Turn Signals

It's 38 degrees F out on the old Patio Of Doom, but the sun is shining. In Denver, as long as you can stay in the sun, the conditions are livable with temps in the high 30's.

I made a couple of seriously simple mounting brackets for the turn signals, today. They consist of two short lengths of aluminum stock, each with two holes drilled through it. The stalk of the turn signal fits through one hole, and the other fits over the rear shock mount. Crude, but effective.



Mounting them up was pretty straightforward, but I'm going to go back and double check that all the connections are secure, later. A couple of the wires popped loose as I was reinstalling the seat, making me wonder why the tail light no longer worked. I reattached them, but I want to make sure they don't come loose while riding down the road.

While I was installing the turn signals, I went ahead and bolted the muffler brackets on. Now, I can start the engine without worrying about the cans walking their way off of the headers.

Next up was the front signals. I popped the stock Yamaha units out, and plugged the new ones in in about five minutes. Then, I did it again, since I had lost the ground when I reassembled the headlight.

The signals looked great, but wouldn't flash. I figured the battery was just cold, and not putting out enough juice. So, I decided to start the engine and see if the flashers would actually flash, rather than just lighting up.

Turned on the gas, hit the choke and watched as gas started to dump out of the left carb in a large, steady, stream! I turned off the petcock, and gas continued to run out of the left carb (the right carb was behaving itself). Hmmmm. I'll have to look into that, later.

Like an idiot, I did go ahead and start the motor, briefly, just waiting for the thing to go up in flames. I ran it just long enough to check the flashers (they worked fine, as I thought they would), and then shut it down.

The bike, so far...

There are two fairly serious mechanical things left to look at:

1. The carb leak

2. The pistons are sticking in the brake caliper, and need to be removed and cleaned up.

Other than that, and installing the new tires and chain, changing fluids and other maintenance-type chores, about all that is left is cosmetic work.

Well, I guess I need to fabricate an inner rear fender, as well, come to think of it. That should be pretty simple, though.