Will's '75 Commando custom restoration

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looking nice,your client might find if he starts to ride those tyres close to their limits the rear shocks,iso's,head steady& front brake really start to show their british engineering quirks.I purchased my bike with a front brake assembly off a vtr1000,it actually looks smart,works well & fits reasonably easily,yes I know it's japanese but then so's a harley.I thought my bike was starting to mishandle after fitting road riders untill Irealised I was probably going through corners about 10 mph faster.Do you have a photo of those handle bars and how they fit with tank,they look quite interesting.
 
FINALLY got the cylinders completed and honed to match the new pistons, man they are SHARP. The damage to the liners cleaned up at .040,
so that's real good. The new valve lifters are installed and safety wired, head should have been ready today, but haven't got the word yet
and it's only a half hour till the shop closes.

The welding on the fins is visible, but not noticeable. The deck has been re-surfaced as well; barely a thousandth was needed to clean it up,
so shouldn't affect compression or rocker angle at all-

Will's '75 Commando custom restoration


Will's '75 Commando custom restoration


Will's '75 Commando custom restoration


"Jugs & Slugs"

Will's '75 Commando custom restoration
 
Had a few hours to concentrate, so I got the tranny done virtually uninterrupted!

Pulled apart the tranny and it looked like it had been run with low oil level-
Will's '75 Commando custom restoration


The bushing in the kickstarter gear was chipping away, new bushing.
Will's '75 Commando custom restoration


All parts clean & spiffy-
Will's '75 Commando custom restoration
 
Top end all nipped up!

Tomorrow will be the cam drive, oil pump & primary...
Will's '75 Commando custom restoration
 
The inner cover is still loose 'till I press in the new bushing for the kicker gear. It'll go back in then. (Notice the tranny is just laying in it's cradle, not mounted yet)
 
Head steady all done, coils installed, rocker oil feed pipe done, rocker caps in place, wiring harness in place.

Will's '75 Commando custom restoration


I seem to have misplaced all the pinion keys, so the cam drive is on hold 'till new ones get here; took the opportunity to order
a bunch more last minute bits & bobs to get it all done in one shipment (yeah, right).
 
Quick mockup using my tank & Corbin seat just to see what it's shaping up like-

Will's '75 Commando custom restoration
 
Carbs were really filthy, one had a severely stuck slide-

Will's '75 Commando custom restoration


Both mains, and both needle jets broke off as soon as I applied the wrench, like they were almost corroded through-

Will's '75 Commando custom restoration


The bowls were full of flaky trash-

Will's '75 Commando custom restoration


Cleaned up, but not done. These will need re-sleeving and new main jets (I had the needle jets on the shelf). Also, wierdly, there was only one needle clip (in the carb with the stuck slide). the new formulation of Berryman's Chem Dip is virtually useless; I need to find some of the old cancer-causing formula.

Will's '75 Commando custom restoration
 
Temorarily installed the carbs to get all the hardware sorted. It took over an hour to dig through all the new Cad plated stuff to find
4 matching allen head screws for the manifolds, and 4 matching sets of thin-wall nuts & washers to be able to fit a thin-walled
socket in there to do up the carb nuts. YEEF!

Will's '75 Commando custom restoration


Also completed the sidestand & centerstand, just can't seem to find the proper sidestand spring at the moment...

Will's '75 Commando custom restoration
 
Stuff you can't see, but got done, also include swingarm pins w/ nuts & rubber caps, wicking plugs & welch plugs, and top head steady rubber mounts. Those two line items (swingarm & top head steady) are complete.
 
Received all the new Woodruff keys and installed the camchain and associated pinions, as well as the oil pump. The timing chest can be closed now,
but I prefer to wait till later on to install the polished covers so as not to smudge them.

Will's '75 Commando custom restoration


Fabricated a mounting plate for the Sparx ignition blackbox, just need to re-drill to enlarge the mounting at the coil clamps with larger screws,
and paint the plate.

Will's '75 Commando custom restoration
 
I flipped the bike around after hooking up some of the basic wiring including the ignition, zener diodes & plug leads. Installed the crank seal
(not shown) just after I snapped this shot then stopped for chow. Should have the primary done by this evening.

Will's '75 Commando custom restoration
 
Basically got the "electrical area" done - Rectifier, capacitor & dual Zener diodes.

Will's '75 Commando custom restoration


Scuffed up the plain steel clutch plates then gave 'em a nice bath and laid out the stack-

Will's '75 Commando custom restoration


Stack height with pressure plate = 1.035" (approx)

Will's '75 Commando custom restoration


Total stack including friction, plain and pressure plates should result in a very nice clutch feel. I also dug
up a "Dyno Dave" clutch rod seal that I need to clean up and install; always a nice touch.
 
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