This morning changed this out New one in situ , took about 30 minutes or so , helps if you immerse it in hot water for a few minutes Pop open top front corner of air box , and then plenty of swearing and cursing Voila !!
Oh and forgot to mention , if you have to replace the ignition pick up coil you won't be able to remove the old or re route the new cable without removing the air box ! So I cut the old wire and pulled it out , the new one is routed across the top of the gearbox , and goes under the engine vent pipe and then up the left hand side to the top of the air box and plugs into the harness there The air gap was set at 1mm in the factory , mine is now set to •75 mm. Runs really well , much happier motor and ECU !!
The problem is , the rubber inlet tract is nearly twice the length of the gap between air filter box and throttle body. I pushed the tube into the air box , then jiggled it back out until the mouth of the rubber tube was nearly on to throttle body mouth. Then forced a screw drive into the air box side , worked it back and forth until fully on throttle body. Then the really hard part ! Levering back and forth inside air box , working the flange over the lip of the opening in the air box ... ! All whilst keeping the front right hand corner wedged as wide open as possible , to give room for long skinny screw driver to work around the tube ! Rubber grease might have made it harder to do ! As the force I was using with grease involved would have made the tube slip too much when I was trying to get the lip on the air box side to seat ! The easiest way to do it , is the longest . Air box out , which would mean carburetors/throttle bodies Off , which would involve , splitting the frame and partially dropping the motor out or similar !
Whilst cleaning the kitchen sink this morning had a brainwave that the same product I was using (Bar Keepers Friend) would be great for brushed aluminium engine covers so next cleaning task was to get bike out and try. Sure enough, it worked very well at removing the tiny bits of stubborn muck, and the abrasive scratches that it made pretty well matched the factory brushed finish. I was obviously careful to rub in the direction of the original 'brushing' and this also removed some swirls I'd added in previous attempts and the more shiny bits from trying metal polish. I'm not sure how much of an impression I made on the slight corrosion on the covers at the front, I didn't try too hard removing that as it seemed a bit futile: it gets covered in muck every time the bike is ridden. Come spring I may give it a go...
I had one like that last year but it turned out the screw hadn't gone all the way through. Got the RAC to take it to the tyre place where they said no new tyre needed, so no charge. You might be lucky. If the tyre hasn't deflated try pulling it out.
Finished installing a set of Motone indicators on my Street Cup. Full write up in Builds and Projects.
An improvement over the originals. I've got the same. Looks like you've got their tail light, so you've probably got their tail-tidy. Good quality stuff.
Not done any spannering for over 20 years so fitting a Center stand to my Bonneville T100 this afternoon felt satisfying, now lubing the chain etc will be easier
I took my spotlessly clean bike out for a run, went past a Land Army Memorial, at Clochan, near Buckie, then ran out of road, so turned and did 80 miles around and about. I was well-dressed ( two pairs of long johns etc) so not a bad run out. Bike is washed and put away.
Just fitted Triumph “peep” mirrors to my speed twin. I like them better than stock and can actually see quite well out of them!
Took Tracey out today went up to newlands to start off, quite busy. Then took to the Surrey a and B roads, some places it felt a bit more like off-roading there was so much mud and crap! sorry for the shadows. Not seen one of these for a while Then you see 2