I had been holding off bleeding my brakes until the speed bleeder I ordered arrived. It finally came in during the week and I started the process yesterday morning. A fairly simple procedure unless you factor in a 32 year old brake caliper. I had everything prepared. I had my little tube and cup for draining the fluid. I had my brand new speed bleeder, and new bottle of brake fluid. All I needed to do was turn the bleed screw. Which I did… a little too much. It snapped off.

Okay… no big deal, right? I was going to replace the bleed screw with the speed bleeder anyway. So I grab a pair of pliers and attempt to squeeze and turn.

Nothing. It wouldn’t come out.

So I try some vise grips.

Nothing.

Tonight I’ll to try one more thing. Use my dremel to cut a slot on the top of the screw and then a flat head screwdriver to try to remove it.

My Friday morning, as it turns out, was a complete waste. After I was unable to bleed the brakes I decided to remove the brake line and replace it with a shiny new one I ordered a while back.

No luck.

The brake line was frozen in the lower brake hose. I tried turning it with everything I had.

Until…

Cheap chinese tools.

I’ll just purchase a new lower brake hose.

After much research and poking about on the web, I finally decided on a pair of rear turn signals. I chose them because of their casing. Tiny and anodized black. It just so happens that they are LED lights. I never intended to use LEDs. In fact, I think LEDs kinda clash with the vintage aesthetic of caferacers. But I really do feel like there was no alternative. Everything else was either chrome, cat eyed, huge, or made for sport bikes and Harleys. I went with the black anodized aluminum because they will compliment my seat.

They certainly won’t pass inspection, but easily swapped out temporarily when inspection time comes.

Since they are LEDs and draw less power, a new relay will need to be installed as well. If not, the bike will think a dual filament bulb has gone out and blink the lights twice as fast. The bike actually may require two new relays. I’m not sure. I’ll play it by ear when they arrive.

http://www.harrisonspecialties.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=SFNT&Store_Code=HS

According to the Clymer manual there was supposed to be a gasket between the cover and the housing. I didn’t find one. What I did find was that someone in the last 30 years had been in here and stripped all the points adjustment screws. It was time to finally break out my impact driver that I have been dying to use.

I can’t say that I fully understand the reasoning behind correctly gapping the points, but I am very good at following directions and apart from taking out the stripped screws it was an easy job.

Even with a variety of bits and an impact driver I still had trouble getting these out.

But I didn’t give up.

I replaced about four screws with new ones I picked up at my local hardware store.

The Clymer manual states the gap between the points should be .03mm – .04mm. I used my spark plug gap tool and found a gauge that was .035. I did noticed that one of the points does need to be either replaced or filed down. The points for 2-3 are uneven. Gapped correctly on front side but not rear.

I didn’t bother putting the phillips head screws back in. I got some 6mm allen head bolts and put those in instead. Eventually, when I start pulling stuff off the engine to polish, I’ll get a allen bolt set for the whole bike. These people have a set that is already polished. http://www.stainlesscycle.com/catalog/

For now, I don’t mind spending .75 cents to replace a few bolts here and there.

I think I may have figured out what that “extra” piece from the MAC exhaust was for.

http://www.austincaferacer.com/2008/08/mac-exhaust-revisted/

I think know it was to keep the center stand from hitting the chain and the rear brake mechanism. When I took the bike off the center stand I didn’t notice anything peculiar. What I didn’t notice until yesterday was that the center stand was pushing the chain up about an inch and a half. And I didn’t notice that until I was riding the bike and I heard something rattling. Luckily nothing happened to the chain. One of the pieces of the rear brake was slightly scratched though. Needless to say, I felt like a total noob.

First, I removed the tension bolts on both sides of the stand.

It took a swiss army knife and a pair of needle nose pliers to pull out the cotter-pin from the axle thing that the stand rotates on. Next, I tapped on the axle rod with a hammer until it came out the other end. I had to use a flat head screwdriver and a hammer to finish it off.

The way Benjie’s bracket extends from the seat makes the plate inevitably hit the rear tire. It was a simple matter of bending the bracket a few degrees to adjust the angle of the plate.

I don’t own a vise. I would like very much to have one but I have priorities for my expenses on this project. I simply used a pair of large vise grips and bent the bracket with my hands.

I think it came out nicely. I have no doubt this will solve the problem. Its unlikely to hit the rear tire anymore.