Still waiting on the cam gear puller. This is midway in the polishing process. A lot of the center portion is hidden behind motor mount plates and primary cover, but it still has to get the treatment.
The outer case edges have a very nice smooth seam after the leveling and polishing. Even though the cases look pretty good in this picture, they need to be blocked out to get rid of some waviness in the surfaces.
Because it had such a perfect patina to match the rest of the brass parts, lot of care was taken to get the side cover badge removed without damage. I started out trying to mask off the badge, but it became clear there was a good deal of sanding necessary around it and the best result would only come with it removed. If you have ever tried to drill small steel pins out of aluminum, it is next to impossible. Your skinny drill bit will wander from the steel and drill into the aluminum every time. Having made this mistake before, I didn’t even try, but considered more exotic solutions like TIG welding a small piece of metal to the pin heads and using that to pull it out. I ended up trying to slip razor blades underneath, stacking them up slowly to try and lift the pins, but that did not work even slightly. The solution was fast and simple, merely a matter of finding the right tool and technique. Turns out that guitar fret removal pliers are the ticket. Get a good grip on the head and simply twist, no pulling is necessary as the pin is actually a screw.
The pile of brass accessories. All the brass will need to be worked over to get the finishes more uniform. One of the great things about brass is the many hues it can produce when patinated.
The oil vapor catch can/chain oiler canister will probably go untouched. From a turn of the century hit and miss engine, it has some great wear on it. The plumbing underneath was ground down on the elbow and polished out.
After buffing, it was chemical dipped and rubbed with cerium oxide to get the patina.
The crankshaft was split and the sludge trap cleaned out. Not too bad. The previous owner had rebuilt the engine and did not put a ton of miles on it.
The journals on the crank look great and feel silky smooth.
The glamorous life of a bike builder. This is the result of several hours in front of the buffer. By the end of the day it was even worse.
Completely unrelated to motorcycles, all this dedication to bike building needs to be balanced with something else a little less intense. There are Japanese maple seedlings that have come up in the Spring, in between the rocks of my front walkway for a number of years. They are super tiny and frail, but can be carefully dug up and transplanted.
Thirty tiny seedlings. Some will make it, others will not, but all will perish when Summer hits if not harvested.
Some people might chuckle at the notion of growing them from a seed, but this is one from a number of years back now towering over the roofline.