All major components are back on, the rear chain is hooked up, ignition coil, oil tank, seat...
Here's what remains to be done, and I'm afraid it's all in Peppe's hands again:
> Electrics: all the wiring needs to be done from scratch, that means all the wires, connections and insulation as appropriate.
> Oil lines need to be plumbed in, this is fairly straightforward, but I will add a tap on the main oil feed. I know this is risky (you forget to open it and you're looking at a busted engine), but since realistically this won't be on the road every day, I'd rather avoid excessive wet-sumping.
> Cables: throttle, choke, clutch all need to be connected. I'll probably do this myself while Peppe works on the wiring loom. There is also the strong possibility that the front brake cable is too damn long and may need to be cut down, somehow. I hope that's not the case because on the OIF, it isn't just a cable: the outer cable is made to lock into the first cam and pushes it against the second cam, which is pulled by the inner cable's terminal. This arrangement ensures that the shoes are balanced and requires no adjustment. Ever.
> I need a replacement intake manifold stud, the one I had got mangled up when I was mounting the carburetter. this was bemusing on top of frustrating: the new nuts I was fitting came from England as part of a spares order, specifically for that, but the threads were inaccurately cut, beyond the shadow of a doubt.
There's not much else left to do in terms of "big jobs". After the bike is wired up and running, well... I could go on who knows how long putting "the finishing touch" on it and, to a certain extent, that has to be avoided. Obviously I want to get the fuel tank painted as soon as I can (who knows, I might even make it in time for the rally), because in my head I know exactly how I want it to look. I want to touch up the paint on the frame here and there (there are a couple of spots where it was slightly nicked during assembly. Considering I did all that by myself though, I think I did very well in terms of "damage control"). But other than that, really, there isn't that much left to do.
I've been wanting to get this bike built and on the road for a good while now, and most of the time between gathering parts and now, has been spent waiting for Peppe to help with the mock-up, and now again with the wiring. So instead of waiting, provided you have the skills and the tools* you could easily get a bike like this from intoxicated club-nite vision to havoc-wreaking reality in about a month? Maybe two months?
But I digress.
I'm trying to persuade Peppe to help me with the wiring and the rest of the jobs sometime this week so I can take it to the rally, which is fast approaching.
Naturally, I will bribe him with cigars and liquor...
*I'm leaving out the obvious ingredients here, money, place, time...
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