I've managed to take a few rides lately, a little bit cool, but exhilerating. I picked up some NOS brake shoes for the front and a NOS brake cable. The old shoes were at about the minimum- adjusted almost to the max, and the rubber boot at the end of the old cable was cracked as was the coating. When I have a day that my garage is warm enough I'll install them.
A larger priority came up. My high beam burned out (low beam was already gone) and I don't like riding without lights on. "Thrifty" person that I am, I'm going to try the do it yourself repair rather than the $100 with the replaceable bulb. I might end up there, but I figured under $5 for 35/35w halegon bulb it was worth a try, and I do like a challenge.
The labor of love (& nostalgia) begins!! 1963 CA77 DreamGot the headlight together. I won't ride it at night (wouldn't have anyway) the way the bulb is set up unless you have both high and low on you would either see the sides or the middle, but it's plenty good for a daytime running light, or an emergency night ride. For less than $10 total I'm not complaining.
Next problem to crop up was the dreaded oil leak by the spark plugs. I eliminated the possiblilty of the cam covers, their not leaking. Next the barrel stud nuts by the plugs were loose. Removed, cleaned them, put some Hondabond on the washer and torqued them. Went on an 80 mile ride Saturday. Less oil than before, just a few drops blew back on the clamshells (both sides.) Before I got quite a bit on the battery and coil covers. Still some oil collected by the plug, but it was dry by the nuts. I'm assuming it's the dreaded casting seap. I'll see if I can figure something else out, although from the threads I've read it might be for nothing. I'm not too concerned about it, it's such a small quantity of oil that I can live with it if I have to. The ride I took was great! The back roads on the levys of Islands in to Sacramento Delta. No traffic to speak of. Can't wait for another nice weekend when I have a little time! 63 CA78
Haven't posted on the Dream for a while. Just passed the 1,000 mile mark. Changed the oil (700 since the last change) and cleaned the filter. Actually I had trouble finding anything in the filter to remove, very little there.
The AMCA will have a display in a building at the International Auto Show at Cal Expo (Sacramento, CA) next weekend and Firebolt (my wifes name for the Dream) will be there. Unfortunately while cleaning it up I found a small crack reappearing in the rear fender where I had repaired it. I may have gotten it too thin when I smoothed it out. It's cracked in the middle, not at the edge as is typical. I'll keep an eye on it. Hopefully it won't get too bad before I get my CL77 together so I'll have something to ride while I repair it, again.
Last edited by OldStan on Mon Oct 14, 2013 4:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
63 CA78
Making some changes. I located original style fuel line locally, got original clamps from Ohio Cycle, as well as clamps and line for the crossover and valve breather. It looks a lot better than the clear line I had on there, not to mention it fits better. They dinged me for them at the AMCA National meet last year along with a few other things that I'm changing to original. The one thing they dinged me for I'm not changing is my flame paint job. Maybe some day I'll put it back to original, but I like it the way it is.
Although it wasn't noticed, I had a later carburetor on it. I have the original and just put that back on, but for a different reason. The bowl on my CL77 I'm putting together is full of pinholes (30 or so), so I'm using the bowl off the Dream carburetor. If I can pick up a good bowl somewhere (cheap of course) I'll have a spare carburetor again, but this way I don't have to rush it. 63 CA78
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