Continue to plug away on various aspects of the project
Picked up my crank, head and cylinders from my mechanics shop. Cylinders were bored to fit the 0.5mm oversized pistons, I'll still need to check the ring end gap. He also planed the head 0.006" to get it perfectly flat, lightly ground the valve seats to fit the new valves (valve guides were good) and lightly polished the crankshaft journals after confirming the runout is within spec. I measured (plasti-gauge) the crank and rod bearing clearances again just to be certain with the light polishing - still well under the wear limit and inside the standard oil clearance specs, no need for new bearing shells. Waiting for a few pieces to arrive before I can start reassembling the engine. Also...
- determined the rectifier portion of the regulator box is shot (no surprise), diodes don't pass current in any direction with a multimeter, should check with a load resistor but suspect it's flaky
- prep'd the frame, swingarm and other pieces for media blasting & powder coating (gloss black)
- figured a plan to repair the headlight shell (I'll post pictures at some point)
- re-plated all the carb brackets, engine case bolts/washers, cylinder head stubs with a home-made zinc plating setup. Worked great - here is the 'recipe' I used >
http://www.gmh-torana.com.au/forums/top ... /?p=773657
- spent hours cleaning the carburetors including a couple rounds in an ultrasonic cleaner, scrubbing the carb bodies with solvent to remove the tough grime, soaking every brass piece in carb cleaner, cleaning/checking every carb body circuit at least twice (all per Mike Nixon's guide). Also wet sanded and lightly polished the carb tops.
Began the carb assembly process today with the Oldschoolcarbs kit...
Going well until the float valves. I repeatedly attempted to clean the valves such that the little spring loaded nub thing would work freely, each time soaking in carb cleaner then air drying with compressed air. They always moved freely immediately after cleaning but checking them a few days later 3 of the 6 would remain sticky and able to collapse but not retract. Not a good thing to maintain accurate float levels. I gave up trying to remedy and ordered a set of Keihin valves from PJMotorsports (good grief - they're made partially of gold, right?) and will continue when they arrive.
![Image](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50711887252_b854567689_c.jpg)