Upgrading throwout bearing . . .

Something like that LOL. Yeah, Mac will be 55 in September. She was 21 when we got married, I was 36. She always said she prefered "older" men LOL. She got it in spades now.

Thought I'd get back on track . . . my small parts order for the kicker gears, etc. should be here tomorrow. Yesterday I dicovered a leak at the carb intake - very small amount of gas leaking out. I had stripped the bottom hole in the flange that attaches to the manifold. Easy fix. Took the carb off and retapped the bolt holes from the original 7/16" to 3/8". Fortunately had a spare gasket and put it all back together in less than 2 hours.

Also found that the carb was angling down a bit (before I took it off) when I leveled the bike in the wheel chocks. Made a slightly longer bracket and now no leaks, and carb is perfectly level. Bracket job took about an hour.

FabKevin did not send my rear caliper kit before going to Daytona. Somehow my order slipped through the cracks. He returned yesterday and is hopefully getting it the mail today.

Man, you got royally screwed. Where did you buy the tranny from?
Do you mean the nuts that hold the rocker boxes onto the heads or the nuts that hold the rocker arms in the boxes?
On my bike I cannot access all the nuts with the heads on. And the nuts that hold the rocker shafts should be torqued properly and then the shaft end play checked. this has to be done with the heads off.
Was your kicker slipping?

Yeah, Tommy, the nuts that hold the rocker boxes to the heads. I have easy access to them all as my tank sits fairly high up on the backbone. (See pic).

Kicker was slipping. sheared the key on the shaft. Replaced everything inside the the cover including installing the retro throwout bearing and new rod. Starts a lot easier now and runs good.

Now waiting for warmer weather . . .

Excellent.
I'm waiting for a new starter "All balls" prestolite type and new solenoid "Accell".
Then I want to replace the rear shocks and front wheel and tire. Then my bike will be 100% restored.
Did you figure out how to post pics to this site yet? It seems like a real hassle.

No, I haven't figured it out yet. But I haven't tried in a while, either. Been trying to get one of my high school whiz kids to come over to the house and help me out. It seems that even the promise of $$ to do the job isn't enough incentive - been talking to this boy for weeks now . . .

Sounds great on your restoration. Do you still have 2 shovels? If so, which one are you restoring? I'm still waiting for my Japanese replacement rear caliper, which should be a huge improvement over the banana one I have now.

Yes, I have 2. Completing the restoring of the 1983 FXE.

Today was having trouble with the clutch, so I took it apart to inspect it. Found the basket loose - moving in and out and the inside plate worn down pretty bad and gunked up with aluminum. The inside of the basket is in pretty bad shape, too - scored deeply. It's already been turned down once. It's a BDL, I think.

Tattoo thinks I need to replace the whole thing with a new open belt drive clutch. I've been looking online, but haven't been able to locate a 1 1/2" or 1 5/8" kick start open primary for a tapered shaft 4 speed. Looking for one for no more than $650 and preferably less. Still looking . . . .