750GT Rolling Basket Challange

[geodoc]

Gages are back from Vintage British Cables & looking VERY nice:

http://www.vintagebritishcables.com/



The trip odometer reset know was a bit short with the 1.5" total length knob. For $8.00, he's sending me another that's 2" long & should be just right.



Went down today to the local vintage British car parts place and got a pair of instrument bulb holders - $5.00 /pr.:

[geodoc]

Progress!

The powder coater fixed the sand-in-the-finish screw-up and a bit of assembly work gets started.







.

[geodoc]

More misc. fiddly-bits getting filed and massaged into place. The old beat-up instrument pod is just there for fitting. You can see an aluminum panel installed just behind the regulator for mounting the Motogadget M-Unit power distribution and circuit protection box. That and the semi can-bus 'M-Button' device for a 1-wire command signal from handlebar switch to the M-Unit is on order.

Still pondering the polished stainless v. painted fenders question. Like the look of painted, but polished is I suppose more like original. Pretty well settled on the orange & black paint scheme which to me is the best looking of the original ones, though no idea if '73's came that way.

[geodoc]

Had to "stack the hangar" and make room for a Duc 350 Mk III coming in this afternoon to install a clutch pack. The seat is back from upholstery, side covers on and front wheel / brake installed. After the 350's done, it's turn down the rear brake drum, measure finished diameter and then get friction material installed in appropriate thickness to the shoes to turn them down per Vintage Brake's method:

If you want to arc the linings yourself, and have access to a lathe, first mount the relined shoes on the backing plate. Turn on the lathe (300-350rpm) to .020" under drum I.D. in .010" cuts.



In the foreground is garage-mate, or rather garage owner Tom's 1950 Rolls Silver wraith with a 4.9 lt. rather than the stock 4 1/4 lt. engine to provide the extra grunt for towing his 200+ MPH Bonneville salt flats Triumph triple. Behind the bike is a '49 Rolls Silver Dawn in for an engine overhaul and front suspension work. Its about to start growing roots - we've been waiting for over 6 mo. for a full-flow oil filter kit from the only place that you can get one from in the UK. All the components are ready for re-assembly, but the block has to be bare to do some mods to incorporate it. They are apparently not in a particular hurry in the UK and don't seem to respond to threats or begging. Oh, well .......... eventually.

[geodoc]

Rear brake drum was a bit scored and wanted to true it up after new rim & spokes anyway. Just so happens that a friend of garage-mate Tom gave him an old automotive brake drum turning machine. Worked great.







Mounted up the tire & balanced. Checked the brake shoes and even though only .015" or so was removed from the drum, the linings are too thin for best operation. I'll take the shoes to the brake shop and get thicker linings bonded on then turn them down to suit.



Motogadget components arrived to get started on the electrical system. M-Unit, M-Unit wiring kit, M-Button, 2 Dyna 5 ohm coils (to go with Dyna-S ign.) and Dyna coil brackets for BMW that should work for easier mounting.



.

[Steve Foster]

Thanks for the progress reports Geodoc.

Just so happens that a friend of garage-mate Tom gave him an old automotive brake drum turning machine.

Serendipitous in the extreme! It's not every day that somebody has one of those lying around that they want to give to someone that happens to share a garage with you.

I will be interested to see how you use those BMW Dyna coil mounting brackets. Having recently installed a Dyna S, while retaining some 5 Ohm aftermarket coils that had given many years of good service with the points, I have had an intermittent problem develop. On very hot days (we've had a few in Oz recently) while crawling through stop-start summer city traffic, the bike would start missing and die (favourite location so far - Sydney Harbour Bridge on-ramp at peak hour, aaargh). Wouldn't even look like it was going to start again - completely dead. I think that the coils are failing due to overheating but I haven't had a multimeter handy to test at the time - back in the shed they read 5 Ohms primary and around 12 KOhms secondary so they seem to be OK. It always starts again after 10-15 mins and runs beautifully again perhaps for another 10-15 minutes, when the whole cycle is repeated. This doesn't happen when conditions are cooler. I understand that the Dyna has long dwell and can stress the coils. Hence I have acquired some Dyna coils but have yet to fit them, so please post some pics.

Steve.

[geodoc]

Thanks for the progress reports Geodoc.

Just so happens that a friend of garage-mate Tom gave him an old automotive brake drum turning machine.

Serendipitous in the extreme! It's not every day that somebody has one of those lying around that they want to give to someone that happens to share a garage with you.

I will be interested to see how you use those BMW Dyna coil mounting brackets. Having recently installed a Dyna S, while retaining some 5 Ohm aftermarket coils that had given many years of good service with the points, I have had an intermittent problem develop. On very hot days (we've had a few in Oz recently) while crawling through stop-start summer city traffic, the bike would start missing and die (favourite location so far - Sydney Harbour Bridge on-ramp at peak hour, aaargh). Wouldn't even look like it was going to start again - completely dead. I think that the coils are failing due to overheating but I haven't had a multimeter handy to test at the time - back in the shed they read 5 Ohms primary and around 12 KOhms secondary so they seem to be OK. It always starts again after 10-15 mins and runs beautifully again perhaps for another 10-15 minutes, when the whole cycle is repeated. This doesn't happen when conditions are cooler. I understand that the Dyna has long dwell and can stress the coils. Hence I have acquired some Dyna coils but have yet to fit them, so please post some pics.

Steve.

Heh Steve,

That sure sounds like classic ign. coil insulation failure. Are they original units? I'll be sure to include photos of the installation when it's bolted up.

[geodoc]

Coil bracket fab'd out of some 2" OD square section aluminum attached to the threaded stub that I believe was the mount for the air filter housing.

Will be looking for some 90 deg. spark plug lead ends / boots to have the HT leads tucked in.





.

[Steve Foster]

Nice work geodoc - thanks for posting.
Steve

[geodoc]

Most of the electrical components have arrived so it's time to get to it. The 2 round things at the bottom of the electrical panel are (RH) - regulator / rectifier output to system requires a 30A fuse; modded this one to a panel style. To the left of that is a momentary N.O. push button contactor that allows you to enter the M-Unit set-up routine.





Also finally managed to find a 1/4 piloted 1/2" dia. counterbore (skygeek.com). Quick and tidy way to remove powder coating from around 6mm bolt holes for grounding.



http://www.skygeek.com/aircraft-tool-su ... rbore.html

[joepagejr]

"Motogadget components arrived to get started on the electrical system. M-Unit, M-Unit wiring kit, M-Button, 2 Dyna 5 ohm coils (to go with Dyna-S ign.) and Dyna coil brackets for BMW that should work for easier mounting."

The M-Unit! I was wondering when someone was going to install one of those. Once I get my electronic ignition setup from my brother (hopefully in the next few months), my next task will be a complete re-wire with an M-Unit. That's "a good piece of gear" as we used to say.

[geodoc]

I've installed 3 of them so far - big fan. Makes for a very tidy installation and eliminates various relays. Also like the built-in options like brake light flasher, alarm, etc. V2 van be mounted in any orientation and has reverse polarity protection & a few other improvements inc. ability to use the M-Button & eliminate 5 control circuit wires between the handle bar switches and the M-Unit itself.

"Motogadget components arrived to get started on the electrical system. M-Unit, M-Unit wiring kit, M-Button, 2 Dyna 5 ohm coils (to go with Dyna-S ign.) and Dyna coil brackets for BMW that should work for easier mounting."

The M-Unit! I was wondering when someone was going to install one of those. Once I get my electronic ignition setup from my brother (hopefully in the next few months), my next task will be a complete re-wire with an M-Unit. That's "a good piece of gear" as we used to say.

[joepagejr]

[quote="geodoc"]I've installed 3 of them so far - big fan. Makes for a very tidy installation and eliminates various relays. Also like the built-in options like brake light flasher, alarm, etc. V2 van be mounted in any orientation and has reverse polarity protection & a few other improvements inc. ability to use the M-Button & eliminate 5 control circuit wires between the handle bar switches and the M-Unit itself.


Where are you mounting the M-Button? I like the brake flasher option as well as the wave function for LED turn signals, and the "running light" function for the one wire turn signals. How are you wiring all the "auxiliaries" i.e. neutral light, tail light, ignition, gauge lights, etc? I saw a small terminal block in one of your pictures but was curious which functions you are going to use and how you're going to wire them.

[geodoc]

Heh Joe,

Mounting the M-Button in the headlight bucket, running a lead from the 'aux' output to the ign. coils and then on to the instrument pod for the ign 'on' light, the 'system' side of the charge light and the instrument lights. There is no neutral light on the early GT.

The terminal block is to provide a 'bus' for the 'aux' output. There are leads from there that go to the coils, inst. pod (inst lights, warning lights) and the tail light. There are two terminal locations left over to add switched accessories later if necessary.

As I get further along I'll post more detail shots.

As an aside, I ordered the M-Unit wiring kit to save rounding up various wire gages and colors. Turns out that the output wires are a much heavier gage than what I need for a non-electric start bike with no accessories Also, the insulation is thicker than most so the bundle ends up being a bit thicker than it could be. If I was doing over, I'd get my own wire of a more appropriate gage from here:

http://www.riwire.com/

George

Where are you mounting the M-Button? I like the brake flasher option as well as the wave function for LED turn signals, and the "running light" function for the one wire turn signals. How are you wiring all the "auxiliaries" i.e. neutral light, tail light, ignition, gauge lights, etc? I saw a small terminal block in one of your pictures but was curious which functions you are going to use and how you're going to wire them.

[geodoc]

Lot's-o-wire, crimpers, side-cutters, soldering iron, flux, wire stripper, shrink tubing ............... Wiring makes a bit of a mess.



I don't like tie-wraps - get brittle with heat / age, bulky, unless trimmed flush the end bit can lay you open reaching into a wire bundle. When I worked on airplanes we used nomex lacing cord, so that's what is tying up the bundle - resists heat, never deteriorates, compact, can't unravel if you use the special 'rocket knot'.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cable_lacing



Happiness is a large selection of terminals:

http://www.cycleterminal.com/index.html

Rather than use the wire ferrules that come with the Motogadget wiring kit, I use ends from the local electronics shop:



Crimp with a gizmo for just this purpose I got a Boeing surplus many years ago. That place was amazing - need titanium bar stock? no problem. hand-fulls of drill bits? weird crimpers? clecos, bucking bars and various sheet metal tools? Need a 200 gal. cryogenic vat? It went on & on. Sadly the place has been closed for years now - all that stuff goes to re-cycle contractors and ends up who knows where, damn it.

http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/ ... us16m.html



_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yet more wire:





Getting tidy-ish:



.