1st post

[Porkchok]

Hey all. Been lurking around here for the last year or so. Bought my '81 from my best friend who had it for around 10 years. He is a "ride it till the wheels fall off" kind of guy and he nearly did that. Chain snapped on him while riding (luckily at low neighborhood speed) and caught up in the rear hub. No damage was done to the engine case/side cover although the hub did get a bit chewed up. It sat for a couple of years in his garage after that.

Since I brought her home I've been going through a nearly complete mechanical rebuild (aside from engine internals). Things I've done so far: tapered roller bearings in the stem, fork oil, fork seals and boots, front and rear wheel bearings, tires, tubes n rim strips, replaced the mangled chain tensioner from the incident, rebuilt front caliper, replaced master cylinder, new shoes in the rear, chain and sprockets, grips, bar end mirrors, cam chain tension and valve adjustment, replaced missing hardware like rear grab bar and various nuts and bolts, new spark plugs, all new cables, all new charging system including battery, general cleaning up, repainted some of the black parts (triple tree etc), and probably some other things I'm forgetting.

All this while still riding her all last summer.

Since she has been running so well I have yet to pull the carbs but I have the full kit with plastic floats from 4into1 sitting on my bench. I also have new carb rubbers on the way from mad hornets. I also have everything on the way to rebuild the clutch as well as new coils, wires and boots for the ignition system.

Here's a couple photos of her last summer before most of a the work I've listed here.

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[Volker_P]

Welcome here!

Looks really good - even not only for "before" pictures of a "ride it till the wheels fall off" bike.

[Porkchok]

Here's a few more at various stages throughout last year. I've gotten out a few times already the past couple of weeks but haven't snapped any new pics yet. Cheers

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[Porkchok]

Welcome here!

Looks really good - even not only for "before" pictures of a "ride it till the wheels fall off" bike.

Haha. All of these photos are after MUCH cleaning and polishing. What I meant by that was that my friend is not mechanically inclined and aside from oil changes only worries about maintenance when something isn't working xD It was garage kept with a tarp cover and the original owner (before my freind) did take care of it aside from some really shady wiring. Speaking of which I'm still chasing down the source of a weak charge... Only getting about 11.6VDC at battery at idle and 13.4VDC at 5000rpm. Currently going through and replacing all terminal and bullet connectors with new OEM quality ones to rule out shoddy connections and increased resistance from oxidation as a cause. But that's for another thread...

[Volker_P]

I assumed that there probably was "some cleaning".
But you still need a reasonable basis for this result - this is what I meant.

BTW, 5 of 6 full cells of a 12V lead battery would sum up to 11.6 Volts
I also recommend to open and clean the ignition switch inside although this issue caused a higher charging voltage in my case.

[Porkchok]

I assumed that there probably was "some cleaning".
But you still need a reasonable basis for this result - this is what I meant.

BTW, 5 of 6 full cells of a 12V lead battery would sum up to 11.6 Volts
I also recommend to open and clean the ignition switch inside although this issue caused a higher charging voltage in my case.

Bought a brand new battery 2 days ago and installed for testing with no change in results. So back in with the old one until I resolve the issue. That way I don't unnecessarily stress the new one from undercharging or anything of the sort. Ignition has also been pulled apart, contacts filed/sanded, and reinstalled. Still working my way through the entire harness starting at the rear and working my way forward. I still need to find a suitable replacement for the main 6ga battery cables for ground and + to the starter solenoid. I will work on making an actual thread with all of my DMM measurements and details of this whole thing over the weekend.

P.S. Thanks for all of your helpful posts on this forum over the years Volker. They have helped me tremendously over the last year on this bike.

Cheers

[Volker_P]

Thanks!
Good to hear that this forum is still helpful though activity became quite low with time.
Well, probably most things have been said.