Consensus Of Opinion, Is This Acceptable On Here ?

Battery strap is all tacked in place now & seems to work OK, allowing the battery to be changed/removed without too much trouble !


The foam strips will be stuck to the underside of the strap once it has been powder coated.


There's also enough clearance between the rearmost fuse holder & the underside of the cover too.

 

Just got back from Wells after picking up my paintwork. Couldn't wait to chuck it on, just to have a look
I'll underseal the mudguard tomorrow & get that final fitted. Once that is on I can refit the rear wheel & then get the primary drive & engine tightened & then the final big job is to finish the wiring off & make all the connections.
There's light at the end of the tunnel !!

 

In fairness, I gave Joeby the colours & a basic idea of what I wanted, (he'd already done the first bike) & left him to it so all credit to him really.
Although the design, such as it is, is only quite simple I wanted the bike to look old at a quick glance & I think he achieved that

 

More progress made today !
Primary drive & engine are now locked in place as is the rear wheel after checking the sprocket alignment with the gearbox.

I fitted the front cylinder exhaust too to give it a bit more of the "finished" look !




Clutch friction plates are now draining after being soaked in AFT for a few minutes. BDL recommend leaving them to drain for 24 hours so I'll finish the clutch off tomorrow now.

 

Steve Slight, (Jobey) of "Jobey's Airbrush Art" did the paint. He's in Wells near Glastonbury. It's a bit of a trek for me from Stockport, but he did my first bike & I liked his work so I stuck with him. I'm sure there are painters just as good closer to me, but the problem is finding them & trusting them. When I find someone who's good at their job & I'm happy with them I tend to stick with them, even if that means a bit of travelling !!

I will post some pictures when it's finished

 

Bit more progress made yesterday. Started by securing the clutch in place, which requires locking in place while the hub nut is torqued up. The red plate locked the two parts of the clutch together & the round silver coloured gadget, (in the "5-past" position in the picture below), locks the starter ring gear. There's a good dollop of Loctite on the shaft splines & nut !!


With the clutch hub nut secure the primary belt was fitted together with the front pulley. With both locking tools still fitted the Allen screws & main nut were torqued up. again, Loctite was applied to all threads.


With that tightened the clutch plates were installed, thickest steel plate was inserted first followed by the normal friction/steel plates. Finally the spring plate locking ring was secured with the ring gear lock still in place.


Also, the three roll pins were driven in place in the front pulley.


As a bit of extra security & my "peace of mind" I always lock-wire these fixings.


Next on the list was the starter motor. With the gear jack-shaft installed the motor was secured in place. The starter motor is a bit of a lump, not your usual smallish looking motorcycle starter !! It looks like it belongs on a truck or a tractor !!




The corner plate that fits over this corner also supports this outer end of the starter jack shaft.


With all the primary drive assembled the clutch free play was adjusted & the last jobs were to fit the gear lever followed by the covers on the primary pulley, clutch & that corner plate.

 

Got the electrical connections finished at the front end today & checked as far as possible, i.e. powered up the speedo & checked the idiot lights were all OK. Also, the menu button, (the blue button just below the speedo) works & scrolls through the various display options Fortunately all these connections are hidden inside the headlight shell because they look a bit like a rat's nest !
I need the Motogadget unit connected now to check the functions of everything like the lights, indicators, etc. This unit will live under the seat along with the battery, ignition switch & magneto kill relay. That will be tomorrow's little task !

 

Got all the wiring connections finished to the engine today, neutral switch, oil pressure switch, magneto kill connection & starter solenoid & the cables routed into the battery box area. That allowed me to fit the rear cylinder exhaust so that's all done now too.
Below is the starter-motor solenoid & neutral switch.


Oil pressure switch.


And magneto connection.


All that's left to do now is make the connections in the battery box to the Motogadget unit, which will live in here, to the right of where the battery mounts !

 

So, after making all the wiring connections & fitting the new battery I removed the spark plugs & spun the engine over a few times to get some oil pumped around the moving parts. I did a few cycles until the low oil pressure light went out & the pressure gauge started registering some pressure. Normal pressure on a cold engine is around 30 to 40 psi.
That all went well so the plugs were refitted, the next attempt failed to start the engine, in fact it wouldn't even turn over. It was as though the battery had gone completely flat.
I changed the battery & after the charger said it was fully charged I tried again, same result, nothing. However, all the lights worked fine, (they are all LED) but the starter motor & horn were dead.

To cut a long story short I thought it was the starter motor that had failed, got a new one & that was the same. Then I contacted Motogadget for some help, but before they'd sussed it I already come to the conclusion that my new battery was knackered. Motogadget then replied saying they'd managed to replicate my fault & they suspected it was a duff battery.

So I sent the battery back to the supplier who said the BMS had tripped, they reset it, rechaged it & then sent it back to me. It arrived yesterday & I refitted it today only to find it was exactly the same so it's going back to them on Monday now !!

I then took the battery off the other bike & fitted that to this new build & it worked a treat so after re-setting the ignition timing I now have a running bike. I just need to fit the new battery whenever that comes & then get it MOT'd, hopefully next week sometime, fingers crossed

 

Although I was/am somewhat p****d off about getting my battery back in the same state it was sent away with, in fairness to the supplier they have always been good & I've used them for years. I'm sure they resolve many issues without any problems, but there will always be occasions when things don't go well, for whatever reason.
The other bike I built has basically the exact same battery, albeit an older version & that has been faultless for almost nine years now.
It's a bit like that old adage with your washing machine when it breaks down. The service engineer comes to have a look & it works perfectly when he/she tries it !!
I have absolutely no doubt that they will resolve my issue amicably going off past dealing with them & for that reason I will continue to use them. Yes it is frustrating, but that's life !
The other thing to bear in mind is most suppliers have no idea what their customers level of skill/knowledge is & I've no doubt they come across some absolute balloons & tend to err on that side of opinion, rightly or wrongly.