1980 900SS rebuild...

[Vacant Possession]

Bodywork problems...

I would have been picking up the tank today had it not been for gold decals which had gone past their sell by date; In frustration I decided to try my eBay Imola rat tank I had lying around and now I know why the guy sold it! It doesn't fit, neither does it fit a GT/S frame so goodness knows who built it and what bike it was for.

You can get some complete crap on eBay passed of as the real McCoy. Ho Hum.

Anyway, ignoring it's orange colour I think in the right colours and if it fitted it would look most cool, so with nothing to lose I am heading out to the garage at some point armed with my trusty grinder.

Here are a few pickies of the build as it is now, first under the bottom yoke, some bits you don't normally see...

Ignition units & top fork set up/nut...

Steering lock fitted...

Bike as it was yesterday 11/08/2013 with discs on to let me bleed the brakes. The front ones are the set for the GTS when they have been refurbished, I am hoping to pick up the finished ones for the SS today and drop these off.

The engine installation, I am running it in with air filters on just to make sure no foreign particles from the build/assembly are accidentally sucked in to the bellmouths. I am going to run it like this until it has dones 1,000 miles...

Another view of the Delrin swinging arm protector, it's a sod to get at later so worth installing carefully...

The anorexic rear view of a 900SS - a direct contradiction with the rider...

 

[MartinW]

Beautiful. I don't suppose that the Imola tank would fit one of your lightweight chassis?

 

[Vacant Possession]

Beautiful. I don't suppose that the Imola tank would fit one of your lightweight chassis?

Yes, that was the plan. It does fit - as long as it is about 8 inches from the headstock.

I think it is time to cut out the bottom and make sure it fits in the correct place on the frame. Apart from being the tank for 'Old Green' it would look ace on the B&G 900SS. No one will see my fibre glass work underneath...

 

[MartinW]

Yes, mine fits much better a little back. I don't suppose that there are narrow and wide frames like featherbeds?

 

[Vacant Possession]

Why didn't you just take out the plugs select a gear and rotate the rear wheel to pump the oil around the engine?.

Sorry, I missed this.

I tried pushing the bike down a hill in 2nd or 3rd about 20 years ago and it seemed to take quite a while so I haven't tried it since; Other than that, no reason.

 

[Vacant Possession]

Rear loom...

I wanted to tidy up the rear loom as it was a bit of a mess.

The indicators now have their own earthing point on the steel plate underneath the mudguard, exiting the loom running to the tail light.

Looks very neat, works very well and it is how the original was done. This isn't mine, this is one I looked at at Pietro's. If you look very carefully in the shadow at the bottom left, you can see the earth wire.

Mine exits adjacent to the upper indicator mount on the underside of the rear mudguard.

Makes the indicator wiring above very neat.

I am just awaiting the tank which I am picking up this morning and the rear disc carrier which I am sincerely hoping will be ready by tomorrow morning.

MOT is booked for tomorrow at 15:45 (FX: Worry worry) so off SORN at last (I hope).

 

[Derek]

Perhaps you have a ready made purchased loom but it's far better practice to build in earth wires for all the ancillaries taking them back to a central earth location at the battery -ve rather than relying on connections through bits bolted to the frame to make the circuit. Of course that's the way it was originally built and maybe you want to keep it that way.
Good luck with the MoT, I'm sure it will sail through.

 

[Vacant Possession]

It's an original loom but the rear part had been shagged (read: attacked!) by the previous owner; Now sorted. It has standard earthing points: One in the headlight, one under the tank, the battery, one attached to the voltage regulator mountings and the one I illustrated for the isolated by fibreglass rear section. The tail light has its own earth wire anyway. Mine has an extra star earthing point under the dash as the dash is solid state, the originals have a wandering earth wire between the idiot lights and with the LED's you get a separate distinct -ve wire (which I know you know ;-) ).

The indicators each only have one wire to them. They earth directly to their mountings.

I have three Duke looms and a damaged one I bought to get the correct wires & spare connectors. One is a very old SS loom with connectors for CEV switchgear, the one you see here which goes with the bike and a loom for the GTS (also CEV).

I want a week to shake the bike down and complete any snagging required before the V Twin rally. I'd like to get close to 1,000 miles done in the week, but I think that is optimistic.

Thanks for the wishes!

 

[Vacant Possession]

Missed the MOT...

Kids, eh?

Spent most of Friday morning morning helping my son with a work assignment; Then some friends turned up who were making a last visit prior to leaving for NZ... Which left me with an hour to fit the rear disc & chain before riding to the MOT station.

I called in to plea for more time but unfortunately friday is POETS day and 15:15 is the last slot they will give on a Friday. I didn't make it until 16:15 and was met with a shuttered up MOT station.

Worse than that, I have a problem with the front cylinder which I think is down to an incorrectly fitted valve guide (by me FX: Blush). The symptoms are oil getting into the front cylinder and correspondingly lots of smoke.

Compression is fantastic as with all that oil, cylinder sealing is perfection and Biggelaar have done a excellent job on setting up the valves/seats.

Here is the end of the vertical cylinder Conti...

And the horizontal...

The bore & piston, still bearing my felt tip markings showing its weight (can't be too careful!), note the oil...

The state of the spark plug...

What I am potentially left with for the V Twin next week...

The head awaiting shipping to Biggelaar....

Just a note on Jan Biggelaar. This is not a fault of his making; I called up yesterday and in spite of Toine (his son) being off on annual leave he has found time to have a good look at and hopefully sort my head out. I don't know what hope he has as my wife has been trying for years ;-); Seriously, It is nice to be given help when you need it.

The box you see contains the complete original head and a spare casting with its own set of rockers, cam, spacers, upper bevels, valves & various sizes of guide just in case the head itself requires further work.

The box is being picked up by DHL tomorrow for next day delivery to Biggelaar at an eye watering cost of £120 one way including the best but still insufficient insurance for its contents.

I am not sure luck comes into this; I have done what I can to make the best use of the working days this week. If all goes to plan, I will have *a* head back on Thursday. I don't care which one.

So much for having time for snagging!

 

[Vacant Possession]

Getting the engine up & running...

Apart from my trials listed above, getting the engine running was fun; The first start was smoky and now I know why. The battery had been charged with my Accumate and only achieved an 'orange' state; Worry worry.

I started it with my old carbs on and it was spitting a bit, turns out I had the magnetic transducer for the horizontal cylinder connected round the wrong way so it was running at full advance always. It started and ran sweetly and quietly (for a bevel) after changing the wires around. I left it running at an idle for a while with flushing oil as I have already mentioned and eventually it stopped of it's own accord and was most recalcitrant to restart, so I changed the oil & filter and gave it a rest. It behaved like I no longer had a spark and as the battery is suspect, I charged it up with my battery charger.

The next start was first kick, so I ordered a new Shorai and I am hoping that will be the end of that; Goodbye Yuasa.

Riding it to the MOT center was a joy even though I knew I had an oiling problem; The gearbox after a slow start is sweeter than it has ever been, the clutch seemed to work better and the engine felt sublime.

So there is hope.

Things I noticed that need immediate adjusting are the steering head bearings but that is both easy and expected. The neutral light cam isn't quite in the right place and it is a ^ugge% to get at. Goodness knows why they used a slotted screw rather than an Allen head - for which the tool has a natural 90 degree bend which would make it 'really quite easy' to adjust. Maybe I will do that, if I can ever get the old screw out.

 

[MartinW]

Saint, patience of, etc etc

 

[Vacant Possession]

Really quite pigged off (with myself) ATM; Saintlyness seems to be a quality entirely lacking in my Id as is patience, that might be the root cause of my problems

 

[Vacant Possession]

Go Biggelaar!

Its here ,i am busy with, Indeed its your valve guide leaking from the outside !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Try to make an oversize in.
Met vriendelijke groeten,
Jan v/d Biggelaar

It's in the post, am hoping it is here on Friday (FX: Fingers crossed!)

That's what I call service; So it was a naff guide [FX: Phew!].

 

[MartinW]

Better'n a sh*t scout

 

[Vacant Possession]

Writers block......

I don't seem able to write anything until I clear my chest.

Whilst I have been cheerily rebuilding the black bomber, someone in our family has been really ill. I was planning while curling down to Fordingbridge for the V Twin rally on Friday pm from West Sussex to call in at Portsmouth General and see my wife's step father.

Unfortunately we received one of those phone calls you never want to receive at 04:30 on Friday and my wife left to be with and comfort her mother at the bedside of Keith; She is a good daughter. Keith died at 07:20 on Friday morning leaving a wife, daughter, a step daughter (my wife) and step son. He was a good step Dad, taking his role as male leader of the family.

Keith's long battle and passing did change things both forever and for my simple little plan for the weekend.

 

[Vacant Possession]

Snagging...

Taking into account my previous message, I have been bumbling along being husband whilst pursuing my rather selfish aims. All the while Keith was defying nature with an awful lot of help from the NHS, I was simply existing and helping by being there when my wife needed to be away; We have kids.

I haven't taken much time off (ever) and used in particular spare hours for preparation and in the final couple of weeks snagging those bits which you know 'aren't quite right'.

So steering this 'conversation' to safer and happier waters, this is about snagging the black bomber; In truth, it has been a whole lot easier since last year when I was left with such a pile of pooh, I knew who not to use this time round. I had re-booked the MOT for 12:30pm on Friday at the excellent Littlehampton Motorcycles and Scooters who did a thorough job whilst taking into account the different MOT requirements of a 33 year old motorcycle. I was really worried as the bike has new discs & calipers and had only covered ~10 miles, not enough time to bed the brakes in.

So to my first (in this post) numpty moment.

The indicator light in my new solid state dashboard stayed stubbornly off.

With my decades of engineering, design and debugging, did I make my life easier? Certainly not, where is the fun in that. Nope, I went into (crap) analysis mode:-

• is it loom failure?
• are the diodes blown?
• is the switch faulty?

I forgot the noob interview question along the lines of... the equipment is not functioning, the display is not displaying the prompt, the motor won't run (etc.,) what is the problem? The answer is a question, 'is it plugged in and switched on?'. Fortunately I got my multimeter out and after a few seconds... Yes, you guessed it; The LED had been plugged in the wrong way round. FX: Sigh...

I reworked the two indicators->one idiot light in line diode adapter to make it neater and plug straight in to the loom. Here it is pre soldering & heatshrink:-

And here it is complete...

The I went on to position the rear brake lever where I like it...

adjust the steering head bearings (just an excuse for a picky)...

Sort out the rear disc with new high tensile bolts

and...

& fit the new Shorai battery.

That Shorai battery! Wow, is it light.

Fitting the fairing was fine as I did the hard work last year, The screen has been in storage and seems to be a bit lop sided ATM; I am hoping it will settle down in the right place soon.

The bike passed! It passed all the brake tests which really surprised me and I gently rode it home. I have found a neat place to mount the road tax which isn't so easy on a bevel SS; Everything seems to be load bearing. It is attached with a small right angle bracket to the back of the horn. By the way, Pietro was kind enough to give me the tax disc holder, so thanks Pietro! It is perfect.

What is left for me to do? I don't like the fuel taps. I don't mind one being a bit manky but they don't select reserve/off in the same direction as they are not a matched pair. Not being a quick learner, I have already had a few embarrassing moments.

So fuel taps: You are next. Feel the red dot/crosshair...

 

[MartinW]

Sorry to hear your sad news but glad that it is balanced in a small way by the good. Your bike started out as a beautiful thing since it is a 900ss but you have created a thing of beauty and a joy to behold. Congratulations.

 

[Vacant Possession]

Sorry to hear your sad news but glad that it is balanced in a small way by the good. Your bike started out as a beautiful thing since it is a 900ss but you have created a thing of beauty and a joy to behold. Congratulations.

Thanks. We had my MIL down this afternoon and put on a good spread so I am hoping she has gone home feeling very much loved.

 

[Vacant Possession]

Completion...

Disclaimer
I never wanted to create a new bike, I wanted 'my bike' back but as good as I could get it using either my own original bits, then contemporary NOS/excellent second hand and lastly re-manufactured.

I am satisfied. It isn't like that fantastic new find but that takes nothing away from it.

It drives like new (and a lot of it is) and if you like me like uncomfortable high speed iron bedsteads then you'll love it. Yes, I am absolutely thrilled. It has a few improvements but they are largely invisible and with a great deal of effort I managed not to fiddle with it too much.

The specifications of the engine are:-

1. new standard 86.0mm pistons with new liners
2. lead free exhaust valve seats by Biggelaar
3. comtemporary Malossi inlet tract gasket 'O' ring converters matched & gas flowed with the heads by Tony Brancato way back in the early eighties - but not tuned
4. new valves & guides
5. Standard cams
6. exhausts re-chromed original NOS
7. standard SS con rods and original spec big end bearing by Lacey Ducati, assembled by Godden Engineering
8. High capacity Mario Sassi oil pump & invisible full flow conversion with neodymium ring magnet under the filter
9. replaced mainshaft, sleeve gear, fifth gear, polished selector forks
10. every roller bearing in the engine replaced including self aligning & gearbox needle rollers
11. Tony Brancato steel gauze primary oil filter & neodymium magnet, Tony Brancato dipstick with neodymium magnet
12. assembled by 'one who knows' Jan Biggelaar

Apart from new steering head bearings, wheel bearings, bodywork paint job, frame & ancillary stoving, swinging arm & crankcase protectors from the chain... I am now formally bored, time for some pictures of the bike before the V Twin Rally - enough talk!

Just to show it is lovely even when you can't see it,

Yup, I got it out whilst the sun was shining and within a few minutes it started raining on it...

So there you have it, she is done.

 

[MartinW]

What a thing! Much, much, better than new.

 

[Vacant Possession]

V Twin Rally...

I spent Friday & Saturday at home, no surprises there bearing in mind family circumstances. I was being called by the lads who have already witnessed me missing two previous V Twin rallys; This time they were at least understanding.

Sunday is different for us, the kids have things to do, places to go so I decided to risk a run down to Fordingbridge. The bike felt extra sweet, oil looks clean, chain is adjusted, brake fluid etc., etc., no more excuses!

The weather reports were fairly unpleasant so I took my waterproofs; Sadly my riding boots went to that place shagged boots go a while ago, so if the weather was to be inclement, I was going to have wet feet. Blast. I hate wet feet.

All was going well until I realised just how uncomfortable these bikes are! Remembering past glorious journeys such as Antwerp->Marmande in a day, I continued, exercising arms and legs in various directions to keep the blood flowing.

I am looking forward to getting the 900GTS going for the longer journeys.

I really went to see some very old friends, Ricky and his bro' Michael and Tim who was present too. Ian from Moto Strada was there with two cracked ribs (respect!) and a Kawasaki (great bike but no points at the V Twin ;-) ).

So here is Ricky looking shifty next to Tim's Indian Scout; If I was Tim I'd be worried, I know Ricky and I reckon he is planning to stick something smelly under that plastic bag.

If you reckon Indian's are rattly old piles of junk then you should hear this engine, or should I say not hear it. It is one very smooth quiet 1927? (might be 1923) well screwed together low mileage engine. I was totally and pleasantly surprised although a left hand throttle/right hand gearchange and weird lubrication system scares the bejabbers out of me.

Electric shock treatment, anyone?

Ricky's delicious Morini; irritatingly comfortable and well put together...

and Michael's equally delicious in an entirely different way Morini 350 Strada. It is in lovely original condition and no, that isn't a euphemism for absolutely shagged old nail although it might apply to the rider; It's a really nice tidy bike.

What I find particularly entertaining about the next picture is how Ricky & Michael elected to erect their tents a/ close to the river and b/ close to the portaloo. I would have confused & disturbed dreams about the plop of the fish in the river, especially after a few pints. I'd probably end up in the river.

And here she is, home after her first significant trip. A bit of dirt here and there, not surprising considering the naff weather I had to ride through. The top of the labyrinth wasn't nipped up correctly; I moved it when installing the breather pipe, but that is about it.

One more thing, whilst I was about to leave and Ricky was doing a photoshoot (he is a 'really quite accomplished' photographer), someone I didn't recognise pulled up and said:
him: Is it yours?
me: Yes.
him: Can I take it for a spin.
me: No.
him: Are you sure?
me: yes.

What was he thinking!

My wife and I had been invited over to some dear friends for a BarBQ late afternoon on Sunday, Tom&Claire are also V Twin veterans and they treated us to a most fantastic BBQ with their friends. What a day.

 

[Glawster]

She's an absolute beauty. Well done and thanks for all the entertainment!

 

[Vacant Possession]

One down, two to go ;-)

 

[miloVanMultistrada]

It is in lovely original condition and no, that isn't a euphemism for absolutely shagged old nail

Love it! :lol2::thumbs:

 

[Cateran]

Beautiful bike :thumbs:

 

[Vacant Possession]

Love it! :lol2::thumbs:

For once I wasn't mocking with faint praise ;-)

 

[bluehawk]

Beautiful. No other words for it. Must make you feel proud knowing every nut and bolt so intimately..

 

[NeilD]

Just catching up with the thread... sorry to hear about your loss... glad you got the bike back in one piece after the last minute probs and got it to the V Twin rally !

 

[Vacant Possession]

Build Links...

Here is a list of all the suppliers I mentioned in the build blog, not in any particular order.

1. Pietro at Di Marino. Excellent for engine builds/servicing
2. Godden Engineering Excellent for bottom end rebuilds, make their own con rods if you need them and can source original spec bearings from Lacey.
3. Andrew at Mdina Italia, as far as I can tell, the major stockist of new bevel parts in the UK, also has a lot of used parts.
4. Lacey Ducati, famous in Ducati singles circles they also do a lot of bevel stuff - well worth a look.
5. Nova Engineering who make straight cut primary drive gear sets and other yummy bits.
6. Kevin Bracken, I don't think I have seen anyone quite as extreme (or stubborn) in modifying Dukes anywhere.
7. Bevel Rubber, run by Damien Birch, perfectionist extraordinaire and purveyor of fine rubber for bevels - amongst his other amazing stuff including magnesium dry clutch conversions.
8. Air Link Compressors BSPT Brass fittings for the invisible oil full flow filtering implementation.
9. Air Link Compressors 8mm Bundy steel tubing for the invisible oil full flow filtering implementation.
10. Mario Sassi Full flow oil pump for the invisible oil full flow filtering implementation.
11. SEP-Kegworth Boring, honing & other services.
12. Biggelaar Special Performance engine building services. Jan Biggelaar built my SS engine; I am pleased.
13. AMSOil, synthetic Oil like no other.
14. Morris V-Twin 20W-50 Oil, good quality oil not fully synthetic which I have been using for running in.
15. Vulcan SE. Stove enamelling & powder coating in West Sussex; Great work!
16. Oponeo for inexpensive tyres.
17. Falcon Shock Absorbers High quality UK shock absorber manufacturers.
18. Quantum Racing Ltd, high quality UK shock absorber manufacturers located in Pulborough. Top man running this outfit.
19. Littlehampton Motorcycles, MOT Centre in Ford, West Sussex.
20. Cracking pictures of a recent brand new 900SS.
21. Specialist Dents, fuel tank dent repairs. Quite simply, an unbelievably good service and a pleasure to deal with. Want a dent in your tank removed without drilling holes or cutting out a panel? These guys know what they are doing.
22. TPCS Magnesium and Alloy Wheel Refurbishing, Wheel Crack Testing - Steve Turner is really good & quick; If you run magnesium alloy wheels then having them checked and if OK having inhibitor applied & painted is a smart move before using them. Steve is a Top Man.

I may edit this in future as I bet I have missed some!

 

[Vacant Possession]

Running in: Oil filter contents analysis

I see synergy between Winston Churchill's quote on Russian foreign policy and the mystery presented by screwing in the last Allen screw into the clutch/alternator cover after a bevel engine rebuild.

As the last ray of light winks out from the interior of the engine, its condition becomes a puzzle inside a riddle wrapped in an enigma until the knocking begins.

That is too much for me. I *have* to know. A side benefit to installing loads of magnets throughout the engine is you do get to see what is floating around. Naturally that rather large set of magnets called the alternator rotor is a good place to look but that involves removal of the alternator cover.

There are three neodymium high strength magnets in my engine; one in the oil sump gauze filter, one on the end of the dipstick and a ring magnet under the oil filter. All are easily accessible.

This post is about what I have found up to the latest oil change which will be today. The engine has done 700 miles and after consulting the running in guidelines for the 900SS *and* the 900GTS I should have changed at 620 miles. FX: Ooops. I don't feel too guilty as it has already had two changes, one after 15 minutes and the next at 200 miles which is way ahead of the stated requirements.

I have been filtering my oil changes through a sieve and dismantling and inspecting the contents of the oil filter; No horrible finds there thank goodness. I must admit, I was quite nervous about a/ looking and b/ sharing what I found; But Hey ho, here we go.

Tearing down the filter...

The paper element is about 0.8m long when unraveled! The Sudoku puzzle isn't an intentional visual reference to Winston's observation.

Filter #1: Motor started for the first time containing flushing oil. The engine was run for 15 minutes and then changed whilst still very hot. I used one of my two into ones to make it quicker to remove the exhaust system to get at the sump plug.

I really hope the picture shows that there *are* small metal particles trapped in the filter. They are visible to the naked eye and I hope you can see them in the following picture.

The good news is they are trapped in the filter and not happily running around the engine scoring things as they would be in a normal bevel engine. As you can imagine, I was intensely curious to see the contents of the filter at the next change.

Filter #2: Oil change at 200 miles after my visit to the V Twin rally. FX: Phew! Whilst the filter is darkened presumably with clutch and combustion deposits, there were only two particles I could see and they were truly miniscule. You might see a speck on the middle left on the second corrugation from the left and middle right on the fourth corrugation from the right. Again, they are nestling in the filter rather than being recirculated.

Engine oil level is not changing and it looks clean on the dipstick. The magnets have a thin covering of sludge, no bits and just showing the magnet the cloth makes it come up bright. Next filter will be posted after my oil change later on today; I am hoping for a 100% clean filter. We'll see.

Looking promising!