No session this week as Mr. S in a Professional Development session Wednesday and Thursday.

We did a bit of work yesterday on fitting our custom numberplate/headlight idea.  We first needed to take some measurements, and then mark and drill the angle brackets.

Steady with the spring punch, pilot hole...

Aluminum can be tough to drill, due to its relative softness.  Push to hard with the press, and it will "bite" or wander off line.  Patience is required and the bit size needs to be stepped up slowly.

A too-small bit chuck was pressed into service by Mr. S, and when it was being tightened, it slipped...

Ooops.  Learn from your teacher, kids!

Once the first mounting holes were drilled, we refitted the brackets to the headlight ears.  We actually switched around the orientation, based on the narrowness of the forks, and the relative width of the numberplate.

With our carbon-fibre numberplate nearly ready, we wanted to make sure we didn't mess up with our measuring, and drill a hole in the wrong spot.  So the original aluminum "buck" was used as the template, with measured test holes drilled and labeled.  We now have a guide to where the mounting holes need to be drilled in the carbon piece (holes #3 on each side). And well check that for fitment,  Then we'll fit the 4 1/2" light, and then finally mount the headlight permanently.  The offset idea won't quite work as it will foul the mounting bracket.  Maybe the centre is the way to go...

Postponed

Evening forecast for road conditions is a bit dodgy... decided to postpone this session until next week.  Better to be safe than sorry.

It's alive!!!

After the holiday break, the Kids' Cafe reconvened this past Wednesday to continue work on the bike. As we had left it in December, it appeared the basically everything was in place for us to try to start it... the muffler was installed (but not properly bolted in place), the battery was hooked up, and the starter was in place, ready to turn the engine over.  All we needed is some fuel, and it should run...

Step one was to properly attach the muffler to the bike.  Cycleboyz had fabbed and welded the bracket, and earlier another group of students created a bracket strap to mount to the frame.

A double check of the fluids, and some gas added to the mix, and we thumbed the starter... the bike tried to run, but something wasn't right.  Both carbs were getting fuel, but the old "touch the cylinder" test showed that one jug was warm, and the other ice cold.  It was only running on 1 cylinder.



So we pulled the plug in the suspect cylinder, grounded it to the frame, and turned the engine over... no spark, but it actually started to run better!  The lack of compression with the removed plug allowed the bike to actually start and run... good ol' Honda!

We traced the wire from the suspect coil back into the harness, and sure enough, there was a lack of proper contact -- no circuit, no spark.  With time running out, we fabbed a new connector to the harness, reinstalled the tank and.... success!

With just a touch of the starter, the bike immediately fired on both cylinders and settled into a nice idle.  After untold years of sitting in a barn in Boissevain, we now have a running bike, with no leaks or white smoke.  A healthy engine is the heart of any project, and it looks like we've got a good 'un.

With a few more details to sort out, in the next while we will actually start the disassembly in order to get the frame and swingarm refinished and powder coated.