the petcock wasn't screwed on tight enough, so after spilling gas everywhere to tighten the screws, the lever wouldn't move anymore, and it
still leaked. Luckily, I had cleaned up the PO's jerry rigged petcock with some carb cleaner and a new filter, so for now I'll use that.
So, all this cleaning, gas spilling and frustration took up about seven hours of my day off. To top it off: When I went to start her up...the battery I'd charged up was dead :-[
On the bright side, the PO found the pipes he said he would give me.
Oh well, tomorrow is another day.
-----
Finally got my new battery today. Replaced the D10HS plugs the PO had in there with what are supposed to be correct D8HA's. I installed everything, turn the ignition on and the brake light lit up, so she's got power, but she won't start.
Do you guys have any tips for getting these girls started? Choke? Throttle?
The electric starter turns the motor over, and she's getting gas, so I'm thinking I'm probably just doing something wrong. I have no idea what the switch on the left handle does, but I tried starting it in both positions. The choke has a lever with an arrow pointing outward that says "OPEN", but does that mean the choke is on when the lever is lifted, and the throat is open when it's pushed down?
Thanks Guys!
Oh, and here's a chunk of the tank liner I pulled out laying dead on the driveway.
