stm/nichols oil breather - spanner wrench (who gots a spare?)

[junior varsity]

Anybody have a source for a spanner wrench for the Nichols / STM crankcase breathers?

I'm working on the project M900's motor and it has (what looks like) a Nichols currently on it - and I can't find my spanner wrench i received with my Nichols breather in my moto-specific tools. I was going to pull that breather off and inspect it all over (everything else is pretty much off the motor... heads, generator and clutch case covers, the frame, etc)  since the previous owner pro-actively neglected the bike.

What I don't want to do is bugger the holes on it either in the removal or in the replacement since it is a lovely billet piece. That, and I may replace it with a colored* one.   I think I've got a blue one in mind since the wife has 'dared' me to put a blue handlebar on the bike, and I called that bluff!

Anyhow, one of the breathers on my spares shelf was a red STM one, hole pattern / circumference looks the same (nice round holes) so a spanner wrench for one of those would work as well. The red STM one has, unfortunately, what I'm trying to avoid: buggered holes and its noticeable on the red billet.

The spanner wrenches I have ordered in the past from McMaster Carr, such as the one for the steering head bearings nut on the 94-01 Monsters, have a 'straight' hook-tooth (like a flathead screw driver, only on an eccentric wrench obviously), rather than a round hook-tooth.

Alternatively, if you have one and don't mind lending it out, I would love to borrow it and will mail it back with a moonpie promptly!  Or if you have a spare, I will pay you in moonpies. Or cash (though not much because I spend all my money on moonpies).

(* you better avoid temptation to make racist jokes - i need serious tool help!)

[hackers2r]

I've read in a few places that on the aircooled motors, those wrenches are useless due to the cooling fins.  I just finished installing an STM on my bike to fix the damn leaking OEM piece and did it without the wrench.  Tightened it by hand as far as I could and used a punch and hammer to seat the thing the rest of the way.  Hasn't leaked a bit.  That said, not sure about how to get it off since you don't know how tight it is.  But I was able to install my red STM with no noticeable marks.

[Heath]

+1 for the punch plus hammer.  That is how I got mine tight tight.  The spanner only worked so far.
wtf is a moonpie
I'll check if I have two, but I think I just have one.  Maybe Nichols will mail you one for cheap.

[junior varsity]

I've read in a few places that on the aircooled motors, those wrenches are useless due to the cooling fins.  I just finished installing an STM on my bike to fix the damn leaking OEM piece and did it without the wrench.  Tightened it by hand as far as I could and used a punch and hammer to seat the thing the rest of the way.  Hasn't leaked a bit.  That said, not sure about how to get it off since you don't know how tight it is.  But I was able to install my red STM with no noticeable marks.

well the cooling fins can be out of the way when I do this since the heads are off and i need to re-seal the base of the cylinders, so that's not going to be a problem.

I'll have to give Nichols a call - i tried the 'contact' them email link, but not sure if it worked as expected.


And a Moonpie is a marshmallow/wafer "sandwich" - a treat made in Chattanooga. They taste incredible when fresh (don't blame the moonpie for being stale if you found it at the back of some crappy gas station), and some people like them warmed up smidge to enhance 'gooeyness'.  it was originally a single decker, but that is now only for sissy girls. go with the double decker and start with chocolate before transitioning to more advanced flavors like orange, banana, strawberry, etc.   they are best washed down with an RC Cola, and the snacking combination is cutely named the "Southern Duo" or "Dixie Duo"

[hackers2r]

Oh...well then it's a different story. 

[junior varsity]

indeed. I meant "not a problem", not "not an option".... oops - fixed in that post now.