Updated...now all powder coated and oil-free, preassembled and new wire harness strapped in....motor due back in a week or two....wheels are done and ready for mounting......moving it back out to the garage now that it is getting warmer and the oil leaking stuff needs to be installed...besides the wife does not appreciate the Dining Table work bench :-)
I have yet to find one damnable bit on this machine that does not have the personal "signature" of a Prior Owner Idiot on it.....right down to every mis-matched or incorrect skinned and rounded nut or chewed-up screw head.
I am in a continual state of slack-jawed amazement at the level of thoroughness and detail involved in making every last single bloody piece of this bike that I examine somehow "wrong" or otherwise compromised for re-use....
I am actually at the point where, when I am in the garage alone....I am laughing out loud like a madman...awash in ghoulish anticipation each time I pick up or pick out a part to assess....fully knowing... as sure as the sun rises and sets....that it will have its own unique
scar, blemish or fatal malfunction
I am so far underwater on this restoration...it has exceeded my worst-case estimations by at least 2 or 3 laps
But it is so bad it is theatrical.....like some horrific "Performance Art"....I would so dearly love it if somehow there was a way to capture the historical footage of the crimes visited upon this machine over the years.....I would want to study the faces and actions of those who were previously charged with maintaining this bike
Clearly this will be a gem when completed...but I will never realize any return on this investment...other than the satisfaction of having resurrected a fine example of the later days of the British Motorcycle industry.....
