In memory of Jim Adams - an R60/5 build diary

Thanks gents, I'll go ahead and mount the cable retainer where it was.

How is that clip held in place?

Good question, photorider. I really didn't see a great way myself, so I just mounted it under the hose clamp and tightened until it was secure. Seemed to work just fine.



I stopped by my local airhead enthusiast shop and picked up these two items:



A rear brake switch, and a ball bearing used as the key retainer. I had completely lost my original rear brake switch, and after looking everywhere, I decided to buy a new one. Guess what I found today, one day after buying the new switch? You guessed it! Oh well, the new one looks better anyway, and now I have a spare. Mounted and ready to go. The rubber cover went on just after the photo.



The ball bearing seems inconsequential, but I only had one of the two in place, and the ignition wouldn't hold the key down with enough force to keep it in contact with everything that it needed to be in contact with. It's the reason my headlight bucket was still open until this point. I put the 2nd ball bearing in and the key works like a charm now, so I was finally able to button up the headlight bucket and install the headlight:





Then I applied Rub N' Buff to the cylinders and heads. It was a bit of a pain, but I got everything that I could. You can't really see a difference, but here are a few pictures anyway.





After this I was all out of excuses to keep the bike in the house. After a multi-point turn in my living room that was more difficult than it seemed like it should have been, I got the bike turned around and ready to exit.





It was a bit sad seeing the old girl go back out to the cold garage, but I know it is her rightful place, and better yet, it means that she's really close to rumbling to life again!







I had the seat off to charge my new AGM battery. I hooked it up to my battery charger and it read "full" immediately, so I guess we'll call it good. So the seat went back on, and we're done for the day.



I need to buy some new oil, I noticed the stuff I bought had too high of an API rating (SN, I believe). I'll do that tomorrow and get the bike all full of fluids. Not sure if I'll try starting her yet, or wait for a warm sunny day so I can start a proper break in. Maybe I'll just try to turn her over and see what happens. It would be nice to know that she's going to fire to life easily when than next warm and sunny day does finally come!

Are you shitting me? You're at that point, and you just say, "I think I'll wait to start it up". Check your pulse man, you may have died already. I don't mean any harm, but I generally go for a first ride on any given project when the bike is about 65 percent done, I just can't help myself.

Ummmm, yeah...what he said!!

API (American Petroleum Institute) ratings are just measures of oil quality as far as I know. It shouldn't make any difference to that engine at all. I'm pretty sure that a non-API rated oil would be worse for your engine...

You will need to enter that beauty in some shows this summer!
I know shows aren't really your thing and, on paper, I understand why you wouldn't want to go...sounds boring. But they're actually a pretty good time.
I took the Land Rover to the Catsup Bottle show in Collinsville a couple years ago.
Check it out: http://www.catsupbottlefestival.com/

Anyway, it'd be a crime to keep her tucked away in a garage. She wants to be seen!

Ha, Mike!

I'm hoping to God that thing runs, Backdrifter - I couldn't bear it if it didn't!!!

Well done, man. Well done. That is a beautiful machine.

Hello !
May I say something ?
You're about to start her after a lot of dismantling. Good !
I, for one, would remove the spark plugs, remove the positive wire at the coils and then activate the starter until the oil light goes out. Let is sit a couple of minutes for the battery to recover and do it again in order to get oil up to the valves rockers. (I'll check the presence of oil in both sides to see if the oil canal in the barrel is not clogged by too much paste...)
Then, recharge the battery, buy a gallon or two of proper gasoline and start her after having put the carbs at the "factory setting". Do a fast synchro and an idle set up and return her to sleep 'til you can safely drive her in the neighborhood.. If this moment is in far future, do not forget to close both tank taps, and empty carbs bowls....
I'm mighty jealous by the work you've done ! She looks like a new bike right from factory !

JonnyCash: If I've learned one thing from this project, it's that patience is a virtue. There's ice on the ground and salt everywhere - not the ideal conditions for taking the old girl out on her first ride. I may try starting it, but unless I can actually go for a ride, it makes little difference to me at this point. It will be ready for the Spring, and that's all that really matters.

Enzo: I won't bore you with details, as you can do a search and learn more than you ever wanted to if it interests you enough. But basically, the API lettering system (SH, SG, SJ, SN, etc) indicates to some degree the content in the oil. Newer oils have reduced the content of certain additives, specifically of great interest, ZDDP. They have done so to better accommodate modern engines with catalytic converters, however, the zinc content in ZDDP is desirable for our old dinosaur engines. The "SN" rating of the oil I bought could mean it has much less zinc content than another oil. I'm sure the engine wouldn't self implode if I used it, but why cut corners or do something to cause worry now?

As for the shows, I may try to hit one or two. The problem is, with a four year old daughter and # 2 on the way, I don't have a whole hell of a lot of free time. I would rather spend the time I do have to myself riding than kicking tires. Still, if it works out, I may ride out to that Collinsville gathering.

mattsz: Don't worry, she'll run! If not right away, then I'll just keep fiddling until she does. Nothing has come as easy as I expected in this project (which is really more of an indicator of my naivety than the condition of the bike itself), so I truly don't expect her to fire up and settle into a perfect idle on the first try. But I won't complain if she does!

photorider: Thanks for the kind words, I truly appreciate them!

georgesgiralt: Thanks for the helpful suggestions, those all make a lot of sense to me. You've offered a lot of great suggestions over the past few months, thanks for reading along!

I plan to get the proper oil and fill the fluids today.

It's going to get up to 70 today in the STL area. Perfect weather for a long awaited first start up and ride....

And I'm on a plane to LA for work, where the temperature is currently lower than in STL! :huh It should be back in the twenties by the time I return home.

Looks like it's just not my week!

That's as it should be except the rubber grommet fits inside a clip, on the inboard side of the left headlamp ear, which you're not using now.

With short bars like yours, the brake and clutch cables work nicely when crossing to the opposite side after exiting the perches.
For example, the brake cable exits the handlebar perch and crosses the the left of the headlamp bucket before diving between it and the headlamp ear, and then crossing back to the right fork leg where your wire clip is secured by the gaiter's hose clamp.
The benefit of this is a cable path with large sweeping arcs = good for cable action.

great job on the bike a real eye-catcher

wow man! almost too pretty to ride. you are gonna ride it though right?

With the exception of the black rims, that is a superb restoration and you must feel very proud of her.

...turned out sweet. You start that puppy yet?

I'm proud of her WITH the black rims! I knew what you meant. I have no regrets on powdercoating them black at all though, I think it makes the whole bike look nicer.

sky44: Yes, I ABSOLUTELY plan to ride her a LOT! In fact, once we're all done here, I'll probably start a 2nd thread that will document the rides that we go on together. Should be fun!

Rapid Dog: I haven't tried to start her yet. Hopefully this weekend. Still got to fill all the fluids, adjust the breaks, and do any carb tinkering that ends up being necessary. Very, very close though!

10-4, like the black rims too!
I blacked my RS rims, looked pretty good, just a lil pita to keep clean.

The Lasertec Metzelers look very close to the Bridgestone BT 45's and am sure will last at least as long. Running the BT45's on my current airhead R80 monolever roadbike and very happy with them though mileage on the rear is not gonna be more than 3000.
Thanks for your thread, nice reading about it all.

...I swapped out the Lazers for BT45's on the RS. Much better ride.