Of frames and engines...

Well, this has been a positive weekend for Project Crossbow and all the hard working staff (ie. me, haha!).

As mentioned in the previous blog entry, the frame, swing-arm and sundry bits and pieces were in for blast and powder-coat at Precision Coating Services in Seven Hills. I was informed that they were ready for pickup and I drove out there on Friday arvo. I was one happy chappy to get them home and see the lovely transormation that had taken place. Everything looked brand new again.

All the bits back home. All holes still plugged.

Close-up of steering-head... nice!

Me old mate JB 'Feels Good' about it, too

I had a bit of fun removing all the bolts, covers and plugs used to protect areas I did not want coated. It is nice to have the skeleton of the bike back in the shed and ready to get parts bolted back onto. I finally feel like some progress is being made.

Next job for the weekend was the engine (and gearbox). I had it zero-totalled at 68,000km and it now has 90,500 on the dial, so that's 22,500 km done in a bit over 4 years. There was no way I was gonna pull this baby apart just to be able to have the cases blasted clean. Also, I am making a bike I want to ride, not show, so a clean engine is all I need. Therefore the rest of my spare time in the man-cave was spent de-greasing the engine/gearbox and then scrubbing with various wire brushes.

Degrease, blow-dry, scrub. Repeat.

I am actually quite happy with the result. Sure, it could be better, but after a few weeks, months, years of use, what difference will it make!

A huge improvement over what it looked like before. Me happy!

That is about it for my weekend's efforts. The only other part to show is the dash setup that I am going to use in place of the big rubber car-type dash the LMII came with originally. I bought it through Stein-Dinse.

Simple and tidy... heaps better than original LMII dash IMHO

So, what's coming up next? I am waiting on the return of the Borrani wheels. Once they are home, I can get them shod, add bearings, carriers, discs etc. Then it will be possible to get the engine and suspension back on the frame... exciting shit, man!

...and one final conundrum: what to do about the mufflers. I am thinking of getting the whole setup HPC coated. However, the mufflers have small rust holes. I am thinking that these could be repaired, then coated? A new set of Lafranconi mufflers can be expen$ive. Any suggestions? Lemme know if you do.

Holy mufflers, Batman!

Stay 'Tuned' ...