Not even 48 hours since I got home from Wauseon, and I’m ripping into the bike again. I’m taking out all the electronic ignition bullshit and going back to points. Wish me luck.
Already dealing with stripped screw heads. The idiot who put the first ignition in (that only lasted maybe 8,000 miles) stripped the Allen heads. I was able to coax one out, but the other is headed for a nuclear option. Which nuclear option is yet to be determined….
One of the starter relay bolts is rusted so I doused that with Gibbs and I’ll see how that goes.
Off to deal with the rest of my day. I will have to finish pulling everything out tomorrow.
Atomic Shovel update: Lots of progress today. That stripped screw? Well I was trying to be all slick and not remove the battery box yesterday – it’s 4 damn bolts – I know… lazy. Anyway I pulled the battery box out, got the one screw out that was rusted tight yesterday, and then went warrior on the stripped one. Let’s just say I’m damn creative with a zip wheel.
Moved on from there. Removed the ignition and all the wiring from both ignitions that was still on the bike. Pulled the single fire coil, cleaned up all the electrical on the rear block behind it, and installed the dual fire coil. That’s not wired yet… Tomorrow.
Pulled the spark plugs, gapped and installed new ones, and changed plug wires.
So the left side of the bike is almost ready to go, except to finish wiring the coil. I’ll get after the right side tomorrow. Got to reinstall the battery box, and the starter relay – which I’m replacing. Then install the points in the cone. Hoping to get all that done tomorrow. Then I have some other electrical that I want to clean up, and I need to make sure I update my wiring diagram with accurate info.
Atomic Shovel update: Got tons done again today. Put the battery box back, and got new starter relay in, cleaned up all the wiring. I did a bunch of other little stuff, and then started messing with the points. Found some videos, read the service manual, went back to the videos, and just did one step at a time till I got it done. These points are dumb tho. Couldn’t figure out for the life of me how to attach the damn power wire to the condenser. There was no obvious way. I spent about 20 minutes just staring at it, poking at it, staring some more… made a few phone calls. Not much help. Finally I figured out that this little brass piece gets shoved in there and the wire attaches to THAT! What the fuck. Really dumb. But ok. Meanwhile Chris Tribbey called me back and verified that’s what needed to happen. Hooray.
So I finally got that done, wired the coil, put the battery back in, cleaned up a few things in the battery box (not like I had hoped, but I did sort things through), buttoned everything up, and went to start the bike.
Nothing.
Not even a burp.
So tomorrow I get to figure out what I fucked up today. And I will. It’s probably something really dumb.
The only photo I have from today is the wiring conundrum with the points.
Atomic Shovel update: Points install complete! Thanks in no small part to Bill Daneke. I realized last night that I got sidetracked and never set the timing! Squirrel! So this morning I started with that. Bike back up on the bench jack, timing plug out, spark plugs out, found the timing mark annnnd when I went to set the timing, the plate wouldn’t clock far enough. Sumbitch.
I remember this was an issue with the electronic ignition as well, so I started clearancing the slots. Meanwhile I messaged Bill to follow up from a conversation we had last night. He got back to me and while we were talking, I realized I was using the wrong damn timing mark. OMG. So he saved me from myself! As soon he mentioned the timing mark, I realized what I had almost done. This has been a memorable job for realz…
Anyway, it was a struggle trying to turn the rear wheel and try looking for the timing mark, but I FINALLY got the correct timing mark in the window, and with poor Bill coaching me along, I got the points installed! Hooray! That man is a Saint, I’m tellin’ ya.
Buttoned everything up, cleaned up my tools, and then moved on to address the dead starting situation. First I crossed the relay with a screwdriver and it came to life. Win. I figured the start button had spit the bit, so I swapped that out. A 15 minute job. Still nothing. What??? Sumbitch.
So I checked the wiring, but I knew that was good, and then I realized that circuit is fused. Hmmmm. Popped the fuse out and shonuff, it was blown. Swapped for a new one and bang! We have ignition!
The bike is snappier to start now. I like it. Took it for a little test ride – that was a win. Hopefully tomorrow I can stash Maizie with someone so I can take it out for a longer test ride.
Only thing left to do before Sturgis is change the oil.
Yes I had help, but even so, I can’t believe I just did all that. Kinda chuffed.
The Atomic Shovel 