A little follow up:
I installed the CNW kit on the '71 this past weekend - what a lovely kit! It is so comprehensive in everything it includes: A replacement is provided for just about every threaded fastener that you touch during the teardown and installation - even a new clutch push rod seal, as well as an extra steel clutch disk so that you can reduce your clutch pull if you have not already.
The written instructions also are very comprehensive, but I think it helps if you are very familiar with the entire primary drive to follow them - pictures would be nice, but I am nitpicking.
I did a couple of things slightly differently than the instructions: This bike is fitted with twin transmission adjusters, and the one on the left is a bear to get at with the inner primary fitted, even worse when the starter motor is installed. So I dry fitted the engine sprocket, belt, and clutch basket to see if the belt tension was even close before installing the inner primary. Turned out to be spot on using the 1/4 twist method, and this was verified after the inner primary was installed by using the method in the instructions: lift the lower run of the belt up to the level of the stator wire grommet.
The entire kit is very stout and the workmanship is top notch. No fettling required to make things fit - it just fits.
The pre-assembled wiring harness is a nice touch. All wires reached perfectly.
The supplied switch gear is a lovely touch, as this bike did not have a RHS switch.
Most of the extra work I had to perform was to prepare the bike to receive the kit. It is a bit of a mongrel, and has had a bunch of "custom" mods over the years. It already had a Hayward belt drive, and required a change in transmission sprocket from a 19 to a 20 to keep the gearing consistent. The 20 tooth had to be machined to accommodate the O-ring chain that was previously fitted. It already had a K&N air filter, but the back plate had also been removed, the ignition switch was mounted to the floor of the battery box, and the Podtronics fastened with the holes that once held the air cleaner back plate. I relocated the Podtronics box with a bracket that I make, and moved the ignition switch with another fabricated bracket to the RHS (the bike has S pipes - burn hazard on the LHS). The final change was the oil filter: the bike was fitted with a filter head that attached to the timing cover blanking plate holes, and the filter was where the starter needed to be. The cradle was already drilled for a traditional filter head, so that was straight forward, other than having to remove the timing cover in order to remove the old filter head and reinstall the blanking plate.
Amazon provided an Interstate Battery, 18Ah with 310 CCA. It starts the bike with authority. The starter motor provided is a very stout piece: basically a scaled down version to the one that starts my Cummins, and would look right at home on the side of a 4 cylinder Kubota. It is too bad that the stock air filter cannot be used with it - that was the deal breaker with me, and why I installed an Alton on my own personal bike.
All in all, it came together very nicely. Well done, Matt
@cNw , on such a lovely product. Lots of good value for your money in this starter kit. Customer is completely tickled with it.
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. 18 down, 27 to go....
