Oh Crap.

Finally! Looks like my new parts have hit town and I'm expecting them any day. Gonna fix up my 82 440ltd in an Old School spirit, with some mods geared towards comfort and function. Euro bars with new grips, a windscreen and a backrest/luggage rack are some early choices.

That means it'd be time to take care of a few minor details before I give my little beast a nice polish and swap out the old components. Then it's all sunshine and easy riding, right?
I mean, how tough can it be to change a light bulb? Or seven. -ish.
Aw crap.

Now my right side signals, front and back, seem to work just fine. They work really slow unless I've got the engine running, but I figure that'd make some kinda sense. So if I swap the bulb, that I know works, from the right side blinker up front to the left side assemblies in turn, I'll at least know if I'm dealing with dead bulbs or something more complicated.
I mean, how tough can it be to change a light bulb?

So I take my handy little Philips and pull off the right front lens cover, then remove the bulb, easy-peesy. Get myself a pleasant surprise, in the form of a shiny spare key for the bike, hidden behind the lens cover. Everything is shiny and looking good. On to the front left, to swap out the bulb, and then do the same to the rear left.



Not so fast Speed Racer.

Aw crap. The assembly has been forced down the fork, almost behind the speedo, revealing a grey ding in the tank when I loosen the bolts and move the assembly up to it's original position. Perhaps this has something to do with my non-functioning gauge? Oh well, one of the parts I'm expecting is a new speedo, don't let it get to me. Now to remove the lens cover and,... Damn. The thing looks like some kind of electrical explosion took place. Outward radiating lines of rust and corrosion all over the bulb and reflector. One of the reflector screws came out easy, the other one was pretty much squishy when I touched it with the screwdriver. Not a hope of getting the bulb out as is. WD-40? And a prayer? Do I just junk the part and replace it?



Figured I'd ponder the fate of slacker-bastards that sell people bikes with nasty little surprises as I at least swap out the bulb in the rear left. Turns out the post is loose as hell. Thinking it probably happened at the same time as the front left light getting bashed into my tank and speedo. Get everything popped out and go to try the test bulb...
Which is when I realized just how little I know about working on a bike. Damn little. I get that the bulb is loaded into the sleeve by depressing a spring-loaded little platform and turning clockwise to secure. But the blasted platform seems to be depressing at an angle or something. Only one stud will line up with the securing notch at a time. Even after using a sharpie to run the spring a bit to clear out any debris, and trying the bulb in both possible loading positions.



Spent an embarassing amount of time on this. Really glad noone was watching.


Finally decided to put all of my little screws and washers into a labelled piece of tupperware and look up how to properly change a lightbulb. And then decide whether I want to get new Allenhead screws, or clean these ones.






Which is when I promptly went and f--ked up one of the screws on my right side tank badge. So that I could hopefully use my $7 dent-puller. Great idea. Not so great execution. Right hand screw was rusted to hell, but came out pretty easy. The left screw was still pretty and black, so I applied the Philips and gave it a couple of turns. And stripped the head.




Aw crap. Any constructive advice would be greatly appreciated. Hopefully I can add some pics to provide you fine folks with visual aids and comic-relief. Enjoy.

In another thread, JR reported having some success with this screw remover product from Sears.

Click > www.smarthome.com/89090/GRABIT-3-Piece-Drill-Set-PR-5823/p.aspx

Good Fortune!

Thanks Patton, just the kinda thing I was looking for.
Any recommendations on a decent tool-set for the bike? I was looking at this mini-ratchet set on ebay.
cgi.ebay.ca/One-Mini-Motorcycle-Ratchet-...&hash=item4ceab7034d

So today was much better.
Had a job interview that went well, so I toddled off to my local Canadian Tire for some goodies. Got me a new tool-set, screw extractors :blink: , WD-40 and one Mother's Power-Cone.

Ready for business!

Now, as we remember from our last exciting episode, I managed yesterday to royally screw up my turn signals and one of my tank badge screws. Not to be daunted, I looked up an online motorcycle course that I had seen linked in another thread. I'll be giving the entire bike a slow but steady overhaul. By the by, here's some before pics:












Decided to do something a little more my speed today. Pulled almost all of the chrome off of the bike, excluding mufflers and turn signals,(not quite ready to screw with the electrical stuff just yet, and I think I'm going aftermarket with them besides).









Fenders, grab-bar, shocks and belt drive guard. Gonna give 'em all a good go with some hot soapy water, followed by Coke and aluminum foil, followed by a good polish and wax. Giving every nut, bolt, spacer and washer a good cleaning and polish as well. Maybe treat 'em to a little motor oil somewhere in there too. Which is convenient, seeing as how my oil level was too high. Siphoned a bit out into a clean pickle jar using a cheap plastic syphon.
This is my "garage"





This. also, is my "garage"



And before I bid you all goodnight, and go and curl up around my wise and wonderful girlfriend, I have some good news and some possibly fantastic news.
The good news is that I got my euro bars in the mail today, and I LOVE them! Just what I was looking for.



The fan-maybe-tastic news is that tomorrow morning a buddy of mine is dropping off what I believe to be a KZ1100. Total backyard bastard. But I was afraid to ask too many questions in case he changed his mind about the FREE part.:woohoo: I figure a deal like that is something I'm not gonna kick around too much.

So, sleep tight all, ttys.

Tried out the whole Coca-Cola and aluminum foil thing this afternoon. It's pretty awesome! Pipes, grab bar, fenders, belt guard and upper forks look pretty good. Still some pitting, but short of re-chroming I'm thinking that's out of my hands...

However, I'm having the Devil's own time trying to polish my aluminum cases. Took a Mother's Powercone and Mother's Mag & Aluminum polish to 'em. After 5 tries, and a lot of just plain elbow grease with a shop towel, I could JUST see a spot the size of a silver dollar that wasn't anywhere near shiny, but not quite oxidized either.

What the hell am I doing wrong? Is there some trick to this? I wouldn't mind killing myself quite so much if I was at least seeing some real progress. This sucks!

I've got all of the new and new-to-me parts, that I can afford right now, ready to go, and I want her to look presentable when I finally have the cash to insure and tag her.

A little help?

First of all, the factory aluminum has a clear laquer coating on it! So it is like rubbing out car paint.
Buy a spray can of gasket and trim remover and spray it on the aluminum you want to polish!
Get some scotch brand, fine scuff pads and clean it off first. Scuff up the aluminum. Then you will be amazed how the aluminum shines up!

My opinion! Leave this paint flat black primer! It looks cool! Then paint both front and back fenders flat black also!!! Don't worry about he cosmetics. Make it run good first!

Make a beater bike that you won't have to worry about when you park it in the city!

Forgot to ask? Were did you get those black Euro bars from? I want them Yesterday!!!
I have a blacked out 77 KZ1000 that has rusted Euro style sport bars.
Want black ones without painting them!

z1konly, you might find black bars at Z1E.

Killman, the screws arent phillips, they are JIS, a Japanese variation on the familiar phillips type that we are used to. grind the pointy end off of a phillips drive bit and it will work a lot better.

Killman wrote: However, I'm having the Devil's own time trying to polish my aluminum cases. Took a Mother's Powercone and Mother's Mag & Aluminum polish to 'em. After 5 tries, and a lot of just plain elbow grease with a shop towel, I could JUST see a spot the size of a silver dollar that wasn't anywhere near shiny, but not quite oxidized either.
quote]

Looking good !
Steel wool - not very coarse -and Mothers for gunky cases + lots of elbow grease. I've used steel wool and WD40 to get rid of oxidation first.

I had a dent about the size of yours. Got a $2 suction cup which was about 2-3 inches in diameter, wet it, stuck it an pulled. You might need a buddy to hold one side of the bike if you try this. The good thing about the dent is that it looks like no creased edges so should be possible to get it mostly out.
Good luck

Thanks everyone! Nice to know which direction I'm headed on those cases.

Z1KZONLY; I got the blacke euro bars off of Ebay cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&it...geName=STRK:MEWNX:IT

And JR, I'm glad to hear the suction cup worked on your dent. I've got a dent-puller about 3" across that I'm gonna give a shot.
Just as soon as I get that damn stripped screw out of my tank badge so that I ahve room to form a seal.

No reports of success using the dry ice dent removal method on a motorcycle fuel tank, but in this case would be sorely tempted to give it a shot.

Suffering through the beginning video commercial isn't too horrible, as the gal isn't half bad looking. :lol:

www.videojug.com/film/dent-removal-technique

I have a blacked out 77 KZ1000 that has rusted Euro style sport bars.
Want black ones without painting them!
[/quote]
I bought this bike in Ohio, I am going to paint the front lower legs black. I don't know what this back light is? But I am putting a KZ1000 Tail light and fender on it. The previous owner did this, welded some silly part in there. Plus , I will lower it, change the position on the swingarm, shock mount. then it will be for sale. It is fast, 1045cc, dyna, .410 cams, 32mm flat slide Mikuni's.
Runs like a bear!!