Kawasaki Exhaust

I cleaned up the stock exhaust and mounted it up last night. It isn't my favorite look, as it seems to be about 6-8" too long. It has the expansion chamber shape built into it, then a muffler chamber at the back that also contained a spark arrestor. It isn't terrible, just not my favorite.

It does tuck up nicely to the frame, and even has a notch to clear the rear shock. So My leg has tons of clearance when sitting on the bike.

If I get lazy enough this weekend, I may sketch up a different design, with a fatty expansion chamber shape.

Kawasaki Wiring and Carb Rebuild

I brought the Bushmaster into the nice warm living room today for a bit of wiring work. As usual, I didn't have the original key, and part of the harness was missing. So I ended up re-wiring most of the bike. It was an extremely tight fit, but I got everything to fit inside my little wiring box (peanut can.) We had some Nascar on the TV to entertain us, and my country-mate Andrew Ranger got some air time:

Me running wires:

During my wiring, the mailman dropped off a pair of original 1973 circa carburetor rebuild kits for the Mikuni:

They were a whopping $5.95 each, so I bought a spare. I also received a package from Bike Bandit containing a new 428 chain (bigger than the 420 chains I usually have on hand) and a new NGK B8HS spark plug.

After all this work, I not only had spark at the plug, but I had a rear taillight and headlight that worked. I still need to run the wiring for the charging circuit, and find a place to hide the selenium rectifier, which needs to be grounded to the chassis.

C'

Movember: Week 2

Drink it in:

Wasatch Evolution Amber Ale

12oz.

4% abv

Another extremely good beer from Utah. Who would have thought? I'm surprised how much robust malt flavor and body they can cram into 4% abv. This is just delightful, from the malt filled aroma, to the smooth finish.

Kawasaki Engine Install

I got the top end assembled on the Bushmaster engine, and then promptly tossed it in the chassis. It went surprisingly smoothly. Pics below:

I built the front fork brace last weekend, but never painted it. I should get by butt off the couch and get that done today, while the weather is dry.

C'

Big Sky Slow Elk Oatmeal Stout

12oz.

A nice stout, for a cool Saturday. This is a very smooth beer, somewhat lacking in stout characteristics, but very smooth. And despite the oatmeal, it feels a bit thin. Tasty though.

Port Brewing Midnight Expression Lager

22oz.

A dark, super roasty lager with a thick head and strong body. Quite a surprise.

Kawasaki: Center Stand

In a strange twist, I ended up modifying a Honda center stand to work on the Bridgestone BS7 project. And on the Kawasaki, the Bridgestone center stand ended up being a good fit, given the reduced ride height of the Bushmaster. I had to make a new pivot plate, and use a shorter tension spring, but it all came together nicely:

C'

Caldera Brewing Rose Petal Imperial Golden Ale

22oz.

Yes indeed, it smells and tastes like rose petals! Which is much better than anticipated. I've had a neighbors lemon blossom ale, which was very tasty, and this reminded me of that. The base beer is decent, with a good balance of malt and hops. But the rose petal flavor dominates, without overpowering.

It Runs!!!! Bridgestone BS-7 Content Inside

I got my NOS piston, ring, and head gasket in the mail this morning from http://www.scramblercycle.com/. So of course I immediately had to get them fitted to the bike. I still wasn't having much luck getting it to start, so I pondered. The carb sits at quite an angle on this bike, so I thought I might need to raise the float level up a little. I ended up going a bit too far, as it leaked out the overflow tube. But at least I knew it had plenty of fuel.

So I gave it a kick:

It fired right up and idle on the choke. After a few seconds it came off the choke and revved clean. Hell yeah! I still need to fiddle with the float level, and then I can run it down the road.

Bridgestone BS/7 Pics

I dragged the Bridgestone to work today, so I could grab a few pictures at lunch. One of our old steam rooms had some nice lighting:

I actually found a new piston and rings from a supplier. I might get them in the mail today. If so, I could have a running BS-7 for the first time shortly!

Kawasaki Stuff

There haven't been a lot of updates on the Kawi, as I'm just taking care of little things as I go. Such as fitting the rear brake setup, front brake and clutch cable, and finishing up the rear fender assembly. I need to turn my attention to the engine, which I may get to this weekend. We'll see how lazy I get.

front control cables:

Rear fender:

I think I finally got the rear ride height sorted, so the rear tire doesn't rub anything with my fat ass on the bike: