Back to the Grind

Before final prep of the frame for paint or powder-coat, I have a few little jobs to sort out, so I tackled two of them tonight.

Firstly, I never had a key for the steering lock. I discovered that Stein-Dinse sell a replacement lock with keys for less than it would cost me to have a locksmith pick the lock and make a key. So out came the drill and a few different sized bits and I drilled the old one out and cleaned up the shavings. Easy-peasy!

Started off small and worked up

Eventually... voila!

The second job was to remove the broken steering stop from the frame so that I can weld a new piece in there. The replacement piece is not yet made, that's the next job on the list (well, after I buy a cheap arc welder, that is. haha!).

It is not the easiest location to get in and remove something, that's for sure:

That's a 30+ y/o frame there, folks

 The snap-off is the result of a low-side fall. I imagine it is a fairly common problem in older Guzzi's. I have been looking forward to including this fix, as it has been a real pain without it when using clip-on bars.
As access is tight, out came the trusty Dremel tool, which I used to cut the piece out and then grind down the excess weld.

Cut

Grind, baby, grind!

Done!

...all ready to receive new piece. Stay tuned to see how that turns out!

UPDATE 6 April 2012:

Well, I bit the bullet and picked up a little second-hand AC arc welder off of eBay. After a bit of farting about on some practice bits of mild steel, I attacked the job and surprisingly managed to do the business on the steering stop. Not the prettiest I admit, but I think it will do the job. My thanks to Rod Yeomans, Graeme Wilson, Mark Glanfield and Charles Anstis from the AIGOR list for their advice, and also a special thanks to Rob Anderson for offering to do the job for me if my effort did not work out (which was certainly on the cards!).

'Fingers crossed'

Next step: Quit buggering around and get the frame finished so I can start the re-build!
Stay 'tuned'...